Australian Net stocks soared
Monday morning on a wave of Solution 6 (SOH)
generated positive sentiment. A 1.71% jump on the US’
Nasdaq to 4798.13 Friday also pushed Internets higher
Monday.
Stock in accounting software company Solution 6
surged on open after it announced plans to take over
Australian Internet software pioneer Sausage Software
(SAS) in a 6 for 10 stock swap. The deal values
Sausage at $1.6 billion on a fully diluted basis. “The
directors of Sausage believe the proposed merger has
strong strategic benefits for Sausage, its employees
and shareholders,” Sausage said in a release to the ASX.
Solution 6 also announced it will purchase Telstra Corp.‘s
(TLS) eConnect business assets, Telstra’s stake in
Asia-Pacific joint venture PlesTel and rights to
Telstra Financial Management Services for scrip worth
Aus $237 million. Telstra now owns approximately 40%
of Solution 6 and is entitled to a similar portion of
Sausage.
Ted Pretty, managing director of Telstra’s
convergent business division, has been offered the
position of chairman at the new look Solution 6.
At midday Solution 6 stock was up 11% or $1.05 at
$10.60, Sausage jumped 6.5%, or 38 cents to $6.18,
while Telstra fell 1% to $7.68.
Australian ISPs were the other big winners in
Monday morning’s surge. Access1 (ACC)
jumped 10.7%, while Eisa (EIS) added
5.3% to $2.58. Mobile email provider Pocketmail
(PKT) jumped 15.5% to 48.5 cents in the morning run.
Hartely
Poynton Stockbrokers (HPL) climbed 1.8% to $2.29.
Reports indicate Hartley Poynton will provide online
broking services to Australia’s biggest equity
investor, insurance giant AMP Ltd (AMP).
Still in online broking, Online Trading Systems
(OTS), owner of online broker Sharetrade
announced the $12 million acquisition of the
Australian Clearing Services Ltd group. The purchase
will enhance OTS’s back office operations, especially
in the area of equities settlement. International
online giant Charles Schwab
plans to use Sharetrade as its vehicle to enter the
already crowded online broking market. OTS remains in
pre-open, it closed at $3.50 on 7 March.
Not every Internet related stock was jumping Monday
morning. Pilbara Mines (PIL) got a severe case of
Mondayitis, dropping as much as 93 cents in early
trade before clawing back to be only 35.7 cents or
11.1% down to $2.85 at midday. Pilbara Mines has been
riding high on its investment in budding broadband
provider Request DSL and Request’s relationship with
networking behemoth Cisco Systems.
Investors keen to consolidate profits drove Pilbara
lower in morning trade.
Online content provider HWW (HWW) should
surge when it comes out of pre-open later today after
signing a deal with Optus@Home and
Excite@Home to
provide Australian movie session times to their
subscribers.
