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Takeover speculation continued to swirl around Amcor Ltd on Wednesday, four days after the global packager said it had not received any indication of an intention to make a bid for the group.

Shares in Amcor, which have risen by more than 20 per cent in the past month, increased on Wednesday to a five-month intraday high as talk of a takeover, possibly by New Zealand billionaire Graeme Hart, lingered.

New Zealand's Independent Financial Review newspaper reported on Wednesday that Mr Hart was running his eye over Amcor's Australian and New Zealand cardboard box packaging business.

Investment bankers believe Mr Hart would be an eager buyer of the $750 million of assets in a carve-up of Amcor.

Mr Hart took control of NZ's forest products company Carter Holt Harvey in a $NZ3.3 billion takeover this year, so there are plenty of synergies available.

Amcor's business fits the private equity takeover model with diverse businesses, such as the cardboard box and flexibles divisions, which could be sold off separately.

Research group Fat Prophets said the takeover talk had added fuel to Amcor's recent rally.

"Amcor is just one of a number of Australian companies to come under the takeover spotlight following its mediocre annual result," Fat Prophets said.

Amcor shares closed nine cents or 1.2 per cent higher at $7.42 after hitting a new intraday high of $7.50, its best level in five months.

Excluding one-off significant gains, Amcor's 2005/06 profit was $405.9 million, down 20.6 per cent.

Amcor Australasia, the company's third largest unit by sales, reported a 17 per cent decline in operating profit to $262.4 million.

Amcor is addressing its problems at home by marking a number of plants for closure, as it upgrades other sites to increase efficiencies and reduce ongoing costs.

"Recent speculation regarding Amcor as a takeover target is, as yet, without substantiation," said Fat Prophets.

"Notwithstanding this, we believe consolidation will be a natural progression, given current industry conditions.

"As such, there is potential for shareholders to benefit from Amcor being on either side of any future corporate activity."