Short sellers and a potential profit downgrade kept the lid on the Healius share price on Monday despite the group answering the call of its investors to run a sale process for its diagnostic imaging unit.
The sale process by UBS of the Lumus Imaging unit was flagged by DataRoom ahead of an announcement by the company on Monday that it would explore a sale.
But the share price remained steady in the stock that has 7.87 per cent of its shares held by short sellers. It is the tenth most shorted stock in Australia on the back of expectations its earnings will deteriorate.
Should Healius offload the diagnostic imaging unit, the test will be whether it can then improve the performance of its pathology operation and produce sustainable earnings margins.
Some in the market believe the unit could sell for between $700m and $800m, which some investors believe would be good result, providing the money Healius needs to pay down debt.
But analysts are more pessimistic, with those at Barrenjoey suggesting it could be worth as little as $440m-$490m.
Healius shares fell 2c to $1.30 on Monday, with its market value at $959m.
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