SHARES in Ulster Television rose 30p yesterday to an all time high of £12.83 as speculation continued concerning a takeover of the company. Four years ago the UTV share price was 200p. By last May shares were worth four times that figure, and in December they had reached £10. At yesterday's share price, UTV, headed by Mr Desmond Smyth, has a market value of around £135 million.

The main reason why the company is a tempting target for a takeover bid is the Broadcast Bill. One of its proposals is to remove the restriction which prevents a media group from owning more than two television franchises.

This would be replaced by a stipulation that no group should account for more than 5 per cent of the total television audience. Such a change would make small but profitable ITV companies an attractive proposition for the larger groups.

UTV's share of the total British audience is just over per cent, but its viewing figures average over 40 per cent of the Northern Ireland audience, the highest of any ITV region. It also offers advertisers huge viewing figures in the Republic.

Pre tax profits in the year to December 1994 were £7.5 million while in the half year to the end of June, UTV had pre tax profits of £3.6 million. At the end of the half year, UTV had net cash of £14.1 million.

At one stage, UTV had been mentioned as a possible bidder for the Northern Ireland cable television franchise but pulled out of making a bid. UTV has, however, joined the consortium which is planning 19 launch a third national television channel in the Republic.