Feb. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Singulus Technologies AG, the German maker of machines that replicate DVDs, rose in Frankfurt trading on optimism that Toshiba Corp. will abandon its high-definition format, leading to a surge in sales of discs using Sony Corp.'s Blu-ray technology.

Singulus climbed 3 percent after a person familiar with the plan said Toshiba may abandon the unprofitable business. No decision has been made, the company said today.

An end to the format war would spur consumer purchases of high-definition discs and players, increasing demand for Singulus's products, analysts said. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, said last week it will stop selling HD DVD products after Warner Bros. Entertainment, the largest publisher of DVDs, chose Blu-ray. Singulus, based in Kahl, makes machines that produce discs in both formats.

``People are anticipating future orders for Blu-ray machines, and that Singulus will be the leading player regarding that technology,'' said Burkhard Weiss, an analyst at HSBC Trinkaus & Burkhardt in Dusseldorf with a ``neutral'' rating on Singulus stock.

Singulus rose 30 cents to close at 10.15 euros in Frankfurt, after gaining as much as 9 percent earlier. The shares advanced 25 percent, the most in almost seven years, on Jan. 7 after the Warner Bros. decision. They rose 16 percent on Feb. 1 after Singulus agreed to buy the Blu-ray DVD business from OC Oerlikon Corp.

The company anticipates exceeding an earlier target for equipment deliveries after the deal with Oerlikon and will now probably deliver more than the 15 Blu-ray manufacturing units it had predicted for this year, newspaper Euro am Sonntag reported Feb. 2, citing an interview with Singulus Chief Executive Officer Stefan Baustert.

The contest between Sony and Toshiba is the industry's biggest format war since the 1980s, when the VHS format for video recorders beat Sony's Betamax.

To contact the reporter on this story: Philipp Grontzki in Frankfurt at pgrontzki@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: February 18, 2008 11:49 EST