Autonomy disappointed by lacklustre results
Software firm Autonomy posted forecast-lagging quarterly earnings and lower margins, raising analyst concerns that growth was slowing and sending its shares sharply lower.
Shares in the group, which have outperformed the FTSE 100 by 16 per cent since the start of the year, fell as much as 12 per cent yesterday as the market expected more from the highly-rated stock.
Autonomy, whose software searches and organises unstructured data like emails and telephone calls, posted adjusted earnings per share of 18p on 13 per cent higher revenue of £145m.
The company said its adjusted operating margin in the second quarter was 44 per cent, down from 47 per cent a year earlier, while it gross margin also fell, by two percentage points, due to its sales mix.
It won contracts from companies such as supermarket Sainsbury’s and food maker Kraft in the quarter.