News

AUTONOMY CORPORATION PLC ANNOUNCES RESULTS - FOR FIRST QUARTER ENDED MARCH 31, 2001

Quarterly Revenue and Gross Profits Increase 25.6% and 27.6% Respectively Versus Q1'00

First Quarter EPS is $0.04 Per Diluted Share

Autonomy's first quarter conference call will be available live on the World Wide Web at www.autonomy.com on April 26, 2001 at 9:30 a.m. BST/4:30 a.m. EDT/1:30 a.m. PDT

SAN FRANCISCO, California and CAMBRIDGE, England - April 26, 2001 - Autonomy Corporation plc (NASDAQ: AUTN, LSE: AU., EASDAQ: AUTN), a global leader in infrastructure software for the Web and the extended enterprise, today reported financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2001.

Financial Highlights

	Three Months Ended
	(unaudited)
Results in US$ ($000's except per share)	March 31, 2001	Dec. 31, 2000	March 31, 2000
Revenue	$ 14,658	$ 21,461	$ 11,702
Gross profit	13,944	20,671	10,926
Gross profit margin	95%	96%	93%
Profit before income taxes	8,793	5,942	440
Net profit	$ 5,721	$ 4,282	$ 346
Earnings (loss) per share*
- basic	$0.05	$0.03	$0.00
- diluted	$0.04	$0.03	$0.00

*All share information reflects a 3-for-1 stock split effective August 1, 2000.

First Quarter Corporate Highlights

First quarter revenue increased 25.6% from $11.7M in first quarter 2000
First quarter gross margins increased to 95.1% from 93.4% in first quarter 2000
Company remains profitable despite difficult trading conditions
Balance sheet remains strong with approximately $144 million in cash
Autonomy OEM Program expands with new partners including BEA and Support.com
Autonomy expanded operations by establishing an office in Singapore and opening new European headquarters in Cambridge, U.K. and a new office in Washington, D.C.

Chief Executive Officer's Review

"As previously announced, the slowdown in the macro-economic environment has now begun to affect European IT spending patterns as well - particularly in regard to customer hesitancy relating to large capital expenditures. In particular, late in the quarter we experienced a sudden lengthening of product purchasing cycles. Almost without exception, we have been informed that purchasing decisions have been delayed rather than outright cancelled or awarded to others. Despite the slowdown in IT spending, Autonomy reported high gross margins and was profitable during the quarter, generating $7.7 million in cash from operating activities. Autonomy's business model is extremely efficient and our operations are already streamlined, providing us with the opportunity to be flexible in a dynamic market.

While our visibility is somewhat limited in the near-term, Autonomy's long-term outlook continues to remain promising. Our technology remains the leading offering in the market, highlighted by the fact that the majority of the delayed contracts were well past technology and competitive evaluations, and our balance sheet is strong with approximately $144 million in cash. We remain committed to working with our current and potential customers and partners through this challenging business cycle."

First Quarter Financial Highlights

Revenues for the first quarter totalled $14.7 million, up 25.6% from $11.7 million for the first quarter of 2000 and down 31.7% from $21.5 million for the fourth quarter of 2000. U.S. revenues totalling $7.5 million were 51.0% of total revenues in the first quarter of 2001. U.K./European revenues totalling $7.1 million were 48.3% of total revenues in the first quarter of 2001.

Gross profits for the quarter were $13.9 million, up 27.5% from $10.9 million in the first quarter of 2000 and down 32.9% from $20.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2000. First quarter gross margins were 95.1%, compared to 93.4% in the first quarter of 2000 and compared to 96.3% in the fourth quarter of 2000.

Net income for the first quarter of 2001 was $5.7 million, or $0.04 per diluted share, compared to net income of $0.3 million or $0.00 per diluted share, for the first quarter of 2000, and compared to net income of $4.3 million, or $0.03 per diluted share, for the fourth quarter of 2000. Adjusted net income for the first quarter of 2001 was $1.6 million, or $0.01 per diluted share, compared to adjusted net income of $5.9 million, or $0.04 per diluted share, for the fourth quarter of 2000.

Adjusted net income excludes for the three months ended December 31, 2000, expenses of $799,000 associated with listing Autonomy's shares on the London Stock Exchange, and for all periods translational foreign exchange gains and losses and associated tax effects.

Cash and cash equivalents totalled $143.8 million at March 31, 2001, compared to a balance of $137.5 million at December 31, 2000. The increase in cash and cash equivalents was primarily due to $7.7 million in cash flow from operations.

Receivables for the first quarter were $14.1 million in comparison to $21.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2000. Deferred revenues were $8.8 million gross ($5.1 million net) at March 31, 2001.

Provision for doubtful accounts for the quarter was $(506,000), a decrease of $751,000 from $247,000 in the first quarter of 2000, and down $907,000 from the fourth quarter of 2000. Provision for doubtful accounts decreased primarily due to reversal of a particular bad debt provision, which had been made in accordance with the company's conservative provision policies. The company received the cash payment relating to this account during the first quarter.

Strategic Partnerships and OEMs

Autonomy's OEM Program progresses according to plans with the addition of four new partners, including BEA and Support.com. Total OEM revenues for the first quarter of 2001 were $1.7 million. Ongoing OEM royalty revenues for the first quarter of 2001 were $674,000 up 50.4% from $448,000 during the fourth quarter of 2000.

Download the complete Q1 2001 Results in Adobe Acrobat format (PDF, 60KB)

About Autonomy Corporation plc

Autonomy's infrastructure technology enables computers to form an understanding of a piece of text, Web pages, e-mails, voice, documents and people. Because of this unique ability, Autonomy's technology automates business operations on unstructured information, such as categorizing, linking, personalizing and delivering, which, to date, have been completely manual. Autonomy's technology powers any application dependent upon unstructured information including: e-commerce, customer relationship management, knowledge management, enterprise information portals and online publishing.

Among Autonomy's 425-plus customers are Alcatel, Associated Press, BBC, British Aerospace, Clorox, Reed Elsevier, News Corp., Lucent Technologies, SF Gate, Reuters, Semi-tech, The Royal Mail, TF1, Unilever and the United States Department of Defense. In addition, many of the world's leading software companies license Autonomy's technology to add intelligence to their own products, in areas as diverse as online publishing, knowledge management, email routing and document management. These include Brio, Business Objects, Delano, E.piphany, Intraspect, KnowledgeTrack, Nexor, Novient, OpenMarket, Sybase and Vignette.

Autonomy was founded in 1996 and has offices throughout North America and Europe, as well as in Sydney, Australia and Singapore.

Safe Harbor/Forward-looking Statements

Note:

With the exception of historical information, the matters set forth in this news release are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. A number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. These factors include, among others, technology risks, including dependence on core technology; fluctuations in quarterly results; dependence on new product development; rapid technological and market change; reliance on sales by others; management of growth; dependence on key personnel; rapid expansion; growth of the Internet; financial risk management; and future growth subject to risks. These factors and other factors which could cause actual results to differ materially are also discussed in the company's filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, including Autonomy's Registration Statements on Form F-1.

For more information, contact Autonomy at info@autonomy.com or at http://www.autonomy.com/ or by calling (415) 243-9955 (in the U.S.) and +44 (0) 1223 448000 (outside the U.S.).

Autonomy and the Autonomy logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autonomy Corporation plc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Financial Media Contacts:	Analyst and Investor Contacts:
Kris Marubio, Director of Public Relations Autonomy Corporation plc +1 (415) 350-7339 Ann Travers Brainerd Communicators, Inc. +1 (212) 986-6667 +1 (917) 687-6263 (mobile) Edward Bridges/Alastair Hetherington Financial Dynamics +44 (0)20 7831 3113	Ralph Harms, Chief Financial Officer Autonomy Corporation plc +1 (415) 243-9955 John Buckley Brainerd Communicators, Inc. +1 (212) 986-6667 +1 (917) 543-3622 (mobile)