News

AUTONOMY CORPORATION PLC ANNOUNCES RESULTS FOR THE FOURTH QUARTER AND YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2001

Quarterly Revenues Increase 31% from Q3; EPS is $0.02 per share from $0.00 per share in Q3

Autonomy's fourth quarter conference call will be available live on the World Wide Web at www.autonomy.com on Thursday, January 24, 2002 at 10:45 a.m. BST/5:45 a.m. EST/2:45 a.m. PST

SAN FRANCISCO, California and CAMBRIDGE, England - January 24, 2002 - Autonomy Corporation plc (Nasdaq: AUTN, LSE: AU., Nasdaq Europe: AUTN), a global leader in infrastructure software for the extended enterprise, today reported financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2001.

Financial Highlights

	Three Months Ended			Twelve Months Ended
Results in US$	Dec. 31, 2001	(unaudited) Sept. 30, 2001	Dec. 31, 2000	(unaudited) Dec. 31, 2001	(audited) Dec. 31, 2000
($000's except per share)
Revenues	$ 13,480	$ 10,264	$ 21,461	$ 52,594	$ 65,422
Gross profit	12,852	10,053	20,671	50,688	61,547
Gross profit margin	95%	98%	96%	96%	94%
Net profit	$ 2,045	$ 59	$ 4,282	$ 9,366	$ 14,545
Earnings per share
- basic	$ 0.02	$ 0.00	$ 0.03	$ 0.07	$ 0.12
- diluted	$ 0.02	$ 0.00	$ 0.03	$ 0.07	$ 0.11

Fourth Quarter 2001 Corporate Highlights

Revenues increase 31% from Q3 2001
Profits increase significantly; EPS up to $0.02 from $0.00; eighth consecutive quarter of profitability
Profit before tax for Q4 2001 is $2.7 million, and for full year 2001 is $13.3 million
Gross margins remain high at 95%
Blue chip fourth quarter wins include NTT, Swiss Army, U.S. Federal security agencies, Astra Zeneca, Pfizer, HSBC, AT&T, Phillip Morris, Texas Instruments and Sprint
Autonomy OEM program on track with four new agreements, including EidosMedia and Elsag-Solutions, and an expanded relationship with Computer Associates
Ongoing OEM royalty revenues increase 50% from Q3 2001
Average contract size increases to $385,000
Balance sheet remains strong with approximately $144 million in cash
R&D continues to increase, up 37% over Q3 2001

Commenting on the results, Dr. Mike Lynch, group CEO of Autonomy said, "We are pleased to announce today that our fourth quarter results show marked improvement in growth from the previous quarter, which was characterized by uncertainty and delay in the marketplace. Despite very difficult trading conditions during the year, our business model has ensured continued profitability and cash generation. We believe these results confirm that the third quarter 2001 was the bottom of this market as far as Autonomy was concerned. Throughout the fourth quarter we saw a slow yet consistent increase in visibility, as we had in the third quarter, which continues to provide us with significant encouragement about the future. In the fourth quarter our award-winning technology was selected by new blue chip customers in a wide variety of industries throughout the world including AT&T, Channel 4, Phillip Morris, Sprint, and Texas Instruments. Our average contract size increased to $385,000 as companies continue to recognize the business benefits of our automated infrastructure. Autonomy also reported its eighth consecutive quarter of profitability, and ended the year with a cash balance of $144 million."

Dr. Lynch continued, "During 2001, Autonomy successfully navigated difficult trading conditions to firmly establish itself as the standard in providing the fundamental infrastructure for automating the management and delivery of unstructured information in any digital domain. Our global customer base continued to increase to more than 475 customers, ranging from major governments to many of the leading Fortune 500 companies. This success is built on the value proposition we bring to our clients, namely a rapid return on investment through automation. We enable enterprises to operate more efficiently, while providing our OEM and indirect channel partners with a solution to a fundamental problem - making sense and use of unstructured information in an efficient and effective manner."

Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2001 Financial Highlights

Revenues for the fourth quarter totalled $13.5 million, up 31% from $10.3 million for the third quarter of 2001, and down 35% from $21.5 million for the fourth quarter of 2000. U.S./Asia Pac revenues of $6.3 million were 47% of total revenues and U.K./European revenues totalling $7.2 million were 53% of total revenues in the fourth quarter of 2001. Revenues for 2001 totalled $52.6 million, down 20% from $65.4 million for 2000.

Gross profits for the quarter were $12.9 million, up 28% from $10.1 million in the third quarter of 2001, and down 38% from $20.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2000. Fourth quarter gross margins were 95%, compared to 98% in the third quarter of 2001 and compared to 96% in the fourth quarter of 2000. Gross profits for 2001 were $50.7 million, down 18% from $61.5 million in 2000. Gross margins in 2001 were 96%, compared to 94% in 2000.

Net income for the fourth quarter of 2001 was $2.0 million, or $0.02 per diluted share, compared to net income of $0.1 million, or $0.00 per diluted share, for the third quarter of 2001 and compared to net income of $4.3 million or $0.03 per diluted share, for the fourth quarter of 2000. Net income for 2001 was $9.4 million, or $0.07 per diluted share, compared to net income of $14.5 million for 2000, or $0.11 per diluted share, for 2000.

Cash increased in the quarter before a tax payment of £2.0 million. Our cash balance, which is 90% held in sterling, was £99.0 million at the end of 2001 (compared to £99.4 million at the end of the third quarter 2001), with a dollar equivalent of $143.6 million (compared to $146.2 million at the end of the third quarter of 2001).

Accounts receivable days sales outstanding fell to 95 days for the fourth quarter of 2001, compared to 110 days for the third quarter of 2001. Receivables for the fourth quarter were $14.2 million compared to $12.3 million for the third quarter of 2001 and were $21.2 million at the end of 2000. Deferred revenues were $9.1 million gross ($3.2 million net) at December 31, 2001, compared with $7.6 million gross ($3.2 million net) at September 30, 2001, and compared with $9.4 million gross ($5.1 million net) at December 31, 2000.

Product Sales

Autonomy's infrastructure technology has been adopted by enterprises to process information across all internal and external data sources. During the quarter, major wins included: AT&T, New York Life Insurance, Phillip Morris, Texas Instruments, Sprint and Swiss Army. Repeat business from existing customers, such as Astra Zeneca, HSBC, NTT, Pfizer and U.S. Federal security agencies accounted for approximately 35% of revenue for the quarter.

Increasingly detailed ROI and business case studies are assisting the sales process in a number of unexpected ways. In the face of such stringent scrutiny, potential competitors are challenged to defend technologies that continue to require significant manual support. Conversely, while Autonomy's technology is able to provide significant return on investment in basic areas such as support and maintenance and reduced manualization, the scrutiny of ROI and thorough business case proposals is ensuring that the technology is deployed in sophisticated and innovative ways that further prove Autonomy's market leader status.

Strategic Partnerships and OEMs

Autonomy's OEM Program continues to progress according to plans with the addition of four new OEMs,including CCI, EidosMedia and Elsag-Solutions, and an expanded relationship with Computer Associates. Ongoing OEM royalty revenues for the fourth quarter of 2001 were $0.6 million compared to $0.4 million for the third quarter of 2001.

Q4 Corporate Developments

Autonomy-powered portals at Ford and the US Army received awards from CIO Magazine and InfoWorld Magazine in recognition of their innovative design and functionality. InfoWorld honored the Ford Learning Network portal and the U.S. Army for its Army Knowledge Online (AKO) portal. AKO won the prestigious CIO Web Business 50 Award. Using technology from Autonomy, AKO assists in the production of higher quality products, recommendations and decisions by providing the Army with Web-based tools that allow individuals to spend more time analyzing, not collecting information. With Autonomy's infrastructure software, Ford employees have access to content from corporate applications, legacy information systems, including Ford's e-learning content and classroom materials, Ford's research libraries and other company databases.

About Autonomy Corporation plc

Autonomy Corporation plc (Nasdaq: AUTN; LSE: AU.; Nasdaq Europe: AUTN) is a global leader in infrastructure software for the enterprise. Autonomy's technology powers applications dependent upon unstructured information including: e-commerce, customer relationship management, knowledge management, enterprise information portals, enterprise resource planning and online publishing. Autonomy's customer base includes more than 475 global companies, including Astra Zeneca, British Aerospace, Clorox, Deutsche Bank, Ericsson, General Motors, Lucent, Royal SunAlliance, Sun Microsystems and public sector agencies including the United States Department of Defense, NASA and the United States Department of Energy. Strategic reseller and OEM partners include leading companies such as BEA, Business Objects, Hewlett Packard, IBM Global Services, Oracle, Sybase and Vignette. The company has offices in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia and is on the Web at http://www.autonomy.com/.

Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

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 Annual Report on Form 20-F.

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	Sushovan Hussain, Chief Financial Officer Autonomy Corporation plc +44 (0)1223 448 000
Edward Bridges Financial Dynamics +44 (0)20 7831 3113	Edward Bridges Financial Dynamics +44 (0)20 7831 3113

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