News

AUTONOMY CORPORATION PLC ANNOUNCES RESULTS FOR THE FIRST QUARTER ENDED MARCH 31, 2003

Thirteenth Consecutive Quarter of Profitability; Profit Before Tax up 79% over Q4 2002;

Launch of New Audentify™ Contact Center Technology

Autonomy's first quarter conference call will be available live on the World Wide Web at www.autonomy.com on Friday, April 25, 2003 at 9:30 a.m. BST/4:30 a.m. EST/1:30 a.m. PST

SAN FRANCISCO, California and CAMBRIDGE, England - April 25, 2003 - 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 first quarter ended March 31, 2003.

Financial Highlights

	Three Months Ended
	(unaudited)
Results in US$	March 31, 2003	Dec. 31, 2002	March 31, 2002
($000's except per share)
Revenues	$ 11,955	$ 13,168	$ 14,076
Gross profit	11,518	12,991	13,900
Gross profit margin	96%	99%	99%
Profit before tax	$ 1,958	$ 1,094	$ 4,275
Net profit	$ 1,329	$ 887	$ 3,368
EPS
- basic	$ 0.01	$ 0.01	$ 0.03
- diluted	$ 0.01	$ 0.01	$ 0.03

First Quarter 2003 Corporate Highlights

Revenues and profits in line with consensus
Thirteenth consecutive quarter of profitability
Profit before tax up 79% over Q4 2002
OEM program performed well, with five contracts including agreements with Vignette and Novell
OEM ongoing royalties up 100% over Q4 2002
Launch of Audentify™ contact center technology
Gross margins remain high at 96%
Blue chip first quarter wins include Agfa, Gillette, The St Paul Companies, ITN, Aera Energy, Singapore Police, Swedish Defence, Vodafone, Nestle, Lafarge, JD Edwards, Halliburton, Citigroup, Nordea, U.K. Ministry of Defence and various U.S. Federal government agencies
R&D continues to increase, up 20% over 2002

Commenting on the results, Dr. Mike Lynch, group CEO of Autonomy said, "We are pleased to announce that our first quarter 2003 results are in-line with market expectations. In common with other software companies, Autonomy experienced the negative effects of the general uncertainty arising from the war in Iraq. However, I am pleased to announce that during this period sales have remained stable, and that Q1 2003 was our thirteenth consecutive quarter of profitability, a rare feat in the IT industry. During Q1 2003 net profits increased 50% over Q4 2002 and profits before tax by 79%. In the first quarter our award-winning technology was selected by new and existing blue chip customers in a wide variety of industries throughout the world including Agfa, Gillette, The St Paul Companies, ITN, Aera Energy, Singapore Police, Swedish Defence, Vodafone, Nestle, Lafarge, JD Edwards, Halliburton, Citigroup, Nordea, U.K. Ministry of Defence and various U.S. Federal government agencies. Our OEM business performed particularly well, including agreements with iManage, Vignette and Novell. Our average contract size remained stable at $340,000 as companies continue to recognize the business benefits of our automated infrastructure."

Dr. Lynch continued, "During 2002 and into the first quarter of 2003, Autonomy has continued to invest in R&D. We are pleased to announce today Audentify™, our newest product based on Autonomy's core IDOL™ platform, which extends the benefits of Autonomy to all aspects of contact center operations. Audentify delivers a total solution for the contact center environment, from 100% call recording, storage and call analytics, through to a real-time agent assistant and e-learning solution to close the loop. Audentify's unique solution reduces training overheads and helps bring agents up to speed more quickly. First time call resolution is improved and average call handling times are decreased, driving employee and customer satisfaction. Audentify drives ROI through improved operational efficiency and by helping identify customers' requirements. Audentify will be available for sale through our existing channels, as well as to our OEMs. The launch of Audentify is further evidence that Autonomy is well positioned to exploit the opportunities presented by the markets."

First Quarter 2003 Financial Highlights

Revenues for the first quarter totalled $12.0 million, down 9% from $13.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2002, and down 15% from $14.1 million for the first quarter of 2002. U.S./Asia Pac revenues of $6.5 million were 55% of total revenues and U.K./European revenues totalling $5.5 million were 45% of total revenues in the first quarter of 2003.

Gross profits for the quarter were $11.5 million, down 11% from $13.0 million in the fourth quarter of 2002, and down 17% from $13.9 million in the first quarter of 2002. First quarter gross margins were 96%, compared to 99% in each of the fourth quarter of 2002 and the first quarter of 2002.

Net profit for the first quarter of 2003 was $1.3 million, or $0.01 per diluted share, compared to net profit of $0.9 million, or $0.01 per diluted share, for the fourth quarter of 2002 and compared to net profit of $3.4 million, or $0.03 per diluted share, for the first quarter of 2002.

Cash balances were $155.8 million at March 31, 2003, before giving effect to the cumulative effect of Autonomy's share repurchase program. The actual cash balance at March 31, 2003, was $124.3 million. During the quarter Autonomy continued its share repurchase program, purchasing for cancellation 7,660,765 shares at an average price of £1.44 per share, and purchasing 180,465 shares held within its Employee Benefit Trust at an average price of £1.66 per share. In total, Autonomy has purchased for cancellation 12,641,051 shares at an average price of £1.47 per share.

Accounts receivable days sales outstanding were 134 days for the first quarter of 2003, compared to 100 days for the fourth quarter of 2002. Receivables for the first quarter were $17.8 million compared to $14.7 million for the fourth quarter of 2002 and $13.9 million for the first quarter of 2002. Deferred revenues were $9.2 million gross ($4.8 million net) at March 31, 2003, compared with $8.7 million gross ($5.0 million net) at December 31, 2002, and compared with $9.7 million gross ($3.5 million net) at March 31, 2002.

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 new customer wins included: Agfa, Gillette, Citigroup, The St Paul Companies, ITN, Aera Energy, Ball State, Clarion Health, Singapore Police and Isabel. Repeat business from existing customers accounted for approximately 30% of revenue for the quarter, and included customers such as Vodafone, Nestle, Lexmark, Lafarge, JD Edwards, AMR, Halliburton, Nordea, British Tourist Authority, Swedish Defence and U.K. Ministry of Defence, as well as various U.S. Federal government agencies, which accounted for approximately 15% of revenue for the quarter.

Strategic Partnerships and OEMs

Autonomy's OEM Program continued on track during the first quarter, with five contracts, including agreements with Vignette, Saperion and Novell. OEM-derived revenues for the first quarter of 2003 of $2.2 million accounted for approximately 20% of revenues, compared to $2.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2002.

Q1 Corporate Developments

During the first quarter Autonomy was recognized in multiple ways for its market leadership and unmatched technology.

During the first quarter Autonomy was singled out by the Butler Group for its innovative technology that reduces the cost of information processing, enhances business operations and increases collaboration, noting that "Autonomy is well on the way to becoming the de facto content processing engine." Forrester Research recognized Autonomy as one of the market leaders, credited for its successful marketing strategy, market share, relationships with technology providers and its sophisticated security, in its TechStrategy™ Report, "Grading Search Platform Hopefuls." Giga Information Group recognized Autonomy as the leading pattern-recognition technology in the market and a crucial component of future adaptive workplace solutions in its report, "Planning Assumption, Adaptive Workplaces: Preparing for the Future of Work."

During the first quarter, Autonomy was included in KMWorld magazine's annual "100 Companies that Matter in Knowledge Management" issue for the third year in a row, and was selected by Business 2.0 magazine for its third annual "Essential Business Software Tool Kit" issue.

About Autonomy Corporation plc

Autonomy Corporation plc (Nasdaq: AUTN; Nasdaq Europe: AUTN; LSE: AU.) is a global leader in infrastructure software for the enterprise. Autonomy's technology powers applications dependent upon unstructured information including customer relationship management, knowledge management, enterprise portals, enterprise resource planning, online publishing and security applications. Autonomy's customer base includes more than 600 global organizations including AstraZeneca, BAE Systems, Ford, Ericsson, Hutchison 3G, the BBC, RoyalSunAlliance, Sun Microsystems and public sector agencies including the US Department of Defense, NASA and the US Department of Energy, as well as the UK Government's Department of Trade and Industry and numerous agencies responsible for homeland security related functions. Strategic reseller and OEM partners include leading companies such as ATG, BEA, Business Objects, Computer Associates, Hewlett Packard, IBM Global Services, Vignette, EDS and Sybase. The company has offices worldwide and is on the Web at 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 latest 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:
Ian Black, Director of Corporate Communications Autonomy Corporation plc +44 (0)1223 448 000	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

Download the Adobe Acrobat version of the Q1 2003 Report (PDF)