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AUTONOMY CORPORATION PLC ANNOUNCES RESULTS FOR FOURTH QUARTER AND YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2003

Q4 2003 EPS up 159% year-on-year; Q4 2003 profit before tax up 116% year-on-year; Q4 2003 operating margin up 140% year-on-year at 11%

Autonomy's fourth quarter conference call will be available live on the World Wide Web at www.autonomy.com on Thursday, January 29, 2004 at 9:30 a.m. BST/4:30 a.m. EST/1:30 a.m. PST

SAN FRANCISCO, California and CAMBRIDGE, England - January 29, 2004 - Autonomy Corporation plc (Nasdaq: AUTN, LSE: AU.), a global leader in infrastructure software for the extended enterprise, today reported financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2003.

Financial Highlights

  Three Months Ended Twelve Months Ended
  (unaudited) (unaudited) (audited)
Results in US$ Dec. 31,
2003
Sept. 30,
2003
Dec. 31,
2002
Dec. 31,
2003
Dec. 31,
2002
($000's except per share)  
Revenues $ 16,960 $ 13,012 $ 13,168 $ 54,881 $ 50,961
Gross profit 15,751 12,425 12,991 52,229 50,027
Gross profit margin 93% 95% 99% 95% 98%
Profit before tax $ 2,368 $ 1,605 $ 1,094 $ 7,680 $ 6,518
Net profit $ 2,089 $ 1,303 $ 887 $ 6,170 $ 6,127
EPS  
- basic $ 0.02 $ 0.01 $ 0.01 $ 0.06 $ 0.05
- diluted $ 0.02 $ 0.01 $ 0.01 $ 0.05 $ 0.05

* Gross profit margin in Q4 2003 includes a non-cash charge for amortization of purchased intangibles of $391,000. For comparison purposes, excluding this non-cash charge, gross profit margins are 95% for Q4 2003.

Fourth Quarter 2003 Corporate Highlights

Full Year 2003 Corporate Highlights

Commenting on the results, Dr. Mike Lynch, group CEO of Autonomy said, "We are pleased to announce Autonomy's continued strong performance, with results ahead of market consensus. Q4 2003 and the full-year 2003 results are significant improvements from Q4 2002 and the full-year 2002, demonstrating that our software is consistently delivering major cost savings and incremental value to employees and customers on a global basis. Of particular note, operating margins for Q4 2003 increased 140%, which validates the geared nature of our business model. At the same time Autonomy continued to invest in R&D, increasing 29% from 2002 to 2003, and up 82% over the past three years. Cash collection during the quarter was also strong. During the fourth quarter all areas of Autonomy's businesses saw continued recovery in activity levels."

Dr. Lynch continued, "During 2003 Autonomy was able to extend its leadership and bring the benefits of automation to enterprises around the world, and maintain profitability, despite a marketplace still characterized by uncertainty and delay. Autonomy's success during 2003 has enabled significant investment in R&D. In particular, Autonomy extended the market lead of its IDOL Server further into the video and rich media market with the acquisition of Virage, a leading provider of video and rich media communication software, the contact centre market with the launch of Audentify, a leading supplier of next-generation contact center technology, and the compliance and legal markets with the launch of Aungate, a leading supplier of electronic communications management technology for enterprise-wide regulatory compliance."

Dr. Lynch concluded, "The net result of a strong 2003 is that our investment and performance means we remain well placed operationally and financially to take advantage of a possible change in business climate."

Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2003 Financial Highlights

Revenues for the fourth quarter totalled $17.0 million, up 30% from $13.0 million for the third quarter of 2003, and up 29% from $13.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2002. U.S./Asia Pac revenues of $9.6 million were 57% of total revenues and U.K./European revenues totalling $7.3 million were 43% of total revenues in the fourth quarter of 2003. Revenues for 2003 totalled $54.9 million, up 8% from $51.0 million for 2002.

Gross profits for the quarter were $15.8 million, up 27% from $12.4 million in the third quarter of 2003, and up 21% from $13.0 million in the fourth quarter of 2002. Fourth quarter gross margins were 93%, compared to 95% in the third quarter of 2003 and compared to 99% in the fourth quarter of 2002. Gross profit margin in Q4 2003 includes a non-cash charge for amortization of purchased intangibles of $391,000. For comparison purposes, excluding this non-cash charge, gross profit margins are 95% for Q4 2003. Gross profits for 2003 were $52.2 million, up 4% from $50.0 million in 2002. Gross margins in 2003 were 95%, compared to 98% in 2002.

Net profit for the fourth quarter of 2003 was $2.1 million, or $0.02 per diluted share, compared to net profit of $1.3 million, or $0.01 per diluted share, for the third quarter of 2003 and compared to net profit of $0.9 million or $0.01 per diluted share, for the fourth quarter of 2002. Net profit for 2003 was $6.2 million, or $0.05 per diluted share, compared to net profit of $6.1 million, or $0.05 per diluted share, for 2002.

Cash balances were $102.3 million at December 31, 2003, an increase of $0.1 million in the quarter. During the quarter Autonomy continued its share repurchase program, purchasing for cancellation 712,831 shares at an average price of £2.35 per share (approximately $4.00 per share). During the year Autonomy purchased for cancellation 12,332,084 shares at an average price of £1.62 per share (approximately $2.60 per share), and purchased 180,465 shares held within its Employee Benefit Trust at an average price of £1.66 per share (approximately $2.57 per share). In total, Autonomy has purchased for cancellation 17,312,370 shares at an average price of £1.59 per share (approximately $2.55 per share).

Accounts receivable days sales outstanding fell to 99 days for the fourth quarter of 2003, compared to 140 days for the third quarter of 2003. Receivables for the fourth quarter were $18.7 million compared to $20.2 million for the third quarter of 2003 and were $14.7 million at the end of 2002. Deferred revenues were $5.6 million net at December 31, 2003, compared with $5.9 million net at September 30, 2003, and compared with $5.0 million net at December 31, 2002.

Although GAAP disclosure provides investors and management with an overall view of Autonomy's financial performance, Autonomy believes that it is important for investors to also understand the performance of Autonomy's core business, such as the sale of its software products and services. Consequently, the non-GAAP results exclude charges not reflective of Autonomy's core ongoing operational business, namely amortization of purchased intangibles. Management uses the adjusted results to assess the financial performance of Autonomy's core business.

Strategic Partnerships and OEMs

Autonomy's OEM Program was ahead of targets during the year, with the addition of 20 new OEM agreements in 2003. During the year Autonomy achieved virtually all new major OEM product wins in the sector, with new and expanded relationships with Novell, Veritas, EDS, Computer Associates, SupportSoft, Vignette and BEA, amongst others. OEM-derived revenues for the fourth quarter of 2003 of $3.2 million accounted for approximately 19% of revenues, compared to $2.0 million for the third quarter of 2003.

Q4 Product Sales

Autonomy's infrastructure technology has been adopted by enterprises to process information across all internal and external data formats and sources . During the quarter, major new wins included: BMC Software, Sybase, U.S. Air Force, Raymond James, DirecTV, U.K.'s Houses of Parliament, BT, China's Foreign Language Agency, Deutsche Bank, Sprint, National Archives of Canada, and various intelligence and defence agencies in Spain, Sweden, Singapore, Benelux and the U.S. Repeat business from existing customers accounted for approximately 30% of revenue for the quarter, and included Ford, Altria, the U.K. Department of Trade and Industry, Philips, Credit Lyonnais, The U.S. Center for Disease Control, New York University, Credit Suisse First Boston, Boeing and several U.S., U.K. and Italian defence and intelligence agencies.

Q4 Corporate Developments

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

Giga Research identified Autonomy's dominant position in providing both automatic and manual technology approaches. In the report Giga described Autonomy's pioneering automated pattern recognition technology that offers a range of choices to process unstructured information. The report states that Autonomy "shines when finding interesting or unanticipated matches between texts or digital assets is important and needed to drive collaboration, customer support or knowledge sharing activities across the enterprise".

Autonomy's product range continued to win awards. Audentify, Autonomy's leading next-generation contact center technology, was named Product of the Year winner for 2003 by Technology Marketing Corporation's Customer Inter@ction Solutions. Audentify was also awarded the "Most Innovative Product of the Year'" at the Technology Industry Awards 2003. Audentify customer Mercur Assistance was awarded ComputerWoche's "User of the Year" for its innovative call center medical assistance portal. Finally, during the quarter Autonomy's Collaboration and Expertise Networks (CEN) product was recognised as "Product of the Year" at the prestigious UK Information Management 2003 awards.

About Autonomy Corporation plc

Autonomy Corporation plc (Nasdaq: AUTN; LSE: AU.) is a global leader in infrastructure software for the enterprise. Autonomy's technology powers applications dependent upon unstructured information including call center, customer relationship management, knowledge management, enterprise portals, enterprise resource planning, online publishing and security applications. Autonomy's customer base includes more than 1,000 global companies including BAE Systems, Ford, Ericsson, Royal Sun Alliance, Sun Microsystems and public sector agencies including the U.S. Department of Defense, NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy. Strategic reseller and OEM partners include leading companies such as ATG, BEA, Business Objects, Brio, Citrix, Computer Associates, EDS, IBM Global Services, iManage, Novell, Novient, Vignette and Sybase. The company has offices worldwide.

The Autonomy Group includes: Aungate, a leading supplier of electronic communications management technology for regulatory compliance in the enterprise; Audentify, a leading supplier of next-generation contact center technology; and Virage, a leading provider of video and rich media communication software.

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 and Registration Statements on Form F-1.

Autonomy, the Autonomy logo, Aungate and Audentify 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:
Dominic Johnson
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 full Adobe Acrobat version of the Q4 2003 Report (PDF)

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