Terror fight favours software firm

Intelligent software company Autonomy, revealing hopes of a trade rebound, has said it may benefit from heightened security measures following the terror strikes in the US.

The company, whose software assists monitoring of text or voice records, includes 35 US government agencies among its 475-strong client base.

And while the firm, a former member of the FTSE 100 elite of top London-listed firm, declined to comment in detail on contracts, chief technology officer Richard Gaunt said:

"What we do is all about information, and the September 11 events have been portrayed as a classic failure of information gathering in that sector.

"So there's a much stronger focus on what we offer in that market than there was prior to the event."

The firm has seen some small pilot studies "getting to be much larger pilots", he added.

Recovery hopes

Despite initial fears over the implications for trade of the terror attacks, the firm has continued to see an improvement in orders, a statement on Thursday said.

"In particular, larger deals that were temporarily delayed are now maturing at an encouraging pace," chief executive Mike Lynch said.

This increase in orders gave Autonomy "significant reasons to be encouraged" about prospects, Dr Lynch said.

Mr Gaunt raised hopes of a wider recovery.

"All we do is software, which means we see the negative impact of people not spending money very quickly and correspondingly see the positive side quickly," he said.

"And we're starting to see that now."

Jobs 'secure'

Autonomy is increasing its spending on research, and saw "no need" to cut staff, Mr Gaunt said, amid an ongoing period of job losses in the technology sector, including 4,500 announced on Wednesday by Fujitsu.

"The combined effect of a competitive landscape that continues to become more benign and a low cost base leaves us well positioned for future growth."

The firm, which has offices in Cambridge and San Francisco, reported a pre-tax loss of $438,000 in the three months to the end of September, compared with a $2.2m profit the quarter before.

Revenues, at $10.2m, were more than a quarter down.

But Mr Gaunt, predicting a "strong return to profitability" during the last three months of the year, said.

"We're of the view that [the last quarter] is the bottom in terms of revenue."

The results were well received in the City, where Autonomy shares stood 11% at 315p in lunchtime trade.

The shares topped £41 last November, before falling victim to the technology sell-off which cost Autonomy its place in the FTSE 100 in March.