"The worst is over" - Autonomy boss

Mike Lynch, chief executive of the UK's leading knowledge management firm, was in bullish mood this morning despite a steep decline in year-on-year profits.

Autonomy saw profits more than halve in the three months to 31 December 2001, down from $4.3m to just over $2m. Sales were sharply down too from $21.5m to $13.5m.

Nevertheless, Lynch remained positive pointing to a major improvement since the summer and early autumn of 2001.

He told investors: "We believe these results confirm that the third quarter 2001 was the bottom of the market as far as Autonomy was concerned." Quarter-on-quarter sales rose 31 per cent.

Autonomy now boasts just under 500 customers worldwide with the average size of each contract standing at $385,000. Repeat business from customers including Astra Zeneca, HSBC and Pfizer accounted for 35 per cent of the quarter's revenue, the company added.