Autonomy has jumped to the top of the FTSE 100 risers after it issued a positive trading update and repeated it might return cash to shareholders if a long awaited deal did not take place.
The software company - which is almost like the Marmite of the City in that analysts seem to either love it or hate it - has around £500m earmarked for a US acquisition, but so far the deal has not been consummated. Today the company did not comment on how any talks were going, but chief executive Mike Lynch said if the takeover was not completed, it might give the cash back to investors.
The first quarter saw record revenues of $220m, up 13% and earnings up by the same amount. Lynch said:
Although the ultimate outturn for the year will be dependent upon the performance in the next three quarters, not just the first, we continue to see a gentle sustained recovery and believe current market estimates will turn out to be conservative.
All this helped lift the company 99p higher to £16.07. Overall though the FTSE 100 has slipped back from its early highs, and is now down 8.75 points at 6013.51. Vodafone is down 6.45p at 170.2p after a worse than expected update from US joint venture Verizon Wireless. Meanwhile KPN - which competes with the UK company in its local Dutch market - warned of weak domestic demand.
