Autonomy Thrives in Lousy Economic Climate
April 29, 2009
I am at Day Two of the Boston Search Engine Meeting. At the break, I talked with a small group and the subject was the impact of the financial climate on the enterprise search vendors. I heard the names of two vendors who in the opinion of a couple of people with whom I spoke are gasping for nutrients in the form of dollars and euros. I don’t feel comfortable mentioning the name of one semantic-centric vendor and one non-US vendor who were the subject of speculation. In my opinion, there are probably a half dozen or more of the companies that I track in a resource pickle.
One notable exception is the UK based vendor Autonomy. I did not see a representative of Autonomy at this conference, but I have been too busy to conduct an inventory of the attendees. Autonomy reported a week or two ago that it was likely to have a solid financial performance. I did a quick check, and it is evident, if I understand Autonomy’s data, that the lousy climate is not inhibiting Autonomy’s growth.
You can Kathy Sandler’s take here. She reported on April 23, 2009, that Autonomy plans to upgrade its 2009 earnings projections. I am not a financial whiz, but the information in Ms. Sandler’s write up looks good across the board – revenue, earnings, and cost management.
My high school history teacher was fond of repeating the alleged anecdote about the drunk General US Grant and President Lincoln’s alleged comment: “Find out what he’s drinking and send a case to my other generals?”
Is it time for other enterprise search companies to take a hard look at what fuels Autonomy’s crops. Say what you will about the company’s acquisition strategy, the firm seems to be harvesting.
Are Autonomy’s competitors to arrogant to look at Mr. Lynch and determine what he does to harvest cash as others shrivel?
Stephen Arnold, April 29, 2009
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3 Responses to “Autonomy Thrives in Lousy Economic Climate”
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Perhaps it’s the location? http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article6164581.ece
Off to man the defences….
Autonomy announced last Thursday 23% revenue growth for 2009 Q1 over 2008 Q1. TEMIS announced 30% growth. Indicators are good. More, including announcement links, here:
http://www.b-eye-network.com/blogs/grimes/archives/2009/04/text_analytics_2.php
Seth
Seth Grimes,
Is TEMIS a publicly traded company? If so, please, send me a link to the financials. If not, how do we know that the data are accurate?
Stephen Arnold, April 29, 2009