Autonomy profits hit by delayed orders

NEWS Autonomy has taken a severe beating in its third quarter and is blaming delayed customer orders in a period of economic slowdown. Although sales were weakening before 11 September, the terrorist attacks have affected sales. The results, however, are not unexpected - the company issued a profits warning previously - and are in line with expectations. Revenue for the quarter was $10.26m with a profit of $323,000. This compares with a profit of $4.7m in the comparable quarter last year. The company's share price was up just over two per cent to 291p during mid-morning trading.