Autonomy Corporation Share Discussion Threads

[football] 18/8/2011 22:22

done deal £25.50 a share just hope clubman was short


Hewlett Packard to exit computing and buy Autonomy
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Hewlett Packard has confirmed plans to exit PCs, tablets and phones, in order to refocus on software.

The company has also agreed to buy UK software firm Autonomy for £6.2bn ($10.3bn), or 2550p per share.

Shares in HP spiked as rumours - now confirmed by HP - broke.

HP also said it was considering a sale of its personal systems group, which includes the world's biggest PC-making business, and that it will discontinue its webOS devices.

The webOS operating system is used in its tablet computers and smartphones.

The move marks a significant U-turn for the company, which announced in a March strategic review that it would integrate webOS into all of its future hardware.

HP had launched its Pre tablet computer as a competitor to the iPad and devices based on Google's Android operating system.

However, webOS failed to gain traction with reviewers, or with operators and retailers.

Mark-up
Autonomy's board has accepted HP's offer to buy the firm, and founder Mike Lynch, who owns 8.2% of the stock, has pledged to vote for the deal.

The UK firm was founded by researchers at Cambridge University, and specialises in pattern-recognition technologies.

Mike Lynch told the BBC: "HP understands the special culture we have. This is about building Autonomy. It will be a positive thing for Cambridge and the UK."

The agreed price of 2550p represents a 78% mark-up on its closing price in London on Wednesday of 1429p.

It is equivalent to 47 times the pre-tax profits earned by Autonomy in the 12 months to June this year.

As news of the acquisition and strategic shake-up leaked out, HP briefly went from being the worst performer in the Dow Jones Industrial Average index of leading shares, to the only gainer at lunchtime.

The company's share price jumped 15% as the news broke on the Bloomberg newswire, before giving up nearly all of the gains as trading progressed into the afternoon.

HP's shares eventually ended the day 7.6% down, confirming it as the worst performer on what was a dreadful day for the markets.

That came on top of a 3.9% fall on Tuesday that was prompted by a warning from rival Dell that it expected demand in the US market to weaken in the coming months.

The news follows long-running rumours that chief executive Leo Apotheker, who recently joined from German rival SAP, wanted to refocus the company away from its traditional hardware business towards its smaller but much more profitable software lines.

On the sale of its PC business, HP said it "will consider a broad range of options that may include, among others, a full or partial separation... from HP through a spin-off or other transaction".

[bookish] 18/8/2011 22:19

By FT reporters


Autonomy, the UK's largest software company, has had an offer to be bought by Hewlett-Packard for about $10.2bn (£6.2bn) in the latest pursuit of a FTSE 100 company by a foreign predator.

[bookish] 18/8/2011 22:18

By FT reporters

Autonomy, the UK's largest software company, has had an offer to be bought by Hewlett-Packard for about $10.2bn (£6.2bn) in the latest pursuit of a FTSE 100 company by a foreign predator.

[fieldhouse] 18/8/2011 22:02

Good of you Mike.!!
Hope you give the city boys a two finger salute.
what did they know,sweet fanny adam.!!
Well done,a very good company managed by real business professionals that has been much derided by the city professionals.Yes those same people that sold derivatives on behalf of Bankers that did not have a clue.
good luck all holders
FH

[eagle eye] 18/8/2011 21:19

The offer from HP is £25.50 per share cash.....

[luafc] 18/8/2011 21:13

This is better.

[n_w_b] 18/8/2011 21:13

CHC15,
That's always the hindsight kick yourself thought ;-)

Don't have any now, but did many many moons ago in the early day of the dot.com boom and have met many people in the company through business.

The M&A market is going to take off big time in the current climate. What's the point in companies holding cash when the countries of the world are printing it like it's going out of fashion, therefore the £ or $ in your pocket is loosing value everyday as they dilute it. Better instead to put that money to work and pick up bargains which will provide organic growth.

Well done all

[luafc] 18/8/2011 21:12

£25.50 cash if I'm seeing this right.

[cambium] 18/8/2011 20:52

Wow wow wow :0)

[chc15] 18/8/2011 20:35

awesome, serves the shorters right, my old £2 per share investmnent has done well. was so tempted to buy more today - such an obvious buying opp.

[bonnylad] 18/8/2011 19:51

Autonomy Confirms In Talks With US Giant Hewlett-Packard
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Autonomy Corporation (LSE:AU.)
Intraday Stock Chart
Today : Thursday 18 August 2011


Autonomy Corp. PLC (AU.LN) Thursday confirmed that it was in talks with U.S. giant Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) about a possible offer for the U.K. data-analytics company.

Autonomy was responding to recent press reports that the world's biggest computer maker was close to a $10 billion takeover deal of the company.

"It would make perfect sense for one of the big data-base players to want to own Autonomy--the software is indeed unique and growing in importance," said Tim Daniels, TMT Strategist at Olivetree Securities.

H-P may announce plans as early as Thursday, according to people familiar with deal. These plans could include H-P spinning off its personal computer business and using Autonomy to boost a software and services platform, according to some reports.

"H-P would be buying this as part of a refocus of the business on software. They have been talking for a while about a focus on software--clients now don't have a problem accumulating data, the problem is the structuring of it and Autonomy's software does this," Daniels added.

H-P is expected to report its latest quarterly earnings after the U.S. market closes.

The technology giant has been under investor pressure because of what is seen as its underperforming stock price, and there have been calls to explore options for its low-margin PC business.

H-P was also in the spotlight after its former Chief Executive Mark Hurd left the company last year amid a scandal, and current CEO Leo Apotheker stepped in.

Autonomy has a market value of about GBP3.5 billion. H-P is at $62.4 billion.

-By Marietta Cauchi, Dow Jones Newswires; [phone]; [e-mail]

(Gina Chon of the Wall Street Journal contributed to this article.)

[bonnylad] 18/8/2011 19:49

Autonomy Confirms In Talks With US Giant Hewlett-Packard
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Autonomy Corporation (LSE:AU.)
Intraday Stock Chart
Today : Thursday 18 August 2011


Autonomy Corp. PLC (AU.LN) Thursday confirmed that it was in talks with U.S. giant Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) about a possible offer for the U.K. data-analytics company.

Autonomy was responding to recent press reports that the world's biggest computer maker was close to a $10 billion takeover deal of the company.

"It would make perfect sense for one of the big data-base players to want to own Autonomy--the software is indeed unique and growing in importance," said Tim Daniels, TMT Strategist at Olivetree Securities.

H-P may announce plans as early as Thursday, according to people familiar with deal. These plans could include H-P spinning off its personal computer business and using Autonomy to boost a software and services platform, according to some reports.

"H-P would be buying this as part of a refocus of the business on software. They have been talking for a while about a focus on software--clients now don't have a problem accumulating data, the problem is the structuring of it and Autonomy's software does this," Daniels added.

H-P is expected to report its latest quarterly earnings after the U.S. market closes.

The technology giant has been under investor pressure because of what is seen as its underperforming stock price, and there have been calls to explore options for its low-margin PC business.

H-P was also in the spotlight after its former Chief Executive Mark Hurd left the company last year amid a scandal, and current CEO Leo Apotheker stepped in.

Autonomy has a market value of about GBP3.5 billion. H-P is at $62.4 billion.

-By Marietta Cauchi, Dow Jones Newswires; [phone]; [e-mail]

(Gina Chon of the Wall Street Journal contributed to this article.)

[essentialinvestor] 18/8/2011 19:41

What a lovely result, well done folks.

[kooba] 18/8/2011 19:39

trading £22.85 equiv in us.

[alchemy30] 18/8/2011 19:35

Evening all,

Don't hold but well done to all longs, looks like you could be in for a bumper start tomorrow morning.

Don't follow this sector so could anyone who does suggest any shares that may go up in symapthy following this development ?

TIA

[bashor] 18/8/2011 18:54

I'm not in these but well done all the longs :-)

[football] 18/8/2011 18:52

where is clubman? bet he went long today

[stockmuncherpro] 18/8/2011 18:49

Well done chaps, wish Aviva or Barc got bought out.

[qwerty6637] 18/8/2011 18:41

Thanks Kooba, appreciate it.

[surrey dodger] 18/8/2011 18:37

utonomy confirm deal in progress. Bloomberg news

[kooba] 18/8/2011 18:36

Shares in issue (m) 243,427

$10b = £6.07b.

looks more like £25 per share.

[qwerty6637] 18/8/2011 18:32

If $10bn, any ideas what the share price would be?

[bobsidian] 18/8/2011 18:28

What does that equate to ?

Around £25 per share ; 75% premium to today's close ?

Yet another vertical move in the share price of AU.

Will be sad to see the departure of AU. from the FTSE100, wild and irratic share though it has been.

[only who?] 18/8/2011 18:23

Well, that's suddenly improved my day. Surprising that the market was taken by surprise. Tomorrow's open should be fun - unless you're short.