Autonomy gets some legal aid

Soaring litigation against Wall Street banks and American insurance companies has proved great news for Autonomy, the UK-based software group.

Analysts had forecast revenues of $121.6 million (£68.7 million) and profits of $44.5 million for the last three months, which is traditionally the worst quarter.

Autonomy's chief executive Mike Lynch said: "We have benefited from recent regulatory changes in the US, which means people have had to buy our stuff just to prepare themselves for the threat of litigation.

"When a bank gets into trouble it uses our software to search through emails, voice mails and instant messages to find who did what and when.

"Regulators use our software when they come in to investigate and lawyers use it to prepare all the disclosures they have to make in court."

He said hedge funds would be the next major area for litigation as clients sue them when they get into trouble.