Thursday April 24, 11:29 AM
Sector movers: Autonomy maintains "conservative" outlook
LONDON (ShareCast) - Information access technology firm Autonomy saw its shares tumble after leaving its 'conservative' full-year outlook unchanged, despite reporting a 47% jump in first-quarter pre-tax profit. Pre-tax profit
rose to $23.6m in the quarter ended 31 March from $16.1m. Revenue was up 61% to $105.1m, thanks to strong organic growth and the contribution from acquisitions. The group had a cash balance of $95.5m at quarter end and no net debt. "We have decided to maintain our conservative view on prospects, which we will review if, as expected, current strength continues," said chief executive Mike Lynch. Broker Piper Jaffray responded to the announcement by reiterating its "buy" recommendation with a 1200p price target. The broker said: "Today's statement is unlikely to drive upgrades to market 2008 expectations for Autonomy; however, we continue to view 2009 EPS consensus as circa 5% too low - as revenue momentum comes through there is potential for this to move up." Engineer Senior said adjusted profit before tax, for the first three months of 2008, was comfortably ahead of expectations. Trading in the Aerospace and Flexonics' Divisions has been strong. Combined deliveries of Boeing (NYSE: BA - news) and Airbus (Paris: NL0000235190 - news) are up 8% to 238 aircraft for the first three months of 2008. Combined order book increased to 7,293 aircraft at the end of March 2008 versus 6,848 at the end of December 2007. Demand in the wide-bodied commercial aerospace market is expected to remain healthy for the foreseeable future, it said. New programmes, such as the B787 and A380, will provide additional benefits as their production rates increase over the coming years. Regional and business jet demand is also expected to remain strong and military volumes to continue at satisfactory levels. "The North American heavy-duty diesel products continue, as expected, to improve their contribution with a number of new opportunities currently being worked on ahead of the implementation of tighter emission regulations in 2010," it said. Top performing sectors so far today
Electronic & Electrical Equipment 2,050.60 +1.60%
Mobile Telecommunications 3,552.10 +1.59%
Industrial Engineering 3,485.40 +0.49%
Aerospace and Defence 3,372.90 +0.41%
Gas, Water & Multiutilities 4,430.20 +0.37% Bottom performing sectors so far today
Mining 27,130.30 -3.75%
Software & Computer Services (CSVI.PK - news) 434.10 -3.21%
Forestry & Paper 4,489.00 -2.46%
General Retailers 1,459.50 -2.37%
Oil & Gas Producers 8,198.10 -2.12%
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