UK software firm Autonomy has posted record second quarter and half year results, with sales rising 20 per cent to $73m (£35.4m) and profits rising 70 per cent to £24m.

The results were reportedly brought forward so the recently announced acquisition of information risk management firm Zantaz could be completed.

The record earnings are well ahead of market expectations, says Autonomy chief executive Mike Lynch.

‘With strong organic growth, continued investment in research and development and the acquisition of Zantaz, we have firmly established ourselves as a leader in the enterprise retrieval and discovery markets,’ he said.

It has been a frantic six months for the company, says Ovum analyst Mike Davis.

Autonomy has agreements with more than 300 companies to re-sell its software, it successfully spun off its consumer arm as the video search company Blinkx and has acquired Zantaz for $375m (£182m).

The Zantaz deal will take it into different territory, adds Davis.

‘Not only will the company have a division offering software-as-a-service (SaaS) for hosted archiving, but the combination of Autonomy’s Idol technology and Zantaz’s information lifecycle software provides a capacity to address both operational and compliance issues within one piece of software,’ he said.

In a separate announcement, Autonomy stated that it is partnering with Italian systems integrator Aktive Reply to develop unstructured data management applications for the Italian market.