Autonomy been naughty

[wooderz]

Whoops!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20412186

HP: 'Autonomy misled on finances'

HP said it would be taking civil action to try and recover money for shareholders
Computer maker Hewlett Packard has asked US and UK authorities to investigate alleged misrepresentations of Autonomy's finances before HP took over the UK software group last year.
HP said it was "extremely disappointed" that Autonomy had appeared to have "inflated" the value of the company prior to the takeover.
"These efforts appear to have been a wilful effort to mislead," HP said.
This led to a $5bn (£3.1bn) charge in its latest quarterly accounts.
The total one-off charge recorded in HP's accounts for the three months to the end of October was $8.8bn, pushing the company to a $6.85bn net loss.
'Questionable accounting'
"HP is extremely disappointed to find that some former members of Autonomy's management team used accounting improprieties, misrepresentations and disclosure failures to inflate the underlying financial metrics of the company, prior to Autonomy's acquisition by HP," the company said in a statement.
This "severely impacted" its ability to value the company accurately, it added.
HP said it had launched an internal investigation after a "senior member [of Autonomy's management] alleged there had been a series of questionable accounting and business practices" at the group.
The company said as well as referring the matter to the regulatory authorities, it would be taking civil court action against "various parties" to recoup money for its shareholders.
HP shares fell 11% in pre-market trading in New York following the announcement.
HP completed the takeover of Autonomy for $12bn in October last year.
Autonomy founder Mike Lynch is a non-executive director of the BBC.

 

[parklane1]

Levy out

 

[DuDe]

Imagine if Harry was still manager? The WUM's and 'Let's Make Shit Up' brigade would be all over this with insinuations and snide remarks.

 

[beats1]

Imagine if Harry was still manager? The WUM's and 'Let's Make Shit Up' brigade would be all over this with insinuations and snide remarks.

Really?

 

[tiger666]

Watch the Daily Mail print this on the back page and blame it on AVB tomorrow.

 

[Donki]

Looks like HP should have done a little more homework and digging into the books.

 

[Hoopspur]

HP paid £11 billion and didn't realise there was a flaw in the accounts Automony had provided? Makes all that nonsense down at Portsmouth seem like petty change. They are trying to retrieve money on behalf of their shareholders....

The term 'due diligence' comes to mind.

 

[DuDe]

Really?

'Financial Irregularities'? Yeah, I think they would.

Or were you just being facetious?

 

[SteveH]

If I was a major HP shareholder - I'd want the current HP board hung up by their privates - Then I'd fire their arse's.

Caveat emptor!

 

[onthetwo]

If I was a major HP shareholder - I'd want the current HP board hung up by their privates - Then I'd fire their arse's.

Caveat emptor!

theyve had more CEOs and new board members than Chelsea have had managers in the last few years and i think most of the current board came post the Autonomy deal. Break it up would be my advice/guess

 

[lillywhites61]

How stupid do they look if its true, or maybe it's not entirely true and it's a convenient way to cover some of their own flaws?

 

[not_tenth-again]

HP's shareholders got stung by poor internal controls rather than deceit. Deceit is probably more an issue for the regulators..... as said earlier caveat emptor

If HP found issues now, how did they manage to miss it during the due diligence phase? Their first port of call should be their own staff, its a colossal fuck up and heads should roll.

 

[Kingstheman]

Imagine if Harry was still manager? The WUM's and 'Let's Make Shit Up' brigade would be all over this with insinuations and snide remarks.

Harry's 'dog' is probably a leading share holder. You know, insider dealing for a bowl of bones and all that.

 

[King of Otters]

You should delete that yourself Woland. It's completely inappropriary.

 

[Woland]

On another note, remember reports on the Mansion guy who signed the sponsorship contract with us. 8 million/season.
He was fired for that.

 

[Woland]

I reckon Autonomy invested heavily in advertising, peppered it with some sponsorship deals (us), made their price yummy and on top of that enronned their books. HP are themselves to blame for paying without proper intelligence. I am not surprised though - they overpaid for Compaq acquisition 10 years ago, made a marketing mess of the merger (for effectively it was a merger) and immediately went out of race for PDAs when the irons were hot (they could have hold on till the 2010 like Blackberry)
I am only worried for DL's next sponsorship deal.

 

[MR_BEN]

HP paid WAY over the price in any case. $11bn for a company with anual REVENUE of $1bn, they paid a premium of 64% on market share price. KPMG managed the deal for HP, Delloite are Autonomy's auditors - and all 4 were well aware of conflicts and disputes over accounting treatment so it wasn't hidden that there were at least disputes over some areas of the deal.

Looks to me as though someone at HP is trying to find a scapegoat for their own fuck up OR could it be a way of showing a loss through the UK, and therefore avoiding tax. Not too sure how that works within groups - or what they are writing off, i imagine its intellectual property, goodwill etc surely its got to be intangiables of some sort?

 

[DFF]

Looks like HP should have done a little more homework and digging into the books.

That's what Toilet & Douche, sorry Deloitte Touche, are for. Don't worry they only audit some of the world biggest banks, including the world's biggest omnibank. Nothing to worry about here...

 

[Donki]

That's what Toilet & Douche, sorry Deloitte Touche, are for. Don't worry they only audit some of the world biggest banks, including the world's biggest omnibank. Nothing to worry about here...

Hehe auditors can only audit what they are allowed to see, all big organisations are open and honest.... Aren't they?

 

[Spursidol]

HP paid WAY over the price in any case. $11bn for a company with anual REVENUE of $1bn, they paid a premium of 64% on market share price. KPMG managed the deal for HP, Delloite are Autonomy's auditors - and all 4 were well aware of conflicts and disputes over accounting treatment so it wasn't hidden that there were at least disputes over some areas of the deal.

Looks to me as though someone at HP is trying to find a scapegoat for their own fuck up OR could it be a way of showing a loss through the UK, and therefore avoiding tax. Not too sure how that works within groups - or what they are writing off, i imagine its intellectual property, goodwill etc surely its got to be intangiables of some sort?

Agreed, if gross revenue (sales) is US$ 1 bn, then you have to have a huge % growth rate to make the future profits justify an US$ 11bn price.

IMO, HP's management themselves should have been wanting to understand how to achieve that sales growth rate or walk away from the deal if they couldn't buy into how to get that sales growth rate.