Shares in Autonomy were up on the FTSE 100 in morning trading after the technology company reported a rise in revenue and pre-tax profit in the full year ended 31 December 2010.

Revenue rose 18 per cent to $870 million, while pre-tax profit reached $379 million, above consensus estimates of $360 million.

The group said that it had no net debt at the end of the year and gross cash of over one billion dollars.

Dr Mike Lynch, CEO of Autonomy, said, "This year we have seen Autonomy become one of the leading players in cloud computing as our customers, who can choose to take up our core functionality by traditional licence, IDOL OEM or IDOL Cloud offering, have transitioned to the private cloud model faster than expected."

Dr Lynch added, "The year saw strong investment in the future of the business with the opening of new offices in Latin America, increased R&D spend and investment in the infrastructure for this cloud capability with Autonomy now handling over 17 petabytes of critical customer information in the cloud. Whilst we continue to provide our core IDOL technology in whichever model the customer chooses, we are delighted with the transition to the cloud, and expect to reap the benefits of the now cumulative subscription revenues in years to come.

"Unlike others in the sector, Autonomy's business thrived during the downturn resulting in Autonomy reporting growth on growth unlike others who are now seeing growth as a return to normal levels. In light of these tougher comparative periods due to our strong growth in 2009, and the transition to longer-term value revenue models, Autonomy continues to perform well.

"During the course of 2010 we saw the balance of our business shift towards IDOL Cloud and IDOL OEM being the key drivers of our business. We believe the growth rates seen across our business lines in Q4 2010 projected forward provide a solid baseline on top of which our current record pipeline and 'commit' imply that current market expectations are conservative."

By 10:20 shares in Autonomy were up 5.01 per cent to 1,571.00 pence per share.

FTSE