Accenture Raises FY25 Revenue Forecast, Meets Q1 Estimates

Accenture Plc. on Thursday revised its outlook for fiscal 2025, as it sees the full-year revenue growth in the range of 4% to 7% in local currency, compared to its previous forecast of 3% to 6%.

The outlook has been raised as the Nasdaq-listed company now expects a lower adverse impact from foreign exchange on its fiscal 2025 results. The company sees an approximate negative impact of 0.5%, which is lower as compared to the previous estimate of 1.5%.

Accenture also posted its financial results for the first quarter of the fiscal, which ended in November 2024. The global IT consultancy firm's revenue grew 9% in dollar terms to $17.7 billion, which was in line with the Bloomberg estimates.

The company reported consulting revenues of $9 billion and managed services revenues of $8.6 billion.

Accenture raised its revenue forecast for the second quarter, seeing it in the range of $16.2 billion to $16.8 billion. At the upper end, it is higher than the estimate of $16.68 billion shared by the analysts tracked by Bloomberg.

The new bookings in the first quarter amounted to $18.7 billion, marking a 1% jump in dollar terms, Accenture said in a release. The new bookings include 30 quarterly client bookings of more than $100 million.

"We continued to lead in helping our clients realise value with generative AI, with new bookings of $1.2 billion," the company's Chair and Chief Executive Officer Julie Sweet said.

“Our strategy to lead reinvention for clients while continuing to invest in our business has given us a strong start to fiscal 2025. We delivered broad-based revenue growth across both consulting and managed services, and across each market and industry group, gaining market share," the CEO added.

The company's GAAP operating income was $2.95 billion, a 15% increase compared to $2.56 billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2024.

The operating margin during the November-ended quarter was 16.7%, an increase of 90 basis points compared to operating margin of 15.8% in the year-ago period.

The GAAP net income for the quarter rose to $2.32 billion, compared with $2.01 billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2024. The diluted earnings per share rose 16% to $3.59 in the quarter ended November, as against $3.10 in the same quarter last year, Accenture said.

The company also noted that on Nov. 15, "a quarterly cash dividend of $1.48 per share was paid to shareholders", which was 15% higher as against the year-ago period. These cash dividend payments totaled $926 million, it added.

The results were declared by Accenture before the Wall Street opened. The company's shares were edging higher in pre-market trading.