Accenture Q4 Results: Revenue Rises 4%, FY24 Growth Outlook Disappoints
Accenture Plc has guided for weaker-than-expected revenue growth in the financial year ending August 2024 after its fourth-quarter earnings missed estimates.
Revenue of the world's biggest IT company by market capitalisation rose 4% year-on-year to $16 billion in the quarter ended Aug. 31, according to a statement on Thursday. That compares with the $16.07 billion consensus estimate made by analysts tracked by Bloomberg.
Accenture Q4 Results: Key Highlights (YoY)
Revenue up 4% at $16 billion (Estimate: $16.07 billion).
Operating income down 16% at $1.91 billion.
Operating margin down 270 basis points to 12%.
Net profit down 18% to $1.37 billion.
New bookings fell to $16.6 billion from $18.4 billion a year ago, with a near-even split of the bookings coming from consulting and managed services. Overall, consulting revenue fell 2%, while managed services revenue decreased 10%.
For the full fiscal, dollar revenue rose 4% year-on-year to $64.1 billion, while the operating margin shrank 150 bps to 13.7%. The company follows September–August as its financial year.
Accenture expects revenue growth of 2–5% in the fiscal ending August 2024, as against an estimated 4.6% or $67.15 billion.
"Our ability to remain laser focused on meeting the needs of our clients is reflected in new bookings of $72 billion in fiscal 2023, 106 clients with quarterly bookings of more than $100 million, and reaching a record 300 Diamond clients, our largest relationships," Chief Executive Officer Julie Sweet said. "Our clients' generative AI bookings of $300 million in the last six months position us at the heart of the beginning of AI-fueled reinvention."
The Dublin-based IT services and consultancy firm now expects its revenue to grow at 2–5%, with earnings per share of $11.41–11.76, indicating a 6–9% increase.
Accenture's quarterly results serve as a benchmark for India's IT services firms. While the outsourcing industry is staring at a washout in the fiscal ending March 2024, Morgan Stanley expects the software services firms to deliver a positive surprise in the next fiscal.
"Despite a weak discretionary spend outlook, we still believe FY25 revenue growth could still surprise positively versus consensus estimates," it said in a report on Wednesday. "We are 1–3.9% ahead of consensus on our FY25 revenue growth outlook for most of the stocks under our coverage."
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