Accenture, one of the world's largest providers of IT
services, has reported its outsourcing business continues to grow
strongly, with the announcement of its third quarter
results.
Net revenue came in at $3.7bn (£2bn), matching the consensus
expectation from analysts, and up from $3bn in 2003's third
quarter.
This is the highest-ever quarterly net revenue in the company's
history, said Joe Forehand, the company's chairman and chief
executive officer.
"Overall we had a very strong quarter," he said, adding that the
company finds itself in a strong competitive and financial
position.
"These results reflect a pickup in our consulting business and
continued growth in our outsourcing business," he said. "We've been
working extremely hard in the past several years to transform our
business and get in shape to emerge from the economic downturn even
stronger, and our efforts have begun to pay off."
Total revenue reached $4bn, compared with $3.4bn from last
year's third quarter.
Net income was $210.4m also matching analysts' consensus
expectation, and up from $132.1m in 2003's third quarter.
Net revenue broke down into $2.3bn from consulting, which is the
company's core business, and $1.4bn from outsourcing, a segment
Accenture is expanding into.
For the fourth quarter, Accenture expects net revenue in the
range of $3.4bn and $3.5bn and for the full year, it expects net
revenue to grow between 15% and 16%.
Juan Carlos Perez writes for IDG News Service