Accenture avoids credit crunch woes

IT services provider Accenture has posted strong quarterly profits as it saw continued investment from financial services companies despite the credit crunch.

Net income in Accenture's fiscal second quarter rose 37 percent to $406.6m (£203.7m), from $296.7m (£148.6m) in the same period a year ago.

Accenture shares rose over four per cent on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday, closing at $35.45 (£17.7).

New bookings for the quarter were $6.44bn (£3.23bn), which included record consulting bookings of $3.79bn (£1.9bn). Outsourcing bookings were $2.65bn (£1.33bn) – indicating strong growth ahead.

All the industries where Accenture operates showed a good performance except public services where revenue fell one per cent after the firm pulled out of the NHS National Programme for IT in the UK.

Ovum analyst John O'Brien said Accenture's bundled outsourcing services were attractive to businesses looking to cut costs.

"Accenture is benefiting from the attractiveness of its bundled outsourcing offering that includes applications management, process re-engineering and consulting," he said.

In local currencies, Accenture's revenue in Asia-Pacific grew 23 per cent during the quarter, while the Europe, Middle East and Africa region was up nine per cent driven by strong growth markets such as Italy, Spain and France. Sales in the Americas region were up 10 per cent thanks to strong demand in Brazil and Argentina.