Accenture revenue beats as bets on digital, cloud pay off
(Adds details, shares)
Sept 28 (Reuters) - Accenture Plc reported better-than-expected quarterly revenue, as the consulting and outsourcing services provider benefited from its investments in fast-growing digital and cloud service businesses.
Dublin, Ireland-domiciled company's revenue from "the New" – which includes digital, cloud and security-related services - grew about 30 percent to $18 billion for the year ended August 31.
Accenture had chalked out $1.8 billion for acquisitions in digital, cloud and security-related services in the fiscal year.
The company has been increasingly grabbing market share from its rivals such as Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp and IBM Corp, by being early movers into the digital space.
Accenture said it expects current-quarter revenue to be between $9.10 billion and $9.35 billion. Analysts on average were expecting revenue of $9.13 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Net income for diluted earnings per share fell to $974.2 million, or $1.48 per share, in the fourth quarter ended August 31, from $1.12 billion, or $1.68 per share, a year earlier.
Analysts on an average were expecting $1.47 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
The company's net revenue rose 7.8 percent to $9.15 billion, beating estimates of $9.01 billion.
Accenture's shares fell 1.3 percent to $134.84 in premarket trading on Thursday.
(Reporting by Aishwarya Venugopal in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
