Accenture announced 2012 first quarter earnings Thursday that indicate IT consulting is experiencing an upswing. The VAR500 IT solutions provider reported double-digit growth in all five of its operating groups in each of its three geographies. According to Pierre Nanterme, Accenture’s chief executive officer, the company "generated our highest quarterly revenues ever."
Accenture reported a first quarter revenue of $7.1 billion, an increase of 17 percent from the same period last year. Net income for the quarter was also up, coming in at $712 million, a significant 18 percent increase from $606 million for the first quarter last year.
Of Accenture's five groups, Communications, Media & Technology saw revenue jump 20 percent to $1.5 billion, compared with $1.3 billion for the first quarter of fiscal 2011.
Financial Services also saw revenue grow to $1.5 billion, up 14 percent from last year.
Health & Public Service grew 13 percent to $1.1 billion; Products rose to $1.7 billion, up 20 percent, and Resources increased 18 percent to $1.3 billion, compared with $1.1 billion for the first quarter of fiscal 2011.
The IT solution provider said new bookings for the quarter were $7.8 billion, with consulting bookings of $4.2 billion and outsourcing bookings of $3.6 billion. Accenture will target new bookings for fiscal 2012 in the range of $28 billion to $31 billion.
Despite the good first quarter news, the solution provider expects net revenue for the second quarter of fiscal 2012 to be lower, in the $6.5 billion to $6.8 billion range. Still, it's a 7 to 11 percent increase compared with the second quarter of 2011. The figure assumes a foreign-exchange impact of negative 1 percent compared with the second quarter of fiscal 2011. It partly reflects concern about Europe's debt crisis and the potential impact it may have on Accenture's customers abroad.
