Despite gloomy predictions about the impact of the credit crunch, Accenture reported first-quarter net earnings of $381.3 million, up from earnings of $284.2 million a year ago.
Total revenue for the three months ended 30th November rose to $6.1 billion from $5.17 billion last year. Operating income of $726 million for the quarter grew at the same pace as revenues, leaving operating margin unchanged at 13 percent. Bookings were $5.9 billion, including consulting bookings of $3.4 billion and outsourcing bookings of $2.5 billion, fuelled by both BPO and application outsourcing.
In the Americas, revenues grew 11%, driven by growth in the US and Canada and by strong growth in Brazil and Argentina. In EMEA revenues increased 25% with continued upturn in the UK and double-digit growth in France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands. Revenue growth in Asia Pacific was 29%.
The results were above Wall Street's expectations and left CEO Bill Green in bullish mood. “Our $5.9 billion in new bookings this quarter was another major achievement,” he said. “We remain confident going forward with our bookings momentum and our revenue targets. We continue to keep a very close eye on global economic trends, developments in the capital markets, and other issues which may affect our business. But our first-quarter results demonstrate rich opportunities for the right services.
“We look at what people think is going to happen their business and I think, on balance, people are pretty confident about what they see. Even in some of the areas that are challenged, people continue to invest broadly in their business. IT is a part of that, but there are a lot of other things people are doing to improve their business performance. We haven't seen any impact of IT budgeting on our business at this point.”
Economic uncertainties and the credit crunch have done little to impact on Accenture as yet. “The fact is, we haven't had any deals terminated because of the economic situation, and we've had nothing pushed out because of the economic situation,” said Green. “When you stand back and look at it, if you look at the US business, 70% of the US companies expect pretty significant increases in sales, and almost 80% of those companies expect their employment to rise. Some of the industries that are challenged are clients that are coming to us for services that address short-term cost improvement.
“I would say I did, in the last four weeks, probably 20 CEO one-on-ones, mostly in the United States. And in every one of those sessions, there were opportunities to expand our work and deliver more value to the client. But [there are] some industries that are challenged, people that might have been taking a longer-term view are sitting here at the beginning of 2008, and they are saying, 'I know we're going to do this transformation, that's a three-year journey'. But there is a thing called sort of the high impact near-term returns and people are saying, 'Can we drive short-term cost reduction and use some of the benefits of that to fund the longer-term transformation?'. People are looking at 2008 and saying: 'What can you guys do?'. So I can bring some money to the bank in 2008, for their 2008. And I think that's where demand comes from.
“What I do make sure I do is have a handle on what the hell is going on in the business,” he added. “The only way to do that is with the big clients and that's why I have spent the last month out on the road. Taking people's temperatures, seeing how and what people are focused on. What do they need to do? Is globalisation still driving the competitive agenda? Every day there are changes in the competitive dynamic, and those changes create opportunities for Accenture.
You can either let the business drive you or you can drive the business. I think what our leadership team has done is, knowing there are some uncertainties in the way the environment is made, so we took charge in that we are driving the business.”
