Accenture Q3 results: Revenue touches $16.5 billion, cash dividend at $1.29 per share

IT giant Accenture, on Thursday, reported financial results for the third quarter of fiscal 2024 ended May 31, 2024. The company  reported revenues of $16.5 billion for the period, reflecting a 1% decrease in U.S. dollars but a 1.4% increase in local currency. Consulting revenues amounted to $8.5 billion, while managed services revenues reached $8.0 billion.

In the third quarter of fiscal 2024, the IT major achieved significant improvements in operating margins compared to the same period last year. The GAAP operating margin reached 16 per cent, marking an increase of 180 basis points, while the adjusted operating margin expanded by 10 basis points to 16.4 per cent, according to the exchange filing.

New bookings for the quarter were $21.1 billion, with consulting bookings of $9.3 billion and managed services bookings of $11.8 billion.

The company announced a quarterly cash dividend of $1.29 per share, marking a 15 per cent increase compared to the previous dividend payout. "Accenture plc has declared another quarterly cash dividend of $1.29 per share for shareholders of record at the close of business on July 11, 2024. This dividend, which is payable on August 15, 2024, represents a 15% increase over the quarterly dividend rate of $1.12 per share in fiscal 2023," the company said.

As per the filing, new bookings for the third quarter of fiscal 2024 were $21.06 billion, a 22 per cent increase in U.S. dollars and a 26 per cent increase in local currency over the third quarter of fiscal 2023.

“Our actions to stay laser-focused on the needs of our clients are clear in our third quarter results. We achieved strong new bookings of over $21 billion, up 22% over last year, and continued to accelerate our strategy to be the reinvention partner of choice, with another 23 clients with quarterly bookings of over $100 million, bringing the total of such bookings to 92 year-to-date," said Julie Sweet, chair and CEO, Accenture.

Business Outlook for 2024

The IT firm expects revenues for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024 to be in the range of $16.05 billion to $16.65 billion, or 2 per cent to 6 per cent growth in local currency, reflecting the company’s assumption of an approximately negative 2 per cent foreign-exchange impact compared with the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023.

The business outlook for 2024 now anticipates a negative foreign-exchange impact of 0.7 per cent on its U.S. dollar results compared to fiscal 2023, having previously forecasted a neutral impact. The company now projects revenue growth in local currency for fiscal 2024 to range between 1.5 per cent and 2.5 per cent, adjusted from the previous range of 1 per cent to 3 per cent.

The company now expects both its GAAP and adjusted annual effective tax rate, which excludes the tax impacts of business optimization costs, to be in the range of 23.5 per cent to 24.5 per cent, compared to 22.5 per cent to 24.5 per cent previously.