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Accenture Q4 Results: Revenue Rises 24%

Accenture Plc.'s revenue rose in the fourth quarter, aided by improved business across its segments.

A sign outside Accenture Ltd. offices. (Photographer: Dennis Brack/ Bloomberg)
A sign outside Accenture Ltd. offices. (Photographer: Dennis Brack/ Bloomberg)

Accenture Plc.'s revenue rose in the fourth quarter, aided by improved business across its various arms.

The consulting and technology firm’s revenue increased 24% year-on-year to $13.42 billion in the quarter ended August, according to its filings. Analysts had pegged the metric at $13.41 billion. For the full fiscal, revenue rose 14% over the preceding year to $50.5 billion. Accenture follows the September-August fiscal.

Q4 Highlights (YoY)

  • Revenue from consulting segment rose 29% to $7.3 billion.

  • Outsourcing business revenue rose 19% to $6.1 billion.

  • Earnings per share at $2.20 versus $1.99.

  • Bookings rose 7.1% to $15 billion, against the $15.62-billion estimate.

  • Free cash flow at $2.2 billion.

Other Highlights

  • Increased quarterly cash dividend 10% to $0.97 per share.

  • Approved $3 billion additional share buyback.

  • The company expects to return at least $6.3 billion in cash to shareholders through dividends and share repurchase.

Accenture expects revenue to range between $13.9 billion and $14.35 billion in the first quarter of FY22. For the full year, its projections for various metrics are as follows:

  • Revenue growth: 12-15%.

  • Operating margin: 15.2%-15.4%

  • Operating cash flow: $8.2-$8.7 billion.

  • EPS: $9.90 to $10.18.

Here’s what brokerages have to say:

JP Morgan

  • Reported very strong growth and margins at scale, with continued revenue growth acceleration (in constant currency), stronger than what seasonal trends would imply.

  • Q1 guidance implies continued growth acceleration at the high end, also driving FY22 guidance of 12-15%, well above street expectations.

  • Expect a positive stock reaction despite the stock trading at its all-time high multiple of 35x NTM earnings.

  • Revenue growth was strong across both outsourcing and consulting. Book-to-bill in both businesses stayed above 1.1 times+, suggesting continued strong demand.

UBS

  • Reported revenue 70 bps above our $13.3 billion estimate and slightly below the high-end of management's guidance of $13.1 billion-$13.5 billion.

  • New bookings increased just 7.4% year-on-year, a material deceleration from prior quarters post-pandemic growth rates.

  • Roughly in line Q4 revenue and EPS offset by a modestly better FY22 EPS outlook relative to consensus

Emkay Global Financial Services

  • Accenture continues to gain market share and is seeing strong, broad-based demand across industries, services and geographic markets, resulting in strong overall operating performance and strong order booking.

  • The company saw very strong double-digit growth in local currency in all four of its strategy priorities—cloud, interactive, industry X and security—and in all three service lines of strategy & consulting, technology and operations during the quarter.

  • Growth in Q4 was driven by products, communication, media and technology, financial and health and public services.

  • Robust Q4 performance and strong FY22 revenue growth guidance on 12-15% in local currency reflect strong demand environment.

  • A broad-based demand uptick and healthy order booking in the outsourcing business augurs well for Indian IT peers.