Industrials

By Adriano Marchese Accenture reported better-than-expected profit and revenue in its first quarter of fiscal 2024. The professional services company posted net income of $1.97 billion, or $3.10 a share, compared with $1.96, or $3.08 a share, in the same quarter a year ago. Adjusted earnings were $3.27 a share. According to FactSet, analysts were expecting $3.14 a share. Revenues 3% rose to $16.2 billion, just above analyst expectations of $16.17 billion. Accenture expected foreign exchange to have a bigger positive effect in the quarter, which came in at 1.5% compared with 2.5%, which it previously expected. New bookings for the quarter were $18.45 billion, comprised of consulting bookings of $8.6 billion and managed services bookings of $9.8 billion. Write to Adriano Marchese at adriano.marchese@wsj.com

Irish-American professional services company Accenture expects foreign-exchange effects to hit revenue growth in the second fiscal quarter, missing analyst expectations. Accenture said Tuesday that it expects revenue to be in the range of $15.5 billion and $16 billion, which represents a decline of 2% to a gain of 2% in local currency. Analysts polled on FactSet expected revenue to grow to $16.25 billion. The company said this reflects its assumption that foreign exchange will have a 0.5% negative effect compared with a year ago. For the full fiscal year of 2024, Accenture expects that the foreign exchange effect will be flat compared with the previous fiscal year, and expects revenue growth to be in the range of between 2% and 5% in local currency.

The following is a summary of the Accenture Plc (ACN) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript: Financial Performance: Accenture reported Q1 bookings of $18.4 billion, a 12% growth in local currency, with 30 clients with bookines greater than $100 million. The company delivered Q1 revenue of $16.2 billion which shows a 1% growth in local currency. The operating margin expanded by 20 basis points and the adjusted EPS grew by 6%, despite continued investments in the business and its people. Free cash flow for the quarter was $430 million and the company returned $2 billion to shareholders through repurchases and dividends. Business Progress: Accenture reported 12 acquisitions this quarter, investing a total of $788 million in strategic areas across geographic markets. The company confirmed leadership in the AI industry, with generative AI contributing significantly to the growth of its clients. The company committed to investing $3 billion in AI over three