Outsourcing services provider Accenture has cut its revenue outlook for the fiscal year 2013 to 3-4 per cent on account of reduced spending from the firm’s consulting business, following signs of haze setting over the IT sector which had showed signs of buoyancy recently.
The U.S.-based company had earlier projected the revenue outlook to be in the range of 5-8 per cent.
“The company has updated its revenue outlook for fiscal 2013 and now expects net revenue growth to be in the range of 3 per cent to 4 per cent in local currency. Accenture previously expected net revenue growth for the year to be in the lower half of the range of 5 per cent to 8 per cent in local currency”, the company said in a release.
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Accenture’s business outlook for the full 2013 fiscal year now assumes a foreign-exchange impact of negative 1.7 per cent compared with fiscal 2012. Its previous assumption was negative 1 per cent, it added.
It follows September-August as the fiscal year.
Presenting the firm’s results for the quarter ended May 31, 2013 on Thursday, Accenture chairman and CEO Pierre Nanterme said, “Our third-quarter results were solid overall, although consulting revenues were below our expectations.”
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Consulting net revenues for the quarter were $ 3.9 billion, a decrease of 2 per cent in US Dollars compared with the third quarter of fiscal 2012, the release said.
“Flat growth in consulting revenues in the quarter reflected a lower level of consulting bookings than expected and contracts converting to revenue at a slower rate overall than expected”, it added.
For the fourth quarter ending August, the company said it in the range of $ 6.7-7 billion.
“This range assumes a foreign-exchange impact of negative 1 per cent compared with the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012”, it added.
For the March-May quarter of 2013, Accenture’s net income rose to $ 810.25 million against $ 689.21 million during the same quarter of 2012 fiscal.
Its net revenues remained almost unchanged at $ 7.2 billion during the third quarter of 2013 fiscal compared to the year-ago period.