Technology outsourcing and consulting firm Accenture has reported net revenue of $5.18bn in the second quarter of fiscal 2010, down 2% in US dollars and 8% in local currency compared to $5.27bn for the same period last year.
Consulting net revenue slipped by 3% to $2.93bn while outsourcing net revenue remained flat at $2.4bn, compared to the same period a year ago.
The company posted an operating income of $651m during the quarter, a decrease of 12.6% compared to $677.5m in the same period last year. Gross margin for the second quarter was 32.7%, compared to 30.8% for the same period last year. The company had new bookings of $6.52bn, with consulting bookings of $3.39bn and outsourcing bookings of $3.13bn.
For the quarter ended February 28, 2010, the selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses were $1.04bn, operating cash flow was $660m and and property and equipment additions were $44m. The company’s effective tax rate for the second quarter was 30%, as against 32% in the same period last year.
The communications and high tech group division’s net revenue was down 7% to $1.11bn, resources group was down 3% to $929.3m, while the health and public service group was down 3% to $851.6m. Financial services group division showed a marginal increase of 3% to $1.07bn while products group was up by 1% to $1.2bn.
Geographically, revenue from Americas decreased by 4% to $2.2bn while Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) was down by 1% to $2.4bn. Revenue from Asia Pacific region, however, showed a marginal increase of 6% to $586.7m.
Accenture expects net revenue for the third quarter of fiscal 2010 to be in a range of $5.5bn to $5.7bn. For the full fiscal year 2010, the company has lowered its outlook for diluted EPS by $0.06 and it expects diluted EPS to be in the range of $2.61 to $2.69 and operating margin to be 13.4%. It continues to target new bookings for fiscal 2010 in the range of $23bn to $26bn.