Operating income for the three months to the end of May 2004 is expected to grow by 29% to $573 million. Gross margin is down slightly at 35.4% compared to 36.3% a year ago.
The biggest growth sector at the Hamilton, Bermuda-based company is outsourcing where revenue is expected to reach $1.36 billion for the quarter, up 37% on the year-ago figure.
Accenture’s chairman and CEO Joe Forehand said: We expect to post our highest net revenues ever, including growth in each of our five operating groups and double-digit growth in each of our three geographic areas.
For the fourth quarter, the company expects net revenue to be in the range of $3.4 billion to $3.5 billion, bringing full-year sales growth up to between 15% and 16% over fiscal year 2003.
Earlier this month the company secured one of the largest ever IT services contracts: a deal with the US Department of Homeland Security worth an estimated $10 billion over five years with five option years. The contract, which it won against competition from Computer Sciences Corp and Lockheed Martin Corp, dwarfed last year’s largest that was signed by Cap Gemini with the UK’s Inland Revenue worth some $5.1 billion over ten years.
