Accenture profit falls 41 %

NEW YORK — Consulting and outsourcing firm Accenture PLC posted a 41 percent drop in fiscal fourth-quarter profit Thursday, as revenue fell across nearly all business groups and the company recorded a hefty restructuring charge.

Accenture also said it will raise its cash dividend by 50 percent to 75 cents per share. Payments will be semiannual, instead of annual, starting in the third quarter of 2010, the company said. The board also authorized the repurchase of $4 billion additional shares.

For the three months ended Aug. 31, the company earned $254.7 million, or 39 cents per share. That compared with $434.8 million, or 67 cents per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding a restructuring charge of $253 million, or 24 cents per share, the company earned 63 cents per share.

Quarterly revenue slid 14 percent to $5.15 billion from $6 billion last year.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of 63 cents per share on higher revenue of $5.44 billion. Analysts typically do not include one-time charges in their estimates.

The restructuring charge was related to "the realignment of the company's work force" and to global real estate consolidation, the company said in a release. In August, Accenture said it would cut some 336 senior-level executive positions, totaling about 7 percent of its senior executives, and reduce office space.

Revenue in the fourth quarter fell across nearly all groups as a result of the global downturn, the company said in a release. In all, consulting revenue totaled $2.91 billion, a decrease of 19 percent from last year. Outsourcing revenue fell 7 percent to $2.23 billion.

For the full year, the company earned $1.59 billion, or $2.44 per share, down from $1.69 billion, or $2.65 per share, a year ago. Revenue slid 8 percent to $21.58 billion from $23.39 billion.

Accenture expects net revenue for the first quarter to range between $5.3 billion and $5.5 billion, but did not provide an earnings per share estimate. Analysts have forecast earnings of 69 cents per share on higher revenue of $5.54 billion.

For fiscal 2010, Accenture forecast profit of $2.64 to $2.72 per share. The midpoint matches analysts' $2.68-per-share average estimate. The company is targeting new bookings for the year in the range of $23 billion to $26 billion.

"We expect the first half of fiscal 2010 to be challenging year on year," Chief Financial Office Pam Craig said on a conference call with analysts. "We are assuming that the global economy and our business will improve in the second half of the fiscal year, even though it is still an uncertain and unpredictable time."

Craig said the company expects fiscal 2010 revenue to range from a 3 percent drop from 2009 levels to a 1 percent increase, as it expects the first half of its fiscal year to trend below 2009 results. That would imply a range of $20.93 billion to $21.8 billion.

Analysts have forecast higher full-year revenue of $21.99 billion, on average.

Shares of Accenture slid 56 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $35.97 in after-hours trading, after falling 74 cents to close the regular session at $36.53.