Accenture raises revenue growth forecast for second time

(Reuters) - Consulting and outsourcing company Accenture Plc raised its full-year revenue growth forecast for the second time as it won more business, mainly in its outsourcing unit, from companies looking to cut costs. The company also reported higher-than-expected quarterly profit and revenue on Thursday, helped by growth in outsourcing revenue from North American clients. Accenture's shares rose 3 percent in premarket trading on Thursday. Revenue in the company's outsourcing business, which accounts for almost half its total revenue, rose 6 percent in U.S. dollar terms in the second quarter, while revenue in its consulting business grew 4 percent. Accenture said it expected revenue to grow 8-10 percent on a local-currency basis in the year ending August. The company had raised its revenue growth forecast to 5-8 percent in December from 4-7 percent it forecast initially. Accenture, however, cut the top end of its full-year earnings forecast range, saying it expected the negative impact of a strong dollar to be higher than previously anticipated. Accenture, which gets a little more than half of its revenue from outside North America, narrowed its profit forecast range to $4.66-$4.76 per share from $4.66-$4.80. The company's net income rose to $743.2 million, or $1.08 per share, in the quarter ended Feb. 28 from $722.3 million, or $1.03 per share, a year earlier. Net revenue rose 5 percent to $7.49 billion. Analysts on average had expected a profit of $1.07 per share and revenue of $7.38 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Accenture's shares were trading at $91 before the bell. (Reporting by Abhirup Roy and Lehar Maan in Bengaluru; Editing by Kirti Pandey)