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Accenture Reports Fourth-Quarter and Full-Year Fiscal 2009 Results.

Article Excerpt
-- Revenues are $5.15 billion for fourth quarter and $21.58 billion for full year --

-- Company delivers record annual free cash flow of $2.92 billion --

-- Annual new bookings are $23.90 billion --

-- Company increases annual cash dividend by 50%, to $0.75 per share --

NEW YORK -- Accenture (NYSE: ACN) reported financial results for the fourth quarter and full 2009 fiscal year, ended Aug. 31, including fourth-quarter net revenues in line with the company's previously guided range. As previously announced on Aug. 20, the company recorded a restructuring charge in the fourth quarter, of $253 million, which reduced earnings per share, operating income and operating margin for both the quarter and full year. The restructuring charge was related to the realignment of the company's workforce, primarily at the senior-executive level, and to global real-estate consolidation.

For the fourth quarter, revenues before reimbursements ("net revenues") were $5.15 billion, a decrease of 14 percent in U.S. dollars and 7 percent in local currency. Diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $0.39, compared with $0.67 in the same period last year, and reflect a negative $0.24 impact from the restructuring charge. New bookings for the quarter were $5.54 billion. Operating income for the quarter was $420 million, and operating margin was 8.2 percent. Absent the restructuring charge, operating income for the quarter was $672 million and operating margin was 13.1 percent.

For the full fiscal year, net revenues were $21.58 billion, a decrease of 8 percent in U.S. dollars and flat in local currency, in line with the company's previously guided range. Diluted earnings per share for the full year were $2.44, compared with $2.65 in fiscal 2008, and reflect a negative $0.24 impact from the restructuring charge. New bookings for the full year were $23.90 billion. Operating income for the full year was $2.64 billion, and operating margin was 12.3 percent. Absent the restructuring charge, annual operating income was $2.90 billion and annual operating margin was 13.4 percent.

Accenture also announced several actions as part of its long-term commitment to return cash to shareholders. Its Board of Directors has declared an annual cash dividend of $0.75 per share, an increase of $0.25 per share, or 50 percent, over its previous annual dividend, and has approved moving from an annual to a semi-annual schedule for the payment of dividends starting in the third quarter of fiscal 2010. The Board has also approved $4.0 billion in additional share repurchase authority.

William D. Green, Accenture's chairman & CEO, said, "Our fourth-quarter and full-year results clearly show that we continued managing our business well in challenging economic conditions. We delivered on revenue, we generated exceptional cash flow, we are pleased with our operating-margin expansion for the year, and our balance sheet remains rock-solid. We continue to return cash to shareholders through a 50 percent increase in our annual cash dividend, declared today, and through the repurchase of $1.9 billion of our shares during the year.

"We remain focused on operational discipline and superior execution to ensure that we continue to deliver value to our clients and shareholders. Importantly, this has allowed us to take proactive steps -- including refreshing our core business and investing in new high-growth areas -- that have positioned us very well for the upturn."

Financial Review -- Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2009

Net revenues for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009 were $5.15 billion, compared with $6.00 billion for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008, a decrease of 14 percent in U.S. dollars and 7 percent in local currency. Net revenues for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009 reflect a foreign-exchange impact of negative 7 percent compared with the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008.

* Consulting net revenues were $2.91 billion, a decrease of...