Accenture profit gains, raises outlook; shares up : US Business

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Accenture Ltd on Thursday posted a higher-than-expected quarterly profit on strong consulting and outsourcing demand and increased its full-year earnings forecast, sending the shares higher.

Shares of the technology services company rose 3.5 percent after the earnings report.

Net income in Accenture's fiscal second quarter ended February 29 rose to $406.6 million, or 64 cents per share, from $296.7 million, or 47 cents per share, a year earlier. Net revenue, which excludes reimbursements from clients for expenses such as consultants' travel, rose to $5.61 billion from $4.75 billion.

Analysts, on average, expected earnings per share of 56 cents before certain costs and revenue of $5.59 billion. The company in December had projected second-quarter net revenue from $5.5 billion to $5.7 billion.

Accenture on Thursday raised its fiscal 2008 earnings forecast by 19 cents per share to a range of $2.55 to $2.60, but kept its revenue growth forecast at 9 percent to 12 percent.

Accenture shares have fallen 1.9 percent this year through Wednesday, less than the 8.7 percent decline of the Standard &Poor's 500 index but underperforming competitor International Business Machines Corp's 8.2 percent gain.

(Reporting by Philipp Gollner, editing by Phil Berlowitz)

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