(Reuters) – IT services firm Accenture on Thursday announced a $4 billion share buyback and reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter revenue on demand from companies looking to adopt generative artificial intelligence technology.
The company’s shares rose nearly 7% in premarket trading.
The Dublin-based company reported fourth-quarter revenue of $16.41 billion, compared with analysts’ expectations of $16.38 billion, according to LSEG data.
Its generative artificial intelligence business, which helped the company offset slowing demand for IT services, continued to grow for the fourth consecutive quarter.
Accenture’s new bookings, a key metric indicating the value of client contracts with spending commitments, rose to $20.1 billion in the fourth quarter from $17.25 billion in the third quarter.
Generative AI bookings contributed $1 billion to the company’s new bookings, up from $900 million in the prior quarter.
(Reporting by Rishi Kant in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Tasim Zahid)