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Accenture’s top line climbed 3% in the fiscal quarter ended November 30, which is a solid outcome for shareholders given the headwinds some of the firm’s competitors have been facing.

The revenue growth was driven entirely by the firm’s managed services business. This business, which manages large corporations’ IT assets to save work for their internal tech teams, boosted its fee income by 6% in the quarter to $7.7 billion.

Accenture’s consulting revenue was flat year-over-year at $8.4 billion. The firm’s consultants assistant organizations with high-value projects such as new product development and cost-cutting initiatives.

The main reason Accenture’s top line only grew by 3% is that it was dragged down by decreased demand from clients in the communications, media and technology sectors. The firm’s fee income in these markets tanked 10% from a year earlier.

Accenture experienced growth in all the other major verticals where it provides services to clients. The top performance was the business unit that caters to health and public service organizations, which boosted its top line by no less than 13% during the past quarter, or more than quadruple the growth rate Accenture as a whole posted.

Accenture is expecting to grow its top line by a total of 4%-5% this fiscal year. It raked in $18.4 billion worth of bookings for upcoming projects in the past quarter, 14% more than a year ago.

Accenture chair and CEO Julie Sweet commented that “our deep and trusted client relationships are again reflected in the 30 clients with quarterly bookings of more than $100 million. And we continue to lead our industry in Gen AI – the great accelerator of reinvention – with over $450 million in new bookings.”

As for Accenture’s bottom line: its adjusted operating margin ticked up by a few fractions of a percent to 16.7%, which boosted its adjusted EPS to $3.27. This represents a 6% year-over-year increase.

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