Accenture is prepared to spend up to $1.6 billion on acquisitions in its fiscal year 2020, CFO KC McClure told Wall Street analysts during an earnings call earlier this month. And it sounds like an M&A strategy will remain in place amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Accenture, which is a Top 200 MSSP and Top 200 Public Cloud MSP, is half-way into its fiscal year 2020. So far, the global IT services provider and consulting firm has spent $584 million on 17 acquisitions, McClure indicated.
Those deals have involved managed security services, along with IT consulting firms that specialize in such SaaS applications as Salesforce, SAP, and WorkDay.
More deals appear to be on the drawing board. "We continue to expect to invest up to $1.6 billion in acquisitions this fiscal year," McClure said during the March 19 earnings call.
Accenture CEO Julie Sweet's Perspectives
Later in the call, Accenture CEO Julie Sweet said the company has committed $1.1 billion to-date for M&A deals. That figure -- minus the $584 million that McClure mentioned -- suggests Accenture is set to finalize multiple buyouts near-term, ChannelE2E believes.
On top of the $1.1 billion committed, Accenture has the ability to invest another $500 million in acquisitions, should those opportunities arise, Sweet added -- bringer her full-year estimate into alignment with that of CFO McClure.
Accenture has announced at least nine M&A deals between January 1 and mid-March, 2020. Key targets include businesses with cloud infrastructure, SaaS, cybersecurity, digital transformation and managed services expertise.
ChannelE2E doesn't know if the M&A activity will slow down during the coronavirus pandemic. Still, Sweet during the earnings call explained why Accenture's business remains well positioned amid the pandemic.
