Icon has lifted its guidance for revenues and earnings per share (EPS) in fiscal year (FY) 2013 after coming through with another strong quarter of financial results.

The global provider of outsourced development services based in Ireland reported net revenues up by 20.6% year on year to US$334.2 million for the second quarter ended 30 June, comfortably beating the forecast of US$321.8 million from analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.

Operating income in the latest quarter more than doubled to US$26.3 million from US$11.0 million in the second quarter of FY 2012, despite another batch of restructuring charges.

Charges for restructuring and other items were US$4.6 million compared with US$5.6 million in the year-before quarter.

Icon took a US$4.4 million charge for restructuring and other items in the first quarter of 2013.

EPS growth

Without the restructuring costs in Q2 FY 2013, operating income was 85.8% higher at US$30.9 million while diluted EPS were US$0.43, up from US$0.21 in the second quarter of fiscal year 2012.

The analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had been looking for EPS of US$0.38 (excluding special items) in the latest quarter.

Looking ahead, Icon recorded gross new-business wins worth US$496 million in the second quarter, giving a gross book-to-bill ratio of 1.48.

Net business wins were US$364 million, making the net book-to-bill ratio 1.1.

12-month book to bill

“We have continued to book satisfactory levels of new business and our trailing twelve-month book to bill now stands at 1.3,” noted Ciaran Murray, chief executive officer of Icon.

“Consequently we are raising our revenue guidance to the range of US$1.3-US$1.32 billion and our EPS guidance to the range of US$1.54-US$1.64 for the financial year 2013,” Murray added.