Icon has once again raised its guidance for revenues and earnings per share (EPS) in fiscal year 2013, after the Dublin-based company delivered year-on-year increases of 19% and 59% respectively in third-quarter revenues and operating income.
The global provider of outsourced development services is now expecting revenues in the range of US$1.325 billion to US$1.33 billion and EPS of US$1.67 - US$1.70 for the whole of FY 2013.
ICON had already revised its FY 2013 forecasts upwards to revenues of US$1.3-US$1.32 billion and EPS in the range of US$1.54-US$1.64 at the second-quarter stage in July.
Revenue growth
Net revenues for the three months ended 30 September 2013 were US$339.8 million, up by 19.0% over the US$285.5 million recorded in the third quarter of fiscal year 2012.
In the year to date, 45.5% of Icon’s net revenues have been generated in European markets, compared with 45.8% during the whole of FY 2012.
Of the remaining year-to-date revenues, 43.1% (42.3% in FY 2012) have come from the US and 11.4% (11.9%) from the rest of the world.
Operating income
Unlike the first and second quarters of the year, Q3 2013 was free of restructuring charges.
Icon’s operating income came in at US$33.2 million (+59.9%) or 9.8% of revenue, against US$20.9 million or 7.3% of revenue in the same quarter last year.
Diluted earnings per share were US$0.45, up from US$0.29 in the third quarter of fiscal year 2012.
Book to bill
Icon reported gross business wins of US$471 million for the third quarter, representing a gross book-to-bill ratio of 1.4.
Net business wins were US$415 million, giving a net book-to-bill of 1.22 and leaving Icon with a closing backlog of US$2.97 billion for Q3 2013.
In the year-before quarter, gross and net new business wins were running at US$496 million and US$450 million respectively, with a net book-to-bill ratio of 1.59.
