IT services firm Capgemini today blamed the weak US dollar and British pound for a 1.4 per cent drop in its first quarter revenues.

The company, which pulls in nearly half (41 per cent) of its group revenues from North America and Blighty, saw sales for the quarter sink to €2.185bn compared to €2.214bn a year ago.

Excluding acquisitions or disposals, Q1 sales were up 3.7 per cent like-for-like at what the firm described as “constant exchange rates”.

Despite the revenue decline, Capgemini reaffirmed its goal to push up its operating margin to 8.5 per cent from 7.4 per cent in 2007. It also confirmed its targets for full year revenue growth of between two to five percent like-for-like at constant exchange rates.

Capgemini, which is Europe’s biggest IT services firm, said UK sales "linked to the expected reduction in revenues realised with the client HMRC", decreased 4.5 per cent.

It added that customer bookings were also down to €2.168bn for the first quarter ended 31 March, compared to €2,203bn in the same period a year ago. Capgemini did not report an income figure for its first quarter. ®