Accenture plc - Ordinary Shares - Class A

Q3 performance: solid growth + profitability + strong cash returns - Revenue: $18.7B (+6% YoY US$ / +3% local currency). - Operating margin: expanded +20 bps to 17% (from Q3 prior year) while continuing investments. - EPS: $3.80 (+9% YoY). - Free cash flow: $3.6B and returned $2.2B to shareholders via $1.2B buybacks (6M shares) + dividends. - Shareholder returns (YTD): $8.2B returned (buybacks + dividends), $1.3B more than same time last year; dividend increased 10% to $1.63/share.

Bookings and demand signals: strong client depth, but some timing risk - New bookings: $19.3B (-2% YoY US$ / -3% local currency) with book-to-bill = 1.0. - Consulting bookings: $10.3B (book-to-bill 1.1); Managed services bookings: $9.1B (book-to-bill 1.0). - Large client momentum: 30 clients with quarterly bookings > $100M (vs. continuing strength); 104 such bookings YTD, +13% vs. last year—investor-relevant for recurring/large-program depth.

Key negatives/challenges: Middle East conflict impact + deal timing pushes - Middle East conflict: ~$100M revenue impact vs expectations in Q3 (entirely consulting work), split direct + indirect; indirect effects showed up in the last few weeks, mostly discretionary spend. - EMEA + decision friction: Middle East sales impacted ~$400M, plus longer decision-making in EMEA. - Managed services timing: “A couple” of large managed services moved into FY2027, but company said this does not imply a big Q4 uplift—it’s mainly slippage/pull-forward dynamics (some EMEA slippage to try to offset in Q4).