“Based upon these results, we are on track to deliver or exceed all aspects of our guidance provided in September.”

In context

“Angie Park: Thank you, Julie, and thanks to all of you for taking the time to join us on today's call. We are pleased with our third quarter results, with revenue above the midpoint of our guided range with strong profitability and robust free cash flow. We delivered these results while continuing to invest in long-term market leadership and returning significant cash to shareholders. Based upon these results, we are on track to deliver or exceed all aspects of our guidance provided in September. Let me summarize a few highlights from the quarter. Revenues grew 3% in local currency with growth across geographic markets, industry groups, and types of work. Excluding the 1% impact from our federal business, revenues grew about 4%. We continue to take significant market share on a rolling four-quarter basis against our basket of our closest global publicly-traded competitors, which is how we calculate market share. Operating margin expanded 20 basis points to 17% compared to Q3 results last year. This was achieved while making significant investments in our people and our business. EPS grew 9% in the quarter to $3.80 compared to EPS last year. Finally, we delivered free cash flow of $3.6 billion and returned $2.2 billion to shareholders through repurchases and dividends. Nine months into the fiscal year, we invested $3 billion, primarily in 13 acquisitions. With those high-level comments, let me turn to some of the details, starting with new bookings. New bookings were $19.3 billion for the quarter, a 2% decrease in US dollars and 3% in local currency, with an overall book-to-bill of 1.0. In Q3, consulting bookings were $10.3 billion with a book-to-bill of 1.1. In managed services, bookings were $9.1 billion with a book-to-bill of 1.0. Turning now to revenues. Revenues for the quarter were $18.7 billion, a 6% increase in US dollars and 3% in local currency. Consulting revenues for the quarter were $9.3 billion, up 4% in US dollars and 1% in local currency. Managed services revenues were $9.4 billion, up 8% in US dollars and 5% in local currency, driven by mid-single-digit growth in technology managed services, which include application managed services and infrastructure managed services, and high single-digit growth in operations. Turning to our geographic markets. In the Americas, revenues grew 1% in local currency. Growth was led by software and platforms, high tech and industrials, partially offset by a decline in public service. Revenue growth was driven by the United States. Excluding the about 1.5% impact from our federal business, Americas grew approximately 3%. In EMEA, we delivered 4% growth in local currency, led by growth in public service and software and platforms. Revenue growth was driven by the U.K. and Italy, partially offset by a decline in Germany and in the Middle East. In Asia Pacific, revenue grew 8% in local currency, driven by growth in public service, banking and capital markets, and insurance. Revenue growth was driven by Japan, Australia, and Singapore. Moving down the income statement, gross margin for the quarter was 32.8% compared to 32.9% for the third quarter last year. Sales and marketing expense for the quarter was 9.7% compared with 9.9% for the third quarter last year. General and administrative expense was 6.1% compared to 6.1% for the same quarter last year. Operating income was $3.2 billion in the third quarter, reflecting a 17% operating margin, a 20 basis point increase from operating margin in Q3 last year. Our effective tax rate for the quarter was 24.2% compared with an effective tax rate of 24% for the third quarter last year. Diluted earnings per share grew 9% to $3.80 compared with diluted EPS of $3.49 in the third quarter last year. Day services outstanding were 48 days compared to 46 days last quarter and 47 days in the third quarter of last year. Free cash flow for the quarter was $3.6 billion, resulting from cash generated by operating activities of $3.8 billion net of property and equipment additions of $186 million. Our cash balance at May 31st was $10.2 billion compared with $11.5 billion at August 31st. With regards to our ongoing objective to return cash to shareholders, in the third quarter, we continued to accelerate our share buybacks and repurchased or redeemed 6 million shares for $1.2 billion at an average price of $198.84 per share. As of May 31st, we had approximately $3.2 billion of share repurchase authority remaining. Also, in May, we paid a quarterly cash dividend of $1.63 per share for a total of $1 billion. This represented a 10% increase over last year. Our board of directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $1.63 per share to be paid on August 14th, a 10% increase over last year. In year to date, we have returned $8.2 billion in cash to shareholders, which is $1.3 billion more than the same time last year, demonstrating our commitment to shareholder returns. In closing, we remain focused on executing our business and capturing new opportunities for growth while continuing to invest to strengthen our relevance in the age of AI for long-term market leadership. Now let me turn it back to Julie.”