What is a cash flow waterfall?

A cash flow waterfall is a bar chart that walks from operating cash flow through capital expenditure to free cash flow, then shows how the remaining cash is allocated — acquisitions, buybacks, dividends, debt, and other financing — ending at the net change in cash. Each step is colour-coded: green bars add to the running total, red bars subtract.

How does International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, International Flavors & Fragrances generated $980M of operating cash flow and $398M of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 40.6% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF) return via buybacks and dividends?

The waterfall shows buybacks (share repurchases) and dividends paid as separate steps in the financing section. Together these represent International Flavors & Fragrances's shareholder returns for TTM through Q1 2026. You can compare these against free cash flow to assess the capital-return payout ratio.

International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$980M

Capex

-$582M

Free Cash Flow

$398M

FCF Margin

+40.6%

Cash flow waterfall for International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $398M

Cash flow breakdown for International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$980M	$980M
Capital Expenditure	-$582M	$398M
Free Cash Flow	$398M	$398M
Acquisitions	$2.93B	$3.33B
Other Investing	$104M	$3.43B
Share Buybacks	-$96M	$3.33B
Dividends Paid	-$409M	$2.92B
Net Debt Change	-$3.04B	-$111M
Other Financing	-$21M	-$132M
Forex Effect	$81M	-$51M
Net Cash Decrease	-$51M	-$51M

Operating Cash Flow$980M
Capital Expenditure-$582M
Free Cash Flow$398M
Acquisitions$2.93B
Other Investing$104M
Share Buybacks-$96M
Dividends Paid-$409M
Net Debt Change-$3.04B
Other Financing-$21M
Forex Effect$81M
Net Cash Decrease-$51M

Want to see what drove the FCF change?Free Cash Flow Bridge

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