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 McCormick & Company (MKC) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q2 2026, McCormick & Company generated $1.23B of operating cash flow and $1.16B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 94% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did McCormick & Company (MKC) return via buybacks and dividends?

The waterfall shows buybacks (share repurchases) and dividends paid as separate steps in the financing section. Together these represent McCormick & Company's shareholder returns for TTM through Q2 2026. You can compare these against free cash flow to assess the capital-return payout ratio.

McCormick & Company (MKC) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$1.23B

Capex

-$73.5M

Free Cash Flow

$1.16B

FCF Margin

+94.0%

Cash flow waterfall for McCormick & Company (MKC) — TTM through Q2 2026

Free cash flow: $1.16B

Cash flow breakdown for McCormick & Company (MKC) — TTM through Q2 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$1.23B	$1.23B
Capital Expenditure	-$73.5M	$1.16B
Free Cash Flow	$1.16B	$1.16B
Acquisitions	-$744M	$414M
Other Investing	-$137M	$276M
Dividends Paid	-$499M	-$223M
Net Debt Change	$469M	$246M
Other Financing	-$64.5M	$181M
Forex Effect	$26M	$207M
Net Cash Increase	$207M	$207M

Operating Cash Flow$1.23B
Capital Expenditure-$73.5M
Free Cash Flow$1.16B
Acquisitions-$744M
Other Investing-$137M
Dividends Paid-$499M
Net Debt Change$469M
Other Financing-$64.5M
Forex Effect$26M
Net Cash Increase$207M

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

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