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 Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (WTW) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Willis Towers Watson Public Limited generated $1.8B of operating cash flow and $1.57B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 87.4% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (WTW) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (WTW) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$1.8B

Capex

-$227M

Free Cash Flow

$1.57B

FCF Margin

+87.4%

Cash flow waterfall for Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (WTW) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $1.57B

Cash flow breakdown for Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (WTW) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$1.8B	$1.8B
Capital Expenditure	-$227M	$1.57B
Free Cash Flow	$1.57B	$1.57B
Other Investing	-$82M	$1.49B
Share Buybacks	-$1.75B	-$259M
Dividends Paid	-$358M	-$617M
Other Financing	$945M	$328M
Forex Effect	$94M	$422M
Net Cash Increase	$422M	$422M

Operating Cash Flow$1.8B
Capital Expenditure-$227M
Free Cash Flow$1.57B
Other Investing-$82M
Share Buybacks-$1.75B
Dividends Paid-$358M
Other Financing$945M
Forex Effect$94M
Net Cash Increase$422M

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

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