Accenture plc (ACN) will raise its semi-annual dividend by 9.8 percent to $1.46 per share in the fourth quarter of 2018.

Additionally, the Accenture's Board of Directors has approved a plan to begin paying dividends on a quarterly basis starting in the first quarter of fiscal 2020.

The increased dividend will be paid on November 15, 2018 to shareholders of record on October 18, 2018. The ex-date for this next semi-annual dividend is October 17, 2018.

Pierre Nanterme, Accenture’s chairman and CEO, said, “We are very pleased with our outstanding financial results for the fourth quarter and the full fiscal year 2018. For the year, our broad-based revenue growth of 10.5 percent in local currency and record new bookings of $42.8 billion reflect continued excellent demand for our services. We also delivered 14 percent EPS growth on an adjusted basis, generated very strong free cash flow and returned $4.3 billion in cash to our shareholders."

Accenture plc provides management and technology consulting services. The company serves clients in a broad range of industries and in three geographic regions: North America, Europe and Growth Markets (Asia Pacific, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East). Accenture's five operating groups are organized by industry: Communications, Media & Technology, Financial Services, Health & Public Service, Products and (as fifth operating group) Resources. Accenture's Products operating group serves a set of increasingly interconnected consumer-relevant industries. Resources serves the chemicals, energy, forest products, metals and mining, utilities and related industries.