We maintain a long-term incentive plan that makes available shares for grants, at the discretion of the Board of Directors or Compensation and Organizational Development Committee of the Board of Directors, to officers, directors, and key employees in the form of stock options, restricted shares, restricted share units, stock appreciation rights and share grants. We satisfy share award incentives through the issuance of new ordinary shares. In recent years, grants have been limited to stock options, restricted shares, and restricted share units.

Stock option awards to employees generally vest and become nonforfeitable in increments of 25% per year over a four-year period, with full vesting four years after the date of grant. Historically, restricted stock awards to employee recipients generally cliff vested on the fourth anniversary of the grant date if the recipient remained in continuous employment through that date. Beginning with fiscal 2024 grants, Company restricted stock (and restricted stock units) generally cliff vest over a three year period after the grant date. However, employees who are grantees of restricted stock and have attained age 55 and been employed for at least five years at the time of the grant or meet these criteria during the term of the grant and are employed in the U.S. or in a few other foreign jurisdictions, or employees who have 25 years of service at the time of grant or meet that criterion during the term of the grant, will be subject to installment vesting rules over the applicable vesting period. Awards to certain employees in the U.S. or a few other jurisdictions may provide for continued vesting after “retirement,” if certain conditions are met. As of March 31, 2026, 1.7 million shares remained available for grant under the long-term incentive plan.

The fair value of share-based stock option compensation awards was estimated at their grant date using the Black-Scholes-Merton option pricing model. This model was developed for use in estimating the fair value of traded options that have no vesting restrictions and are fully transferable, characteristics that are not present in our option grants. If the model permitted consideration of the unique characteristics of employee stock options, the resulting estimate of the fair value of the stock options could be different. The value of the portion of the award that is ultimately expected to vest is recognized as expense over the requisite service periods in our Consolidated Statements of Income. The expense is classified as Cost of revenues or Selling, general, and administrative expenses in a manner consistent with the employee’s compensation and benefits.

The following weighted-average assumptions were used for options granted during fiscal 2026, fiscal 2025 and fiscal 2024:


	Fiscal 2026		Fiscal 2025		Fiscal 2024
Risk-free interest rate	4.02	%	4.21	%	3.59	%
Expected life of options	6.1 years		6.1 years		6.0 years
Expected dividend yield of stock	1.12	%	0.94	%	1.08	%
Expected volatility of stock	28.16	%	28.42	%	27.92	%

The risk-free interest rate is based upon the U.S. Treasury yield curve. The expected life of options is reflective of historical experience, vesting schedules and contractual terms. The expected dividend yield of stock represents our best estimate of the expected future dividend yield. The expected volatility of stock is derived by referring to our historical stock prices over a time frame similar to that of the expected life of the grant. An estimated forfeiture rate of 2.21%, 2.07% and 2.22% was applied in fiscal 2026, 2025 and 2024 respectively. This rate is calculated based upon historical activity and represents an estimate of the granted options not expected to vest. If actual forfeitures differ from this calculated rate, we may be required to make additional adjustments to compensation expense in future periods. The assumptions used above are reviewed at the time of each significant option grant, or at least annually.

A summary of share option activity is as follows:


	Number of Options	Weighted Average Exercise Price		Average Remaining Contractual Term	Aggregate Intrinsic Value (in millions)
Outstanding at March 31, 2025	1,823,883	$	185.51
Granted	187,058	265.21
Exercised	(287,514)	123.46
Forfeited	(6,560)	245.47
Outstanding at March 31, 2026	1,716,867	$	204.51	5.7 years	$	49.7
Exercisable at March 31, 2026	1,223,025	$	186.44	4.7 years	$	49.6

The aggregate intrinsic value in the table above represents the total pre-tax difference between the $221.13 closing price of our ordinary shares on March 31, 2026 over the exercise prices of the stock options, multiplied by the number of options outstanding or outstanding and exercisable, as applicable. The aggregate intrinsic value is not recorded for financial accounting purposes, and the value changes daily based on the daily changes in the fair market value of our ordinary shares.

The total intrinsic value of stock options exercised during the years ended March 31, 2026, 2025 and 2024 was $36.7 million, $30.7 million and $18.2 million, respectively. Net cash proceeds from the exercise of stock options were $32.9 million, $25.5 million and $10.5 million for the years ended March 31, 2026, 2025 and 2024, respectively. The tax benefit from stock option exercises was $8.0 million, $7.6 million and $5.5 million for the years ended March 31, 2026, 2025 and 2024, respectively.

A summary of the non-vested restricted share and restricted share unit activity is presented below:


	Number of Restricted Shares	Number of Restricted Share Units	Weighted-Average Grant Date Fair Value
Non-vested at March 31, 2025	449,131	29,555	$	214.21
Granted	167,055	17,298	241.42
Vested	(137,143)	(2,644)	207.10
Forfeited	(22,963)	(13,920)	220.81
Non-vested at March 31, 2026	456,080	30,289	$	226.73

As of March 31, 2026, there was a total of $42.6 million in unrecognized compensation cost related to non-vested share-based compensation granted under our share-based compensation plans. We expect to recognize the cost over a weighted average period of 1.5 years.