JLL has posted declines in its EMEA revenue and earnings for the first quarter, as the pandemic continued to take its toll on the market.
EMEA revenue dropped by 12% to $716.2m (£515m) in the three months to the end of March, compared with the same period in the previous year.
Fee revenue in the region fell by 7% to $311.5m. Its adjusted EBITDA losses deepened to $24.8m, from a $10.6m loss last year.
JLL underlined a decline in fee revenue from its UK mobile engineering business, including a contract loss. This hit its property and facilities management division’s fee revenue, down 8% to £77m.
The agent said that the revenue drop and UK mobile engineering contract loss were key factors behind its lower margin performance, “more than offsetting savings resulting from cost mitigation efforts during the trailing 12 months”.
The UK’s and Germany’s more restrictive lockdown measures during the period also offset “significant growth” in geographies such as Switzerland, according to the agent.
The project and development services arm recorded the biggest decline in fee revenue, which was down 16% to $59.2m. Fee revenue from leasing activities fell by 1% to $50.3m, while the capital markets business posted a 5% decline to $70.3m.
At broader group level, JLL’s consolidated revenue decreased by 4% to $4bn during the three months, while fee revenue fell by 7% to $1.4bn.
The Asia-Pacific business made an “outstanding rebound” in transaction-based revenue, which rose by 12% to $213.2m. Its revenue was up 3% to £785.8m.
However, the US also suffered from the effects of the Covid crisis alongside EMEA, with revenue down 3% to $2.4bn and fee revenue dropping by 9% to $832.7m.
Total net debt stood at $670.3m at the end of March, growing by $478.2m from £$192m in December. JLL said the increase was driven by typical seasonality, with annual incentive compensation payments made in the first quarter.
Year-on-year, the debt figure dropped by $843.2m, from $1.5bn in 2020. JLL attributed the reduction to substantial cash collections during the year as well as lower incentive compensation payments.
Christian Ulbrich, chief executive of JLL, said: “While the pandemic continues to cause global disruption, we are encouraged by promising economic signs that indicate 2021 can be a year of strong recovery.”
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