JLL’s EMEA performance in the first quarter of the year was hit by lower UK investment volumes caused by the forthcoming EU referendum.
The company said it had experienced “a decrease in UK performance in anticipation of the forthcoming vote regarding continued membership in the European Union”.
The EMEA division’s $10m (£6.9m) loss contrasted with both CBRE and Colliers International over the same period.
While profits at each company took a hit from currency fluctuations, JLL’s revenues were the most affected.
CBRE posted a 72% leap in its overall revenue over the same period to $847m, while Colliers saw its revenue rise by 21% to $98.9m. JLL, however, saw revenue rise by just 1% to $256.5m.
CBRE cited the UK as one of its three growth markets in EMEA, despite the referendum, behind the Netherlands and Spain.
In contrast to JLL, EMEA was the fastest-growing market for both CBRE and Colliers.
The US market, while still the largest for all three agents, turned in a rise in revenue of 29% to $1.6bn for CBRE and 15% to $210m for Colliers. JLL turned in US growth of 11% to $555m.
Only in the Asia Pacific region did JLL outperform its peers. The firm’s revenue from this region rose by 9% to $206m. CBRE’s Asia Pacific revenue grew by 5% to $158m and Colliers’ was down by 5% to $66m.
JLL’s investment management business also outperformed that of CBRE, whose investment management business is much larger. LaSalle Investment Management saw overall revenue climb by 16% to $113m over the first three months of 2016. CBRE GI’s revenue plunged by 18% to just over $90m, pushing it to a quarterly loss of $21m.
CBRE’s recurring-income business, which includes occupier outsourcing, was its strongest-performing division, up by 11% year-on-year. Similarly, Colliers saw its outsourcing division’s revenue rise by 26% to $159m.
JLL’s project and development services business posted a rise in revenue of 51% to $245m.
How they compare: JLL, CBRE and Colliers
| Item | CBRE ($) | % chg | JLL ($) | % chg | Colliers ($) | % chg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total revenue | 2.8bn | 39 | 1.3bn | 9 | 376m | 12 |
| EMEA revenue | 847m | 72 | 256.5m | 1 | 89.9m | 21 |
| Invest mgmt rev | 90m | -18 | 113m | 16 | NA | NA |
| Group EBITDA | 282.7m | 3 | 85m | -5 | 22.2m | 52 |
| EMEA EBITDA | 15m | -16 | (4m) | NA | (0.6m) | NA |
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