CBRE has posted second-quarter results that its chief executive said “slightly exceeded” expectations in a tough market – but he added that bigger improvements will likely not materialise until next year.
Revenue at the agency for the three months to 30 June stood at $7.7bn (£5.9bn), down by 0.7% year-on-year in US dollar terms. Adjusted profit of $258m plunged by some 57%.
The company now expects full-year earnings per share to decline by 20% to 25% against a record 2022, with most of the decrease due to a delayed capital markets recovery.
“Like last quarter, CBRE’s results slightly exceeded our expectations, driven largely by better-than-expected growth in global workplace solutions and aggregate growth in our resilient lines of business, offset by weaker-than-expected property sales in advisory services,” said chief executive Bob Sulentic (pictured).
“The economy performed better than we had anticipated going into the quarter in terms of both GDP and employment growth.
“However, the opposite was true with interest rates, where increases in the last 90 days, coupled with expectations that rates will end the year higher than anticipated last quarter, pressured the elements of our business that are sensitive to commercial real estate capital flows, particularly our sales and financing businesses.
“We expect this pressure to continue for the remainder of the year. At the same time, we are beginning to see signs in our own business that will eventually lead to improved performance, likely starting next year.”
Revenue from advisory services fell by a fifth to just over $2bn, led by a 44% slump in capital markets sales revenue.
In global workplace solutions, which advises occupiers, revenue was up by almost 11% at $5.4bn.
Real estate investments revenue came in at $256m, down by 7.8%.
All business segments posted a quarterly profit.
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