CBRE this week revealed solid first-quarter results despite an “incremental and uneven-paced” recovery.
This was evident in the firm’s strong performance in the recovering US market, but muted activity in both Europe and Asia Pacific. The New York-listed group posted a 13% hike in net income to $46m (£28m) – reflecting earnings per share of $0.14 – excluding one-off costs.
These costs, primarily relating to the takeover of ING REIM, totalled $19m, net of income taxes, for the quarter.
CBRE’s rise in net profit came on the back of a 14% hike in revenue to $1.35bn.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose by 25% to $150.5m in the current period, before falling to $140.5m as a result of ING REIM-related costs.
CBRE said growth for the quarter was driven by the Americas, which accounted for 60% of total revenue and nearly 70% of normalised EBITDA.
The European business made an operating loss of $11.3m, compared with operating income of $0.7m for the same period in 2011, reflecting the slowdown in the eurozone.
EMEA revenue fell slightly to $197m, compared with $205m for the first quarter of 2011, after modest growth in the Netherlands and the UK was offset by weakness in France.
Asia made an operating loss of $400,000, compared with an operating profit of $11.3m last year. Revenue grew by 4% to $167m.
Its newly merged investment management business, CBRE Global Investors, made operating income of $11.4m, up from $1.3m in the first quarter last year. Revenue was up by 149% to $125m.
This division contributed 10% of group revenue.
Chief executive Brett White said that the macroeconomic trends from 2011 continued in the first quarter, so the “market is recovering but at an incremental and uneven pace”.
He added: “We continue to be cautiously optimistic.”
