FINANCE: A near doubling of EMEA turnover helped to lift revenues at the world’s biggest agent CBRE by 26% to a record $9bn (£5.9bn).
Turnover in Europe, the Middle East and Africa hit $2.3bn in 2014, up from $1.2bn the previous year, driven by the acquisition of facilities management giant Norland.
CBRE EMEA chairman Michael Strong said the UK and Netherlands in particular had achieved record revenues in 2014, while Ireland and Spain achieved “particularly strong performances”.
“In addition, our corporate services business has seen enormous benefit from the acquisition of Norland, which has added a compelling dimension to our client offering, driving wins for firms including Bank of America Merrill Lynch, AON and Pfizer in 2014,” Strong said.
“We are now expanding this capability into key European markets,” he added.
The EBITDA of the EMEA business leapt by 122% to $158m from $71m, the largest increase of any of the regions in which CBRE operates.
The group’s net income rose by 34.7% to $484,503, or 18% to $561.1m excluding selected charges primarily associated with costs incurred integrating Norland post acquisition.
EBITDA, excluding the charges, rose by 14% to $1.2bn, while the diluted share price improved by 17% to $1.68.
President and chief executive Bob Sulentic said 2014 was a “banner year for CBRE”.
“We generated strong growth and reached new milestones for total revenue and EBITDA,” Sulentic said.
“In the fourth quarter, our people drove continued strong gains in our global leasing, occupier outsourcing and capital markets business lines as well as in our US real estate development services business.”
Leasing was the strongest performing sector for the group with revenue growing 20% globally during the fourth quarter.
The company’s outsourcing business signed 37 new customers – its highest ever for a single quarter – adding 17% to revenues excluding the Norland acquisition.
Outsourcing revenues increased 59% when Norland was included.
The group’s capital markets business also performed well, with revenue from property sales up 14% globally.
