Coronavirus affected “every part” of CBRE’s business, president and chief executive Bob Sulentic said in the agent’s Q2 results.
The firm posted a 6% dip in revenue to $5.38bn (£4.1bn) from $5.71bn the previous year, and a 21% slump in overall fee revenue to $2.26bn.
Its advisory services fee revenue dropped by 30% to $1.34bn, which the agent said was a result of occupiers pausing leasing decisions.
Its global workplace solutions fee revenue dipped to $755m from $764m, 85% of which was from the company’s facilities management business which “performed relatively well despite Covid-19”.
Its investment business’ adjusted revenue also inched down to $154m from $169m. Hana, the agent’s flexible workspace arm, made a $9.2m loss for the quarter, during which its five locations across the US and UK had to close during lockdown.
The agent’s adjusted EBITDA almost halved to $267m from $468m, which included $25m of Covid-19-related costs and a $16m donation to the company’s Covid-19 Relief Fund.
Sulentic said: “As expected, Covid-19 took a toll on our performance in the second quarter, with impacts felt across every part of our business.
“However, the overall impact was cushioned by our diverse business mix, particularly the sustained growth of our contractual businesses over the past decade.
“The pandemic has elevated the importance of workplace strategy on corporate agendas. Now more than ever, clients will need the strategic insight, thoughtful advice and reliable execution that CBRE and our people are best positioned to provide.”
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