CBRE profits back in black after losses
CB Richard Ellis, the world’s biggest property management firm, yesterday missed analyst forecasts for its third quarter results but posted a return to profit.
The group – which has worked on the City’s biggest property deals including Macquarie’s move to Drapers Gardens and Nomura’s return to the Thameside Watermark Place – posted a 69 per cent fall in pre-tax profits to $12.4m (£7.5m) on the year before.
The move into profit is a sign of wider market stabilisation after three straight quarters of losses. The group reported for the nine months ended 30 September a net loss of £30.9m.
Chief executive Brett White said: “We are beginning to see signs that market conditions in some parts of the world and in some business segments – like the broader economy – are starting to stabilise.”
Tight credit and the recession have savaged the global commercial property market as retailers close stores and businesses cut jobs and scale back on space.
This has hurt the company’s most profitable business, leasing and sales. Sales and leasing will remain under pressure until credit markets and the global economy recover, the company said.
Third quarter revenue in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region was $192.3m, a 29 per cent fall from the $271.7m in the same period last year
Analysts pointed to the company’s tight cost-controls and debt restructuring, tactics that have pushed the group back into the black.
The group said it had agreed with lenders to extend loan maturities on $985m of debt and also succeeded in selling off a slew of distressed assets in June.