CBRE reports first-quarter loss

CB Richard Ellis booked a net loss of $36.7 mln (EUR 27.6 mln), or $0.14 loss per diluted share, for the first quarter of 2009 on revenue of $890.4 mln. The first-quarter result was negatively impacted by one-off charges $15.7 mln, the company said. Excluding these charges, the net loss comes to $7.5 mln.

These results compare with a first-quarter 2008 net profit of $20.5 mln on revenue of $1.2 bn reflecting particularly strong growth of outsourcing and leasing revenues.

First-quarter 2009 results were in line with the company’s expectations in light of the broad weakness in sales and leasing markets worldwide. 'Despite the formidable challenges posed by today’s economic environment, we were able to produce positive EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) for the quarter due to our efforts to diversify our revenue base, focus on our clients, and aggressively reduce fixed costs,' said Brett White, president and chief executive officer of CB Richard Ellis. 'The all-in 29% reduction in operating expenses exceeded the 28% decline in revenue, which is indicative of our ability to act decisively to streamline our operations, serve clients more efficiently and support our margins,' he added.

While the company's outsourcing business continues to add new clients and expand existing relationships, its revenue declined slightly over the three-month due to client actions to restrain project spending and reduce outsourced staffing levels (which lowers reimbursement revenue) as well as a loss of clients due to consolidations and bankruptcies. Ten new corporate customers signed outsourcing contracts in the quarter, including France Telecom, StatoilHydro, Pepsico, and Locartis, while service offerings were expanded for five existing corporate customers, including Nokia, AON and NCR.

The company said it had also continued to improve market share in investment sales, accounting for 17.1% of all US investment sales transactions during the first quarter, up from 14.2% for the same period in 2008.

The EMEA region reported an operating loss of $6.1 mln for the first quarter of 2009 compared with operating income of $8 mln for the same period in 2008. on revenue of $162.2 mln. This compares with $242.8 mln for the year-earlier period. EMEA reported negative EBITDA of $3.1 mln for the first quarter compared with positive EBITDA of $11.7 mln for last year’s first quarter. A 38% reduction in operating expenses, reflecting aggressive actions to streamline operations and cut costs, helped to mitigate the losses.