REAL ESTATE - Jones Lang Lasalle last week reported net income of $4.6m (€3.67m) for the first quarter of this year – bucking a trend in recent years to report first-quarter losses.

Global revenues were up 40% to $337m over 2005, with European revenues at $103m.

The recent acquisition of Spaulding & Slye in the US and outperformance by Lasalle Investment Management boosted the results, although all the firm’s major business segments performed better than in the same period last year.

European CEO Alasdair Hughes pointed out that the results coincided with positive global trends. Specifically, he attributed the performance to the continuing volume of global capital entering the real estate market.

“There’s a lot more activity in capital markets generally,” he said.

The firm’s German business – its second largest – reported a 43% growth in revenues over Q1 2005. “The improvement is already happening,” said Hughes. “Open-ended funds are selling, and there’s a wall of money trying to get into the German real estate market.”

In France, a recruitment spree last year appeared to pay off, with an increase in revenues of more than 100%. Hughes said: “We’re constantly looking for talent, and we’ll keep the momentum going in 2007.”