Colliers (CIGI) Q2 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

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DATE

Thursday, July 31, 2025, at 11 a.m. ET

CALL PARTICIPANTS

• Chairman and Chief Executive Officer — Jay Hennick
• Chief Financial Officer — Christian Mayer

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RISKS

• Leasing revenues declined 5% globally, coming in below expectations, with weaker industrial volumes linked to tariff-related and macroeconomic uncertainty.
• Segment net margin in real estate services fell slightly to 11.9%, with revenue mix and continued investments in recruiting cited as impacts.
• Investment management net revenues declined 7% as expected, attributed to the absence of catch-up fees recognized in the prior year.
• Management continues to monitor effects from global trade tensions and interest rate volatility, with heightened sensitivity highlighted for the real estate services segment.

TAKEAWAYS

• Consolidated revenue—$1.3 billion for the quarter, led by significant growth in engineering and supported by acquisitions.
• Adjusted EBITDA—$180 million, a 15% increase from last year.
• Internal revenue growth—4% across the business, excluding acquisition effects.
• Engineering segment revenue—Net revenue increased 70% year over year, with internal growth at 8% and net margin rising to 13.7%.
• Real estate services revenue—Up 4%, with recurring outsourcing revenues climbing 6% on strength in property management, valuation, and loan servicing.
• Capital markets revenue—Up 16%, driven by the US and Western Europe; sales brokerage and US multifamily debt originations led performance.
• Engineering backlog—Maintained above twelve months of segment revenue, supporting ongoing project visibility.
• Investment management net margin—Improved to 42% from 40% as a result of disciplined cost controls and reduced incentive compensation.
• Fundraising—$1.0 billion raised during the quarter, with an additional $500 million raised since quarter end; year-to-date fundraising totals $2.7 billion, pacing toward the $5 billion-$8 billion full-year fundraising target.
• Private wealth channel—Versus Capital subsidiary rebranded to Harrison Street Private Wealth, expanding differentiated alternative investment offerings for wealth managers.
• Acquisitions—Four tuck-under deals in engineering and two in real estate services closed since quarter start; Round Shield Partners was acquired, adding a $5.4 billion AUM European credit platform.
• Free cash flow conversion—98% of adjusted net earnings (non-GAAP) was converted to free cash flow on a trailing twelve-month basis, consistent with long-term target.
• Leverage ratio—2.3x as of quarter end, with an expectation to decline below 2x by year-end following recent acquisitions, assuming no further major deals.
• Raised outlook—Full-year consolidated guidance increased, split equally between completed acquisitions and higher organic growth assumptions.

SUMMARY

Colliers International Group(NASDAQ:CIGI) launched a strategic rebranding by integrating its investment management division under the Harrison Street Asset Management name, enacted leadership changes, and expanded private wealth offerings. Product fundraising accelerated, driven by the launch of Harrison Street Fund 10 and a pipeline of 20 products, including Basalt Fund V and new Round Shield offerings. Capital markets showed sequential momentum and are projected by management to sustain year-over-year growth in the next quarter, with a tougher comparison anticipated in the fourth quarter. Engineering segment backlogs remain above target levels, with contract wins in larger-scale public and private infrastructure projects supporting robust revenue visibility.

• Chief Financial Officer Christian Mayer indicated that half of the raised full-year consolidated outlook is attributed to the impact of completed M&A, with the remainder due to higher core organic growth expectations.
• Chairman and CEO Hennick said, "we believe that the overall valuation, especially given the component parts of Colliers International Group, is materially below where it should be," referencing ongoing reviews of the investment management segment's structure but clarifying no final decision on a spin-off.
• Leadership reports continued momentum in engineering margin improvements, driven equally by recent acquisitions and gains in productivity and staff utilization, with expectations for continued improvement in the coming quarters.
• Fundraising activity spans all strategies, with management noting success across real estate, infrastructure, and alternative vehicles, while sector challenges persist industry-wide.
• Chief Financial Officer Christian Mayer stated the Round Shield purchase was completed at "low teens" multiples, consistent with credit manager valuations, while tuck-under engineering deals remain at more favorable rates.
• No material impact on engineering backlogs has been observed from tariffs or policy changes to date, according to management comments.
• Chairman and CEO Hennick said, "But it's to better enhance the distribution capabilities of all the segments of the platform," denying that centralization alone is the end goal for investment management realignment.

INDUSTRY GLOSSARY

• Tuck-under acquisition: Acquisition of a smaller company or business unit that is integrated into an existing operating platform to enhance capabilities or scale.
• Catch-up fees: Fees recognized when new limited partners join an investment fund after its initial closing, compensating existing investors for the earlier commitment period.

Full Conference Call Transcript

Jay Hennick: Thank you, operator. Good morning, and thanks for joining our second quarter conference call. As the operator mentioned, I'm Jay Hennick, Chairman and CEO of Colliers International Group Inc., and with me today is Christian Mayer, our CFO. This call is webcast and available in the Investor Relations section of our website along with the presentation slide deck. As you saw, we exceeded expectations with our strong second quarter results, highlighting the exceptional performance of our engineering division. Our long-term strategy to build a diversified professional services and investment management business with high-quality recurring revenue streams is clearly paying off.

All three divisions, real estate services, engineering, and investment management, demonstrated strong momentum driven by organic growth, new revenue pipelines, and acquisitions. We anticipate this positive trend to continue throughout the year, prompting us to raise our outlook despite macroeconomic uncertainties, as you'll hear from Christian in just a few minutes. Last week, we rebranded our investment management division into Harrison Street Asset Management, reflecting the strength and global recognition of the Harrison Street brand. We also expanded our leadership team, appointing co-founder Chris Merrill as global CEO and Zach Michaud and Steve Gordon as managing partners and global CFO and COO, respectively. Chris and the team remain significant shareholders consistent with our long-standing partnership philosophy.

As part of this initiative, we've launched a dedicated private wealth channel by rebranding and expanding our Versus Capital subsidiary. The newly branded Harrison Street Private Wealth will continue to deliver highly differentiated alternative investment strategies to wealth managers, financial advisers, and high-net-worth individuals. This rebranding significantly expands our Harrison Street's broad array of global investment products and capabilities. This week, we also completed the acquisition of Round Shield Partners, a premier European credit platform with $5.4 billion in AUM. This acquisition enhances our credit, student housing, and hospitality capabilities. In addition, Round Shield's vertically integrated student housing platform offers an exciting opportunity to scale our combined operations across the region.

Overall, AUM increased to $111.03 billion during the quarter and over $108 billion pro forma for the acquisition of Round Shield. Fundraising has improved over the past few quarters, and we expect this to continue, although still below historical levels. Operationally, we continue to deliver attractive risk-adjusted returns for investors throughout our various investment strategies, including real assets, infrastructure, and credit. This quarter, new investments increased 64% year over year, and currently, we have about $8 billion of capital to put to work, which positions us very well to continue to seize opportunities and deliver value to our investors. Realizations were also up 150% over the prior year, yielding substantial returns for our investors while providing necessary liquidity for reinvestment.

Besides Round Shield, we also completed four tuck-under acquisitions in engineering and two in real estate services since the beginning of the quarter. Our M&A pipeline remains robust, and we are confident in completing several additional tuck-ins throughout the balance of the year. With our thirty-year track record of value creation, visionary leadership, and three high-value growth engines, Colliers International Group Inc. is well-positioned to continue to seize opportunities and deliver enduring value for our shareholders. Now I'll turn things over to Christian for his financial report, then we'll open the call to your questions. Christian?

Christian Mayer: Thank you, Jay, and good morning, everyone. As a reminder, all non-GAAP measures referenced today are defined in the materials accompanying this call. Revenue growth figures are presented in local currency terms. We delivered strong results in the second quarter, with revenues of $1.3 billion, up 17% year over year. Growth was led by our engineering segment, supported by recent acquisitions, as well as solid internal performance. Overall, internal revenue growth came in at 4%. Adjusted EBITDA was $180 million, a 15% increase from last year. In our Real Estate Services segment, revenue grew 4%, with recurring outsourcing revenues rising 6%, with growth across property management, valuation, and loan servicing.

Capital markets revenues were up 16%, improving on the 10% growth reported in Q1 and ahead of our expectations. Sales brokerage was strongest in the US and Western Europe. Debt finance activity also surged, led by significantly higher US multifamily originations. Leasing revenues declined 5% globally, coming in below expectations. While office leasing was strong, it was offset by weaker industrial volumes due to tariff-related and other macroeconomic uncertainty. Segment net margin was down slightly to 11.9%, impacted by revenue mix and continued investments in recruiting. Our engineering net revenue jumped 70%, fueled by acquisitions and internal growth of 8%.

The net margin rose to 13.7%, a substantial increase from last year, with improvements coming from both acquisitions and enhanced productivity in our core operations. We continue to monitor any potential impacts from tariffs or government policy, but we've seen no significant effect on our backlogs to date. In Investment Management, net revenues declined 7% as expected due to catch-up fees recognized in the prior year. However, the net margin improved to 42% from 40%, driven by disciplined cost control and lower incentive compensation. We have been very active on fundraising. During Q2, we raised $1 billion in new capital commitments. We also raised an additional $500 million since quarter-end, bringing total year-to-date fundraising to $2.7 billion.

The launch of Harrison Street Fund 10 in May was the primary driver for fundraising during the quarter. With this fund and others currently in the market or launching later this year, we remain well on track to achieve our $5 billion to $8 billion full-year fundraising target. Assets under management stood at $103.3 billion at June 30, up 3% from March 31 and up 7% from a year ago, supported by new capital raised, deployment activity, and favorable mark-to-market adjustments. Free cash flow remains strong. On a trailing twelve-month basis, we converted 98% of adjusted net earnings into free cash flow, in line with our long-term target.

As we've noted before, our working capital-light business model and modest CapEx result in strong free cash flows available for reinvestment and growth. Turning to our balance sheet, our leverage ratio was 2.3 times as of June 30. Second-quarter leverage was slightly higher than anticipated, firstly, due to our increased pace of acquisitions and secondly, due to the recent appreciation of the US Dollar, which increased the reported value of our foreign-denominated debt. With the completion of the Asterisk and Round Shield acquisitions in July, we now expect our leverage to decline to just under two times by year-end. This assumes no additional major acquisitions.

We have raised our full-year consolidated outlook to reflect our strong year-to-date performance and the impact of recent acquisitions, including Round Shield. Round Shield contributes approximately $35 million in annual management fee revenue at margins consistent with our existing investment management division. While we continue to monitor the effects of global trade tensions and interest rate volatility, particularly on our real estate services segment, we remain optimistic. Our outlook is supported by healthy pipelines across all three of our segments and the expectation of a modest improvement in market conditions through the second half of the year.

Operator: Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. Should you wish to decline from the polling process, please press star followed by the number two. If you are using a speakerphone, please make sure to lift your handset before any keys. Your first question is from the line of Anthony Paolone from JPMorgan. Please go ahead.

Anthony Paolone: My first question relates to leasing. I understand the industrial weakness that occurred in the quarter. Just wondering, did you find that to be a surprise? Like, did the market change more dramatically than maybe you thought? And then also, just what's it look like today? Has there been much of a rebound as you start to look at the second half of the year?

Jay Hennick: Tony, we'd expected leasing softness for the second quarter. I think we telegraphed that in our first-quarter commentary. We compete in many markets. We have a very diversified business in 35 countries and strong positions in places like Canada, Australia, and Western Europe that are heavily tariff-impacted, and that was something we thought would weigh on our results, and it did. Although I can report that July has been more positive in terms of trajectory. On that, and that includes industrial leasing activity being, you know, trending more positively today.

Anthony Paolone: What's industrial as a percentage of your leasing revenue at this point?

Christian Mayer: 40%. 40-45%.

Anthony Paolone: Okay. Alright. And then just my second question. In Investment Management, can you talk a bit more about the branding that you announced? How much centralization perhaps might occur or just any other economic implications of just the reorganization of investment management?

Jay Hennick: Yeah. So we're very excited about it for a number of reasons. When we and for those that have been long-term shareholders, we curated this division one step at a time since 2016. And every one of the moves that we made were all complementary. So for example, the rebranding and integration of Versus, which is a very well-managed business, its focus was entirely on the private wealth channel. And so how do we, you know, internally, we were focused on how do we accelerate the growth and utilize the expertise of the Versus team across the entire platform. And so, in addition to rebranding Harrison Street, it was a natural step as part of that initiative to add Versus.

And I would say going forward, we're looking for similar to leverage some of the expertise that we have throughout the platform. And I think you'll see more of it in the next couple of quarters.

Anthony Paolone: Thank you.

Operator: Your next question is from the line of Stephen Sheldon from William Blair. Please go ahead.

Stephen Sheldon: Hey, thanks for the nice results here. First one, just on the guidance raise for the year. Can you help frame how much of that is driven by M&A completed since the last earnings call versus higher organic revenue and profit expectations? And, specifically, are, I guess, are your underlying organic assumptions for the year also moving higher?

Christian Mayer: Steven. That's a good question. We expect that, you know, out of our outlook, increase that half will come from the partial year effect of completed acquisitions. And half will come from increasing expectations for organic growth in our core operations. In particular, we're seeing revenue acceleration in real estate services in the back half of the year. We've increased that slightly relative to our prior expectations. And engineering, as you can see, has been outperforming expectations in the first and second quarter with very strong organic growth, both top line as well as margin enhancement. So I mean those are the key drivers for the organic piece.

And between the combination of the acquisitions and the organic growth improvement, that is the basis of the increase in outlook.

Stephen Sheldon: Great. That's helpful. And as a follow-up, I also wanted to ask about the I'm Jay, you've been pretty vocal, I think, about investor the I'm segment and the team considering a potential spin-off. Does the rebranding set the stage even more for that? And generally, how serious are you about pursuing that if Colliers International Group Inc. doesn't get to some of the parts valuation you think it deserves?

Jay Hennick: You know, we always look at, you know, our overall valuation and we believe that the overall valuation, especially given the component parts of Colliers International Group Inc., is materially below where it should be. The steps we're taking in the I'm segment are probably steps we would have taken anyway, and, you know, for those that follow us or have followed us, you'll know that our reluctance so far to doing anything, and we haven't made any final decisions about this, has been really around fundraising. Fundraising for the past couple of years has been softer than we've expected, but it's picking up now.

So, you know, now is an appropriate time to make the changes necessary to augment our leadership team. All of our have been working beautifully together. There's lots of collaboration going on. Mostly around new investment products, new markets that we can take our existing expertise to things like infrastructure, data centers, and now credit in a much bigger way are all exciting opportunities for this platform. And it's brought a collaboration beyond, I think, what we would have anticipated. So we're very excited about it. The teams are incredible. They own direct equity in the business, which has always been consistent with our philosophy of partnership. So we've got high hopes for that division.

And what will be will be.

Stephen Sheldon: Understood. Thank you.

Operator: Your next question is from the line of Stephen MacLeod from BMO Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Stephen MacLeod: Thank you. Good morning, guys. Just wanted to circle around on the engineering business, which obviously had a strong Q2 and, as you pointed out, a strong, you know, as we saw as well, strong Q1. You did reference the backlog. So I was just wondering if you could sort of characterize either quantitatively or qualitatively sort of what the backlog looks like for the balance of the year then into 2026, and I guess even longer term, if you can get some color on that too.

Christian Mayer: Steve, we always strive to maintain a backlog in excess of twelve months of revenue. And that continues to be the case today. Regardless of the fact, we've increased revenue significantly. So that backlog needs to grow significantly as the revenue on the trailing 12 basis grows. In the business and we are able to do that. We are having success with gaining wins on contracts for new infrastructure projects, you know, larger scale type projects as well in the private sector. So we feel very confident about our pipeline of revenue in that business, and where it's tracking right where we expect it to be in terms of our planning.

We also strive to maintain a mix of private sector and public sector clientele in the segment. So we look at that carefully, and that balance gives our revenues additional resilience through all cycles of the economy and that's something we strive to do as well.

Stephen MacLeod: Okay. That's helpful color, Christian. Thank you. And then maybe just on the Harrison Street asset management. You know, with the balance of fundraising kinda year to date, being in the, you know, high $2.7 billion range and the long-term yearly target of $5 billion to $8 billion, can you talk a little bit about where that back half growth is expected to come from? Is it in addition to Harrison Street 10? And are there, maybe just some color around that as well.

Christian Mayer: Yeah. Steve, as I noted, 10 launched very successfully in May of this year, so just a few months ago. We have another significant closed-end fund launching in the fourth quarter, the Basalt latest fund. It'll be their fund five. We expect that will have a significant impact on our AUM growth for the full year in terms of fundraising. And we also have a number of other products in the market, open-ended products and others. That are fundraising and that will be additive for the rest of the year. We have a total of about 20 products in the market at various sizes right now.

And that includes the Round Shield products that also offer there's some overlap, obviously, with student housing and some hospitality, but 20 products in total. So we're optimistic that fundraising will finish the year nicely on fundraising, which sets us up beautifully for '26 and beyond. So we're looking forward to that.

Stephen MacLeod: That's great to hear. Thanks for that color, Jay. Appreciate it. Thanks, guys.

Operator: The next question is from the line of Mitch Germain from Citizens Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Mitch Germain: Thank you, and congrats on the quarter. Is the goal to centralize the functions of the investment management platform, like fundraising and other capabilities?

Jay Hennick: It's to make them better. So I don't think that centralizing them necessarily is the ultimate goal. But it's to better enhance the distribution capabilities of all the segments of the platform.

Mitch Germain: Okay. That's helpful. And then, do you think the $5 to $8 billion of fundraising is that what you would consider to be a target in the current environment or kind of a longer-term target based on the composition of that platform?

Jay Hennick: In the current environment. We think we can do much better. Historically, we've done much better than that, and we're much bigger today than we were before. You know, you're seeing the data from all the other firms in the space that are reporting. They're all having challenges around fundraising unless, of course, they have an insurance arm, which helps them quite a bit. We don't have that. But everybody's having fundraising challenges. They were more challenging last year than they are this year. We think that we're doing a much better job both internally and externally. And it all comes down to the success of our products and the returns that we've been delivering to our investors.

So our investor base keeps getting stronger. And, you know, as I said to one of the earlier questions, we're quite excited about '26 and beyond. And what it could mean.

Mitch Germain: Thank you for that. I appreciate your time.

Operator: Next question is from the line of Daryl Young from Stifel. Please go ahead.

Daryl Young: Hey, good morning, everyone. Question on the investment management platform. And specifically, you're gearing towards Europe. You know, Harrison Street, Basalt, and now Round Shield all have good representation there. Is that a geography you're specifically targeting? Or is it potentially the timing of what acquisitions are available when? Just any color you can give on sort of the European exposure.

Jay Hennick: Well, let's also not forget Colliers Global Investors, which has been in Europe for, you know, probably ten years now and have a significant portfolio in hospitality, multifamily, etcetera. We see Europe as some white space for us. The beauty of Round Shield is their flap with our in Europe. And it was, you know, it was all credit-based. So, you know, we can help with our student housing business. We can help with seniors business by providing credit. And Round Shield also has, you know, and I want to emphasize this, a vertically integrated business which is new to us. And especially new in Europe where there isn't as much experience in managing student housing facilities.

So we see a lot of opportunity to collaborate with our existing products there. So all of this to say, it's just further increasing the size, scope, depth of management, and probably most importantly, investment strategies in Europe. We have a significant business there. And it's growing. And so that really supports our business in North America as well.

Daryl Young: Okay. Great. And then just as a second question on I'm do you have the capabilities you're looking for now? I think, historically, you've said you'd avoid traditional private equity as a vertical, but just curious if there's any other capabilities you'd like to add to continue scaling up the platform?

Jay Hennick: There are some capabilities we'd like to continue to expand in a couple of areas, credit in particular, infrastructure, mid-market infrastructure, where we have a very, very strong presence both in Europe and North America. Private equity is not something that we've targeted. Not to say that we wouldn't, it's not sort of a near-term opportunity that we're pursuing. So, you know, we're always looking for white space. We're always looking for products and investment strategies where we can generate better returns for our investors so that we can introduce them to those new opportunities. And so, that was one of the great things about Round Shield. Its results over a long period of time were stellar.

And that, you know, that helps to introduce Round Shield's products to our existing investor base.

Daryl Young: Got it. Okay. That's great. And congrats on a good quarter. I'll get back in the queue.

Operator: Thanks. Your next question is from the line of Scott Fletcher from CIBC. Please go ahead.

Scott Fletcher: Hi, good morning. Wanted to ask a question about engineering. Strong quarter, margin expansion looking quite good. Is there anything specific to call out on what drove that margins, whether it's more tilted to the M&A or just the operation side? Just how we should expect that to play out going forward?

Christian Mayer: Yeah, Scott. In terms of the engineering margins, the margin expansion came equally from acquisitions and from organic improvement in the productivity and efficiency and utilization of our staff. So we've made strides there and that's showing in the reported margins. So as you look ahead to Q3 and Q4 of this year, you'll see the gains from the acquisition piece become a little bit less. We do expect, we've lapped the Envelope acquisition and a few others, we do expect continuing enhancement in efficiency and productivity in the core operations. So you'll see we expect margins to continue to tick up on a year-over-year basis for that reason.

Scott Fletcher: Okay. Thanks. And then sticking on the margin front, on the investment management side, has there been any change to the sort of future view that margins should expand nicely in 2026? Just given this year, it had some additional investments and lapping some tougher costs.

Christian Mayer: Yes. Scott, our objective in investment management is that margins as we scale the business should improve over time. Today, we're in the low 40s range. We would expect over time in a period of a couple of years to get that margin to the 45% and even approaching 50% range as the business scales and we've, you know, have more success on fundraising, which is gonna drive it.

Jay Hennick: You know, I might add to that. We are doing a lot of investment spending also in a bunch of areas around Harrison Street. And so that's gonna, you know, that's gonna keep pressure on, I think, Christian, the margins a bit for the next year or two as we continue to build out some of these capabilities, especially in the areas of, you know, our private wealth channel as an example, some distribution, etcetera. So we're hiring, and so that always has a, you know, has a puts a little bit of a damper on margins. But we're very focused on margins. So we're trying to balance that. As Christian was talking about.

But I just wanted to emphasize the fact that, you know, with the margins being in a good spot right now relative to our peers, and that is with some significant investment that we're making.

Scott Fletcher: Okay. Great. Good to hear. Thank you.

Operator: Your next question is from the line of Julien Blouin from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.

Ryan Trieste: Hello. This is Ryan Trieste on for Julien. Congrats on the strong quarter. And the engineering segment specifically, I was wondering, what types of additional businesses you guys are looking to add in order to round out your offering there and what respective multiples you're able to acquire them at.

Jay Hennick: We're very across the board in engineering, as you can see. Being global allows us to continue to augment our platforms in North America, Canada, US, particular, Australia, New Zealand, and we are actively looking in Europe. You asked about valuation. Valuations are interesting right now because we believe that we can continue to do tuck-under acquisitions at very favorable rates. Platform acquisitions, however, are higher value. And they're worth higher value, frankly. So I would say that if we were to enter the European marketplace, which we'd like to do over the next year or two, you know, you would we would expect to pay a more healthy valuation, for example, than we would in tucks.

The rest of our business is, you know, we've got significant platforms, so we can continue to tuck Australia, New Zealand, Canada, US, and we're continuing to be very successful there. I should also add that there's one or two other specialties in engineering that command higher valuations as well. So if it's a significant platform within the United States that would add to our overall business mix, you know, for example, power. I'm using that as an example just to give you a sense. That might be an evaluation that would be higher normal. But beauty is always in the eye of the beholder. And, you know, we've been in the acquisition business now for thirty years.

So we hope we know when to pay up for something that's incredible and will add value to us and not.

Ryan Trieste: That color is super helpful. And for my follow-up, is it possible for you guys to expand on the state of the fundraising environment versus on your real estate funds versus your alternative infrastructure funds? Thank you.

Jay Hennick: I don't think we wanna do that. To be candid. There's some competitive information in there that we wanna hold on to. But we've and Christian, you may have a view on this, but we have been consistently talked about our fundraising totals across all strategies. And not been specific around, you know, where the fundraising is coming from. Other than your comments on the two big flagship funds that are in the marketplace now.

Christian Mayer: Appreciate I would just add to that, Jay, that we do and we have been seeing fundraising in all strategies. Our traditional real estate strategies, our infrastructure strategies, our alternative strategies. Every single area has been active in fundraising year to date, and we expect that to continue.

Ryan Trieste: I appreciate it. Thanks.

Operator: Your next question is from the line of Himanshu Gupta from Scotiabank. Please go ahead.

Himanshu Gupta: Thank you, and good morning. So on capital markets, you know, looks like Q2 was ahead of expectations. So any asset class or geography which drove that good performance? And then how should we think about, you know, Q3 or back half of the year on capital markets? Thank you.

Christian Mayer: So Himanshu, I mentioned, our capital markets performance was led by the US and Western Europe. And we're coming off a low base. So we had strong growth in Q2 of 16%. I would expect that we can repeat or enhance that level of year-over-year growth in Q3. In Q4, the comps are going to get a bit tougher. If you recall, in 2024, there was a surge in capital markets activity, so the comps are getting a little bit tougher. But certainly, I think the momentum in capital markets is strong and should continue.

Himanshu Gupta: Okay. Thank you. And then on the leasing, I know, you know, some commentary has already been provided. Just wondering, in your guidance, for the back half, what kind of growth are you incorporating in your guidance for leasing revenues?

Christian Mayer: Himanshu, we are still expecting on a full-year basis to have mid-single-digit growth in leasing. As you've seen, leasing has been challenged the first half of the year. So that implies we're going to have some healthy uptick in leasing activity, and we expect that anyways for Q3 and Q4 to deliver on that full-year sort of mid-single-digit area in terms of growth.

Himanshu Gupta: Got it. Thank you. And then, you know, if I look at Q3, like, capital market seems to be sequentially improving, leasing, obviously, outsourcing also looks like good there. So should we expect like some nice margin expansion in Q3 on a year-over-year basis? On the real estate side?

Christian Mayer: Hey, Manshu. We do expect some margin enhancement on a year-over-year basis in Q3 and in Q4 and hopefully on a full-year basis as well.

Himanshu Gupta: That's very helpful. And maybe the last question, you know, switching gears on engineering. And Globe acquisition, I think it's almost one year now. Since you made that acquisition. So as you look back one year, how has the acquisition performed relative to underwriting or your expectations?

Christian Mayer: Yeah. Himanshu, you're right. This I think this week is the one-year anniversary of our EnGlobe acquisition. I can say from my perspective, it's been a pleasure working with the team at EnGlobe. We've done a lot of things together and integrated the business. They've been very active as well on acquisitions, which is part of the thesis around doing that transaction in the first place, was building out their Canadian presence, and then we've done that now, I think, with four acquisitions, if memory serves. So that's been very positive. The business is performing well. The backlogs are strong, as I mentioned in my general comments about engineering. That is also true of EnGlobe.

So, no, we think it's been a great first year, and we're excited about the future.

Himanshu Gupta: Got it. And maybe just a follow-up, and that's my last question, by the way. On the engineering, like, should we expect, like, continued high single-digit organic growth in the second half? I know the first half has been pretty strong. Overall, engineering, like, second half of the year.

Christian Mayer: Yeah. I mean, in terms of organic growth, for the second half of the year, engineering, I would expect something in the mid to high single-digit range. We have had some strong performance year to date, but I think that growth will continue, perhaps not at the same not quite at the same rate, but certainly at very strong rates.

Himanshu Gupta: Got it. Thank you, and I'll turn it back. Thank you so much.

Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, if you would like please make sure to lift your handset before pressing any keys. The next question is from the line of Jimmy Shan from RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Jimmy Shan: Yeah. Just a quick follow-up for me. One on Round Shield. I was wondering if you could share with us the rough multiple paid for the business or at least a rough range. And then in terms of capital allocation, respect to acquisitions going forward, you mentioned you could do tuck-ins in the engineering business so very attractive multiple. You know? And I suspect this round shield is gonna be not as attractive.

Jay Hennick: We can't hear you. Can you speak up, please?

Jimmy Shan: Okay. Can you hear me better now?

Christian Mayer: Better. Yeah.

Jay Hennick: Okay.

Jimmy Shan: My second question was more about whether we should expect more I'm acquisitions going forward versus the, you know, sort of the better multiples you're getting on the engineering tuck-ins you've been doing, in the last little while?

Jay Hennick: So let me answer the second question, and Christian can deal with the first. We're always open for acquisitions. We're always talking to several potential targets. So nothing is off the table from that perspective. And, yes, the valuations may be slightly higher in that business, but there is a lot of opportunity for us to accelerate growth. So, we're looking at everything.

Christian Mayer: And to your question, specifically about Round Shield, I mean, that transaction. And, you know, credit managers in the market have traded at very high prices over the past number of years. It is a high-growth area. So in our case, the Round Shield acquisition was done in the low teens area, and that's consistent with where the market is at for these. And I would add also that we've been active this year, you know, to date in all three of our segments. Balancing allocation of capital across real estate services and, of course, engineering, where we've been very active and now also investment management.

And that's a good place to be for us, is having that balanced approach to capital allocation where it makes sense. Where we see the most opportunity.

Jimmy Shan: Okay. And then, sorry, one more follow-up on the leasing side. Just trying to understand the sort of the weakness a little bit better. Is it fair to say that your industrial leasing outside of the US is a fairly decent-sized business? And that probably could explain some of that it's relative to some of your peers.

Jay Hennick: We can't we still can't hear you, buddy. You gotta speak up.

Christian Mayer: You gotta speak up. It's very hard to hear you.

Jimmy Shan: Okay. Apologize. Give me my phone.

Christian Mayer: Is that's good. Now we're

Jimmy Shan: Okay. Alright. My probably a bad headset. Yeah. No. My second question was about leasing. And understanding the weakness there and whether or not you have a larger size of industrial leasing outside of the US. That might explain some of the relative weakness that we're seeing weakness relative to your peers.

Christian Mayer: So Jimmy, we have a significant industrial leasing practice globally, including in the US. But as I mentioned earlier, we do have perhaps larger exposure to markets like Canada and Australia and Western Europe than some of the others. So that is potentially a, you know, contributing factor here.

Jimmy Shan: Okay. Okay. Thanks.

Operator: Your last question is from the line of Frederic Bastien from Raymond James. Please go ahead.

Frederic Bastien: I guess, guys, can you hear me?

Jay Hennick: We can hear you. We can hear you. It was very difficult on the other one.

Frederic Bastien: Okay. Couple questions. First of all, has the global trade uncertainty adversely impacted any of the engineering business? Because you did deliver exceptional organic growth on that front. Just curious what the if there was any impact, if at all.

Christian Mayer: Yeah. Frederic, as I mentioned in my prepared remarks, we have been in close contact with our teams and with our clients on this front. We have not seen any significant impacts on sort of government policy-related matters or on tariff-related matters in our engineering practice, thankfully. So that is not something that is causing us any concerns or relates to our backlog at the moment.

Frederic Bastien: Okay. That's good. The other thing I noticed is on the investment management side, I appreciate that your revenues will swing around depending on the pass-through performance fees that sometimes you have to report, but I was surprised to see EBITDA come down sequentially. And I looked back a couple years of results, and I noticed Q2 is actually always your weakest during the year. Is there anything particular about Q2 that makes it makes this trend? Just curious.

Christian Mayer: Frederic, there might be a little bit of timing expenses in there in the second quarter with investor conferences and that sort of thing. But the real that's maybe part of it. But the bigger factors here we did have higher co-investment income in the first quarter than the second quarter. So that explains part of the difference. And the final point I'll make is around catch-up fees. Which are highly accretive to the bottom line. We had some of those in Q1 of this year and we did not have any in Q2. So that is also a contributing factor.

Frederic Bastien: Okay. That's helpful. Thanks so much.

Operator: There are no further questions at this time. I'd like to turn the call over to Jay Hennick for closing comments. Sir, please go ahead.

Jay Hennick: Thank you, everyone, for participating in today's call. We look forward to equally strong third-quarter results. And, again, thanks for participating.

Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes the conference call. Thank you for your participation and have a nice day.

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