Jones Lang LaSalle Inc: 2Q Sizable Beat/Raise; Standout Margin Story Driven By Leasing/Sales And Company Initiatives

Research evidence excerpt

Jones Lang LaSalle Inc: 2Q Sizable Beat/Raise; Standout Margin Story Driven By Leasing/Sales And Company Initiatives

ge as part of the margin expansion this quarter.

It increased its Leasing Advisory revenue growth guidance to mid-to-high teens growth

(vs. high-single-digits previously), which lies higher than our 10% y/y forecast.

• Capital Markets Services: Top and bottom line exceed expectations (again); both

debt and equity markets remain solid; guidance raised. Capital Markets Services

reported fee revenue of $618 million (+19% y/y), ahead of JPMe of $564 million (+9%

y/y). Interestingly, management noted that debt advisory was up 44% y/y, despite the

higher rate environment, and investment sales were up 20%. Further, US sales were up

53% y/y, which is much higher than the 24% y/y its peer CBRE reported yesterday and

the 27% y/y we assumed based on the most recent MSCI RCA data (see note here).

Adj. EBITDA was $95 million ( +74% y/y), which was higher than JPMe of $65 million

(+18% y/y). Adj. EBITDA margin of 15.4% was better than JPMe of 11.5% and the

incremental margin of 40.7% was nearly double that of JPMe of 22.0%. In addition to

stronger revenue growth, management attributes the margin expansion to the change in

loan related expenses and platform leverage.

It increased its revenue growth guidance for the year to mid-teens from low-double-

digits, which is higher than our 11% y/y forecast.

• LaSalle Investment Management: Results are below expectations; APAC

disposition pressures continue; guidance unchanged. LaSalle reported fee revenue of

$95 million ( flat y/y), which was lower than JPMe of $101 million (+6% y/y). The

shortfall is best attributed to the lower fee funds in APAC, which offset the advisory fee

growth, particularly in North America. Adj.