Cushman & Wakefield plc (NYSE:CWK) Q3 2022 Earnings Conference Call November 3, 2022 5:00 PM ET

Company Participants

Mike Spooner – Head of Investor Relations

John Forrester – Chief Executive Officer

Neil Johnston – Chief Financial Officer

Conference Call Participants

Chandni Luthra – Goldman Sachs

Anthony Paolone – JPMorgan

Michael Griffin – Citi

Pat McIlwee – William Blair

Patrick O’Shaughnessy – Raymond James

Ronald Kamdem – Morgan Stanley

Operator

Welcome to Cushman & Wakefield’s Third Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers’ remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions]

It is now my pleasure to introduce Mike Spooner, Head of Investor Relations for Cushman & Wakefield. Mr. Spooner, you may begin the conference.

Mike Spooner

Thank you, and welcome again to Cushman & Wakefield’s third quarter 2022 earnings conference call. Earlier today, we issued a press release announcing our financial results for the period. This release, along with today’s presentation, can be found on our Investor Relations website at ir.cushmanwakefield.com.

Please turn to the page labeled cautionary note on forward-looking statements. Today’s presentation contains forward-looking statements based on our current forecasts and estimates of future events. These statements should be considered estimates only, and actual results may differ materially.

During today’s call, we will refer to non-GAAP financial measures as outlined by SEC guidelines. Reconciliations of GAAP to non-GAAP financial measures, definitions of non-GAAP financial measures and other related information are found within the financial tables of our earnings release and appendix of today’s presentation.

Also, please note that throughout the presentation, comparisons and growth rates are to the comparable periods of 2021 in the local currency unless otherwise stated. For those of you following along with our presentation, we will begin on Page 4.

And with that, I’d like to turn the call over to our CEO, John Forrester.

John Forrester

Thanks, Mike, and thank you to everybody joining our call today. We’ve reported continued top line growth across all three segments, resulting in fee revenue of $1.8 billion, up 8% versus 2021.

On a year-to-date basis, fee revenue was up 18%, while adjusted EBITDA is up 29% versus prior year. While the majority of our service lines have performed well this year, we are now feeling the impact of trading challenges and headwinds in specific areas, namely in subdued activity in our substantial Greater China platform due to the extended and continuing COVID-related lockdowns, the stronger U.S. dollar generating significant foreign currency drag versus prior year, and our capital markets service line globally, which is experiencing lower volumes compared with the same quarter of 2021.