Colliers International Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CIGI) Q4 2023 Earnings Conference Call February 8, 2024 11:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Jay Hennick – Global Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Chris McLernon – Chief Executive Officer-Real Estate Services

Christian Mayer – Chief Financial Officer

Conference Call Participants

Stephen MacLeod – BMO Capital Markets

Daryl Young – Stifel

Jimmy Shan – RBC Capital Markets

Himanshu Gupta – Scotiabank

Matt Filek – William Blair

Frederic Bastien – Raymond James Ltd.

Maxim Sytchev – National Bank

Operator

Welcome to the Colliers International Fourth Quarter Year-End Investor Conference Call. Today's call is being recorded. Legal counsel requires us to advise that the discussion scheduled to take place today may contain forward-looking statements that involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements contemplated in the forward-looking statements. Additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to materially differ from those in the forward-looking statements is contained in the company's annual information form as filed in the Canadian Securities Administrators and in the company's annual report on Form 40-F as filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. As a reminder, today's call is being recorded. Today, it's February 8, 2024.

And at this time, for opening remarks and introductions, I would like to turn the call over to the Global Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Jay Hennick. Please go ahead, sir.

Jay Hennick

Thank you, operator. Good morning, and welcome to the fourth quarter conference call. I'm Jay Hennick, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the company. Joining me today is Chris McLernon, Chief Executive Officer of our Real Estate Services business; and, of course, Christian Mayer, our Chief Financial Officer. This call is being webcast and can be accessed in the Investor Relations section of our website, where you can also find the presentation slide deck.

In the fourth quarter, Colliers experienced robust revenue growth in its high-value recurring service lines. Over the past five years, Colliers has strategically transformed into a more diversified professional services company by adding significant recurring revenue platforms such as investment management and engineering and project management. Today, more than 70% of our earnings comes from these recurring services, providing our company with more balanced, more resilience and more predictability than ever and similar in many ways to other highly diversified global professional service companies.

Throughout the year, we observed industry-wide declines in one segment of our business, our transaction segment, our capital markets business. However, we expect a return to higher transaction velocity in the latter part of this year as interest rates and credit conditions hopefully stabilize. In the interim, pricing for most real estate assets continue to adjust as buyers and sellers try to find equilibrium that they need to transact business. With our nearly 30-year track record of creating substantial shareholder value, Colliers is poised for continued success. Anticipating a rise in transaction revenue later this year and supported by a very strong pipeline for new growth prospects, we are more excited than ever about the future.