Colliers International Group Inc.

Welcome to the Collier's International Third Quarter Investors 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 materially differ 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 with the Canadian Securities Administrators and in the company's annual report on Form 40F as filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. As a reminder, today's call is being recorded. Today's Tuesday, November 5th, 2024, and at this time for opening remarks and introductions, I would like to turn the call over to Global Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Jay Hennick. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, Operator. Good morning, and thanks for joining us. As the Operator mentioned, I'm Jay Hennig, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. With me today is Chris McLernan, CEO of our Real Estate Services segment, and Christian Mayer, Chief Financial Officer. As always, this call is being webcast and is available in the Investor Relations section of our website, along with a presentation slide deck. This quarter, Collier's realigned its operating segments to better reflect the future potential and value of our complementary growth engines. And we delivered solid growth across each one of them. Engineering grew by 21%, driven by acquisitions. In real estate services, revenues and capital markets rose a strong 17%, exceeding our expectations. while leasing continued to grow nicely, building on last quarter's strong momentum. And in investment management, recurring management fee revenue showed a modest increase, though fundraising fell below expectations, reflecting a trend seen across the industry. We anticipate stronger fundraising in 2025. Assets under management grew by $2.4 billion during the quarter, rising from $96 billion to nearly $99 billion, which is very positive. We also completed the acquisition of Englobe, creating a substantial new growth platform in Canada. After the quarter, we added GWAL in Canada and Pritchard Francis and TTM in Australia, continuing our growth trajectory in this segment of our business. Overall, we continue to have a robust M&A pipeline that positions us well to continue to grow and strengthen our operations for the long term. Over the past decade, Colliers has transformed, one step at a time, into a uniquely differentiated global professional services and investment management firm. Through the Collier's way, we have continued to strengthen our commercial real estate operations around the world while adding new growth engines and service lines to provide more recurring revenue streams and diversification to our successful business model. Today, recurring revenues contribute more than 70% of our earnings, providing exceptional balance and predictability, driving greater shareholder value now and into the future. With experienced leadership, significant inside ownership, and a proven 30-year record of delivering 20% annualized returns for shareholders, we expect to sustain mid to high single digit growth going forward. And as we enter 2025, we expect further upside to come from improving capital markets, enhanced investment strategies and capital raising in our investment management business, and continued incremental growth through acquisitions across all segments of our business, as we have been doing for so often in the past. Now, let me ask Chris McLaren to discuss some highlights, and after Chris is completed, we will hear from Christian on his financial report. Chris?

Thank you, Jay, and good morning, everyone. Collier's Real Estate Services delivered another quarter of strong results. Capital markets revenues rose 17%, exceeding expectations, and marking a second consecutive period of growth. We saw growth across the core asset classes of office up 77%, retail up 53%, and industrial up 19%. Collier's transaction volumes were up meaningfully in the Americas and APAC regions, supported by the recent softening of interest rates, improved lending conditions, and the narrowing of price expectations between buyers and sellers. Debt origination continued to show solid improvement in the quarter, with both agency and non-agency business performing well. Leasing continued to build on last quarter's momentum, achieving a 6% growth in the third quarter, led by EMEA and the U.S. regions. In particular, office leasing was up 22% on the back of several large transactions during the quarter with strong performances in the UK, Germany, Poland, and the US markets. Most major markets are rebounding with rental rates stabilizing. Demand for Class A office space remains high as occupiers continue to focus on improving the employee experience and modernizing workspaces. Our recurring outsourcing services again delivered steady growth of 5%. We are seeing increasing momentum in our valuation and advisory business, driven by the multifamily sector and the increased activity in capital markets. Our investments in our people and business, which help us fill gaps and capture market share, we will continue to enhance our platform and deliver long-term value for our shareholders. We continue to aggressively recruit and add talent in strategic markets to position ourselves to benefit from the improving transactional markets in leasing and capital markets. This past quarter, Time included Colliers on its list of world's best companies. In addition, we were named to Forbes World's Best Employers ranking for the second year in a row and are proudly the only global full-service commercial real estate firm on the list. These accolades speak volumes about our growth and ability to deliver a world-class experience for our clients and our professionals. Now I'll turn things over to Christian, who will provide more details on our financials.