Cushman & Wakefield plc

Good day and welcome to Cushman and Wakefield's second quarter 2024 earnings conference call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. If you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star, then one on a touch-tone phone. To withdraw your question, please press star, then two. Please note, this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Megan McGross, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, and welcome to Cushman & Wakefield's second quarter 2024 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 in our presentation labeled Cautionary Note on Forward Looking Statements. Today's presentation contains forward looking statements based on our current forecast 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 the appendix of today's presentation. Also, please note that throughout the presentation, comparisons and growth rates are to the comparable periods of 2023 and in local currency unless otherwise stated. And with that, I'd like to turn the call over to our CEO, Michelle McKay.

Thank you, Megan. I've now been the CEO of Cushman & Wakefield for a year, and the progress our teams have made during that time has been impressive. We have never settled, committing to what we have said and executing on our plan relentlessly, setting clear targets and goals for what we needed to achieve for ourselves and for our investors, and then getting it done. Let me speak about exceeding those targets. A year ago, we started off strong, refinancing over a billion dollars of debt and committing to reducing our leverage by a minimum of $200 million by mid-year 2025. We have already reduced our debt by $100 million through the second quarter, and we plan to make another $50 million reduction this quarter, putting us ahead of our plans. We have also reduced our interest costs twice this year on both of our outstanding term loans as we continue to have staunch support from our term loan lenders. in both cases exceeding our plan. We have also exceeded our plans on free cash flow conversion, reporting a substantial improvement of more than $130 million in year-to-date free cash flow versus the prior year period. And today, we are reporting our third consecutive quarter of leasing revenue growth, our fifth consecutive quarter of meeting or beating expectations, and for the first half of 2024, our adjusted EBITDA margins are up over 40 basis points compared to the same period last year. To add to all of this, we announced the sale of a non-core asset which was targeted for sale late last year and whose proceeds will be used to reduce leverage and fuel growth. We are getting it done in every aspect of our business every day. Now, I'll turn the call over to Neil to review the second quarter financials, and then I'll come back and speak to you in more detail about our plans for growth.