Cushman & Wakefield plc

Good day, and welcome to Cushman and Wakefield's third 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 touchtone 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 McGrath, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, and welcome to Cushman & Wakefield's third 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 estimate 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. This quarter, we continued our track record of successful execution against our goals, driving top-line growth in targeted investment areas, continuing to deliver strong free cash flow conversion, and focusing on value creation through deleveraging and seeding for growth. This quarter also marks an inflection point across many areas of our business. Over a year ago, we began to make strategic, targeted investments in leasing, informed by our view on the most promising opportunities across asset classes and geographies. These investments have translated into clear and measurable results. The third quarter marks our fourth consecutive quarter of year-over-year leasing growth and our highest leasing growth since Q2 2022. We have also reported the first quarter of capital markets growth in the Americas since the second quarter of 2022. We are seeing a broadening of capital markets activities in the market and increased optimism amongst buyers and sellers. The Fed rate cut in September and actions by the central bank outside of the U.S. have been important first steps in the revitalization of the capital markets. The further easing of monetary policy should continue to catalyze growth in the coming quarters. We also achieved an important milestone in reducing our leverage. In October, we fully extinguished our roughly $200 million in 2025 debt maturities, as we had pledged to do, well ahead of schedule. This was made possible by the outstanding work of our global teams to drive free cash flow. Solidifying our balance sheet and improving our cash flow were key early priorities in our strategy to position the company to take full advantage of future growth opportunities, and we executed on this priority six months ahead of plan. Looking forward, leverage reduction will continue to be an important part of our capital allocation strategy, but as we shared with you last quarter, we have already begun accelerating our growth investments as we pivot to more offense. Now, I'll turn the call over to Neil for a review of the financials, and then I'll come back to share a bit more about how we are positioning strategically for the future.