Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated

Good morning and at this time I would like to welcome everyone to the Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated third quarter earnings conference call. For your information this conference call is being recorded. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad and If you would like to withdraw your question, please press star followed by the number two on your telephone keypad. Thank you. I would now like to turn the conference over to Chris Dent, Executive Managing Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you and good morning. Welcome to our third quarter 2021 conference call for Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated. Earlier this morning, we issued our earnings release. which is available on the investor relations section of our website, along with the slide presentation intended to supplement our prepared remarks. Please visit ir.jll.com. During the call, we will reference certain non-GAAP financial measures, which we believe provide useful information for investors. We include reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to GAAP in our earnings release and presentation. As a reminder, today's call is being webcast live and recorded. A transcript of this conference call will also be posted on our website. Any statements made about future results and performance, plans, expectations, and objectives are forward-looking statements. Actual results and performance may differ from those forward-looking statements As a result, the factors discussed in the annual report on Form 10-K of the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020, and in other reports filed with the SEC. The company disclaims any undertaking to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. I will now turn the call over to Christian Ulbrich, our President and Chief Executive Officer, for opening remarks.

Thank you, Chris. Hello and thank you all for joining our third quarter earnings call. While the operating environment remains dynamic, I'm pleased to report that the recovery we have seen over the past several quarters continues to accelerate and resulted in another quarter of strong performance. Our outstanding service orientation and the constant flow of product innovation are important drivers of the impressive results And I must again extend my appreciation for our employees' dedication. Last month, we announced the agreement to acquire Building Engines, a U.S. market-leading building operations technology platform that transforms how properties are run. It provides exceptional experiences for operators and tenants and improves the net operating income across some of the most successful commercial real estate portfolios. This strategic acquisition enables JLL to leverage Building Engine's open platform to create a comprehensive ecosystem of building operations applications. I'm extremely excited about the growth opportunities this acquisition will provide across our entire business as we expand Building Engines' client base more widely. A number of Building Engines applications already integrate with JLL Technologies' robust technology product portfolio, giving our clients an industry-leading solution for all of their building operation needs. As I mentioned last quarter, the hybrid workplace transformation as we emerge from the pandemic will drive technology demand across the entire real estate ecosystem. This acquisition, in addition to our announced acquisition of Skyline AI, reaffirms our commitment to ensuring that we are at the forefront of providing our clients with the most relevant technology for their real estate needs. Turning to the market environment, we continue to witness generally improving conditions, although not uniformly, as the lingering effects of the pandemic and recent surge of the Delta variant have had differing impacts to economies. Especially across Asia Pacific, markets are still faced with wide-ranging travel restrictions and local regulations, which prevents people from working at their offices and meeting with clients in person. JLL Research reports that overall sentiment and activity has continued to improve upon the momentum recorded in the first half of this year, as quarterly global leasing volumes were 39% higher than a year ago. However, volumes are still 25% below Q3 2019, illustrating a continued significant road to recovery. Across all three regions, quarterly market leasing volumes are below where they were in 2019, with the US lagging the most with a 31% decline compared to the same period in 2019, while Europe and Asia Pacific recorded declines of 26% and 4% respectively. Tenant-friendly conditions persist in most markets, though the ongoing flight-to-quality trend has seen rents for premium or prime buildings etch up in some markets. The real estate capital markets continued their recovery in the third quarter with global transaction volumes marking a 77% increase from a year ago and an 8% increase from Q3 2019. Diminishing operational uncertainty and rising institutional allocations are bolstering liquidity in the commercial real estate markets. The three most liquid countries, the US, Germany and the UK, accounted for 70% of global activity in the quarter. With that as a backdrop, I'm pleased to announce that JLL recorded exceptionally strong results in the third quarter, building upon the momentum generated throughout 2021. Consolidated revenue rose 22% to $4.9 billion, and fee revenue increased 45% to $2.1 billion in local currency. Adjusted EBITDA of $352 million represented an increase of 44% from the prior year, with adjusted EBITDA margin contracting to 17.1% from 17.2% in local currency. Adjusted net income totalled $237 million for the quarter, and adjusted diluted earnings per share totalled to $4.56. Our transaction-based service lines have shown particularly strong performance with leasing in capital markets recording growth of 73% and 103% respectively. Coinciding with the recovery of transaction-related activity and improving market sentiment, our valuation advisory service was key growth engine for our advisory, consulting, and other business, which was up 21% for the quarter. Moving towards capital allocation, alongside supporting both organic and inorganic strategic investments across our platform, we also continued with our share repurchase program. Consistent with the guidelines of our capital allocation framework, as well as our continued commitment to the return of capital to shareholders over the long term, we purchased approximately $150 million of shares in the third quarter. I will now turn the call over to Karen Brennan, who will provide further detail on the results for the quarter.