Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated

Welcome to the Q1 2024 JLL Earnings Conference Call. My name is Benjamin, and I'll be your operator for today's call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question and answer session. During the question and answer session, if you have a question, please press star 1 in your touchstone phone. As a reminder, the conference is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to Scott Eibenger, Head of Investor Relations. Scott, you may begin.

Thank you and good morning. Welcome to the first quarter 2024 earnings conference call for Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated. Earlier this morning, we issued our earnings release along with a slide presentation and Excel file intended to supplement our prepared remarks. These materials are available on the investor relations section of our website. Please visit ir.jll.com. During the call and in our slide presentation in an accompanying Excel file, we 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 slide presentation. As a reminder, today's call is being webcast live and recorded. A transcript and recording of this conference call will be posted to 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 of factors discussed in our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year December 31, 2023, 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, Scott. Hello and welcome to our first quarter 2024 earnings call. I'm very pleased with our first quarter results. we were able to grow both resilient and transactional revenue and turn that into meaningful profit growth. The year started with some positive momentum, highlighted by an increase in bidders and the closing of several large deals in North America. These green shoots encapsulate investors' willingness to deploy capital when market conditions warrant. However, once inflation data came in higher than expected, and the hope for several interest rate cuts later this year diminished, real estate capital markets became much quieter again. In the first quarter, global commercial real estate investments totaled $135 billion, a year-over-year decline of 4%, according to JLL Research. The pace of decline moderated in the quarter across the Americas and EMEA, while Asia-Pacific experienced its second consecutive quarter of growth. Debt market conditions improved in early 2024, both in terms of pricing and liquidity. However, commercial real estate markets have taken a pause over the last several weeks as lenders and investors adapt to a shift in the interest rate outlook. Lender confidence remains buried, and its strongest for industrial living and data centers especially for high-quality assets at smaller deal sizes. Turning to office leasing, activity improved in the quarter, or by compared with sub-due 2023 levels. Globally, office leasing volumes increased 7% year-over-year, according to JLL research. Both the U.S. and Asia Pacific saw increases in demand as occupiers continue to upgrade to premium quality, sustainable space that improves the employee experience. In Europe, limited available space continues to dampen transaction activity. A number of large lease transactions improved in the quarter, but is still well below pre-pandemic levels. The global office vacancy rate picked up 30 basis points to 16.5% in the first quarter, driven mainly by North America, where the market continues to process leases that require 10 to 15% less space. On the industrial side, first quarter leasing activity declined globally as decision-making slowed amid geopolitical and economic uncertainty. In the U.S., occupiers continue to manage through the record amount of space that was leased following the pandemic. Across much of Europe and Asia Pacific, a limited supply of modern energy-efficient space is constraining activity. While growth in average rental rates moderated across all three regions, long-term fundamentals in the industrial sector remain strong, supported by nearshoring requirements, and demand for high-quality, sustainable space that allows for technology integration and automation. Finally, in the retail sector, consumer spending and international tourism remains resilient, supporting demand for space in prime location. Turning to JLL, our first quarter results were driven by both revenue growth and the cost management actions we have taken. Collectively, our resilient revenue base grew 12% in the quarter as clients leveraged the full suite of services we provide across our workplace and property management platforms. Our leasing and capital markets business performed well given the broader industry and economic environment. As we noted, in the past, JLL has the number one U.S. debt origination platform as well as the leading equity placement platform according to the Mortgage Brokers Association. We are uniquely positioned to manage the upcoming rate of debt maturities and capitalize on an eventual increase in commercial real estate transactions. With that, I will now turn the call over to Karen, who will provide more detail on our results for the quarter.