Jones Lang LaSalle Q4 profit rises 26.8% to US$52m

Jones Lang LaSalle Inc, one of the world’s largest real estate service companies, said on Tuesday that fourth-quarter net income rose 26.8 per cent, driven in part by its US corporate outsourcing business and its Asia operations.

It posted a net profit of US$52 million, or US$1.19 per share, compared with US$41 million, or US$1.17 per share, in the year-earlier quarter. Excluding US$11 million in restructuring and US$4 million in non-cash charges, net income came to US$63 million, or US$1.44 per share.

Revenue rose 2 per cent to US$815 million. Analysts had expected the company to post a profit of US$1.34 a share on US$700.4 million revenue, according to Thomson Reuters IBES.

The global property market for the most part was slammed last year as credit remained tight and debt overwhelmed big ambitious property investors, such as Dubai World and Tishman Speyer.

Although Asia did not suffer as deeply and Europe has begun to recover, the US property market, the largest and most mature market, saw sales fall 64 per cent and yields, which move inversely to prices, rise, according to research firm Real Capital Analytics.

But fourth-quarter sales picked up 38 per cent from the third quarter, according to Real Capital.

Jones Lang’s diverse revenue sources have helped blunt the impact of the global real estate downturn, more so than its main competitor, CB Richard Ellis Group Inc.

‘Although markets face a slow and uneven recovery, the actions we’ve taken to protect our businesses and win market share make us confident about our prospects for 2010,’ chief executive office Colin Dyer said.

At Jones Lang’s Europe- Middle East-Asia division, revenue fell 7 per cent to US$243 million. It rose 9 per cent in the Americas region to US$345 million and was up 23.6 per cent at US$178 million in the Asia-Pacific region.

LaSalle Investment Management, which invests for pension funds and other institutional investors, posted fourth-quarter revenue of US$64 million, down from US$90 million a year before. The results were issued after the close of the market when Jones Lang shares closed down 27 US cents at US$57.99 on the New York Stock Exchange. They were unchanged in after-hours trading.

Source : Business Times – 4 Feb 2010