12/01/08

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CBRE growing fastest

CB Richard Ellis, the city's largest commercial real estate brokerage firm, was recently named by Fortune magazine as the 33rd fastest-growing U.S. company.

CBRE's revenue exceeded $4 billion over the past four quarters and beat Wall Street estimates with its second-quarter earnings of 66 cents a share, up from 34 cents in the year-ago period and ahead of the consensus forecast of 41 cents a share. It earned a net income of nearly $294 million in the quarter that ended May 31, 2007. Those numbers helped make it the highest-ranking commercial real estate services provider on Fortune's list and the 10th fastest-growing firm among the Fortune 1000.

About 30 percent of the company's revenue comes from property sales, and another third is from leasing.

Company CEO and president Brett White remains optimistic despite the credit crunch roiling the markets.

"We are seeing the cost of capital rise, and we're seeing that flow through in some instances to re-pricing of debt on commercial property acquisitions," White said. "[But] at the moment, buyers and sellers of properties have been able to work through those issues quite well."

Real estate services provider Jones Lang LaSalle placed 74th in Fortune's ranking of fastest-growing companies, which was based on three-year revenue growth, growth in earnings per share and total return to shareholders, with reported revenues of more than $2.1 billion.