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This call is International Third Quarter Investors Conference Call. Today's call is being recorded. Legal Counsel requires us to advise that the discussion scheduled to take place today may contain forward looking statements that involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Actual results may be materially different from any future results. Performance or achievements contemplated in the forward looking statements.
Additional information concerning back that could use actual results to materially differ from those in the forward looking statements is contained in the company's annual information form as filed with the Canadian Securities Administrators and in the company's annual report on Form 4 dash f as filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. As a reminder, today's call is being recorded. Today is October 27, 2020, And at this time, for opening remarks and introductions, I would like to turn the call over to Global Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Jay Hennick, Sir you may begin.
Us for our third quarter conference call. As the operator mentioned, I'm Jay Henick, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the company, With me today is John Fredericksen, Chief Operating Officer and Christian Mayer, Chief Financial Officer. This conference call is being webcast is available on the Investor Relations section of our website. A presentation slide deck is also a for the third quarter with continued growth from recurring services. These results are a testament to the resilience of our business model, a business that is also diversified by geography, by service and by asset class.
Revenues came in at $692,000,000, down 6%. Adjusted EBITDA was $92,000,000, up 9% and adjusted earnings per share came in at $1.08, up 4% relative to the prior year. While uncertainties persist, we expect our full year results to come in stronger than anticipated a result, we have increased and John for comment. But before I do, I'd like to make four points today. The first is cultured counts.
Our unique entrepreneurial culture at Colliers has always been a differentiator for us. Culture takes years to create and discipline to sustain, and that's why it's so difficult to copy. I'm extremely proud of our leadership teams propensity to costs to align resources while always continuing to provide essential advice to our clients. I'm also confident that coming out of this pandemic, we will, we will adapt to the new normal faster and better than the others with our unique entrepreneurial
and
like we've done in the past, Colliers is programmed to capitalize on opportunities. A strong balance sheet to capitalize on opportunities to strengthen our business, especially in times of change. When others are $40,000,000 in acquisitions, up from $45,000,000 last year. During the quarter, we continue to integrate completed the acquisition of Collier's Nashville, a leader in 1 of the fastest growing markets in the United States. Those still in the early days, I'm very excited about the potential for all of these additions this year and look forward to helping them accelerate their growth as part of our global platform.
We continue seek great opportunities out there to add talent to expand our services and to streamline our business is, while also looking for incremental acquisition targets to strengthen and further diversify our business. Number 3, services. Having such a high percentage of our earnings coming from recurring revenues gives Colliers more resilience than ever and clearly sets a apart, not only in terms of of the recurring project management, engineering and design and mortgage services represent a growing majority of our business, and we fully expect this growth to the stabilizes because they're essential services that are needed and required by real estate owners and occupier everywhere. In fact, we're already seeing some signs of recovery in most of our markets as John will talk about. Finally, it's time to team has been creating value for rate and share value.
This record of achievement is enviable to say the least, but it also suggests that we know thing or 2 about how to undervalued. From an investment perspective, whether you value us on a standalone basis or on the basis of the sum of the parts. Colliers trades at a significant discount to other property or professional service companies with diversified company with an institutional brand, compelling growth prospects on a global basis with almost 60 percent of its earnings coming from resilient revenue streams trading at the value that we trade one with an impressive track record of creating value for shareholders where management has so much skin in the game, almost 40% of the equity of our company. With that said, I'd like to pass things over to Christian. Christian?
Thank you, Jake. As announced earlier today, callers were to better than expected financial results for the third quarter. My comments follow the flow of the slides posted on the Investor Relations section of callers.com to accompany this call. Please note that the non GAAP measures referenced on this call are defined in the press release issued today All references to revenue growth are calculated based on local currency. 3rd quarter revenues were $692,000,000, down 7 that relative to the prior year.
Internal revenues were down 19%, primarily due to the impact of the COVID-nineteen pandemic on our trans and capital markets operations globally. Our internal revenue variance show a significant improvement sequentially, that is relative to Q2 2020 as economies began to reopen after the initial phase of the pandemic. 3rd quarter consolidated adjusted EBITDA was $92,000,000, up 8% from $84,000,000 last year with margins at 18.3% versus 11.4% in the prior year quarter. Margins in each region were impacted by reduced revenues but mitigated by continuing aggressive measures to manage expenses, including discretionary support and admin costs, as well as compensation. In the case $23,000,000, essentially flat versus the prior year period overall.
Americas Outsourcing Advisory revenues were up 25% as a result of engineering and loan servicing revenues from recent acquisitions. Capital markets revenues were down 6%, but included the benefit of debt or origination revenues from our recent acquisition. Leasing revenues were down 18%, a significant improvement from the 45% reduction experienced during Q2. Adjusted EBITDA was year with significant contribution from acquisitions as well as continuing cost savings implemented early in the dynamic. In the EMEA region, Q3 revenues were $117,000,000, down 19% overall.
Capital markets was down 37%, leasing was down 25% and Outsourcing Advisory was down 4%, all impacted by the ongoing pandemic. Adjusted EBITDA for the region was $8,000,000 compared to $13,000,000 last year. In the Asia Pacific region, revenues were $110,000,000, down 23%. Leasing and capital markets were down 45% 35%, respectively, with all markets and asset classes impacted. Outsourcing and Advisory revenues were down 5%.
Adjusted EBITDA was $13,000,000 compared to $19,000,000 last year. Q3 Investment Management revenues were $42,000,000, up 4%. Assets under management were $36,200,000,000 as at September 30, 2020, up modestly from June 30. Harrison Street's demographic investment strategy focuses on lower volatility, alternative asset class including student and senior housing, medical office, storage and social infrastructure, and for the most part,
Ladies and gentlemen, please standby. Your conference will continue momentarily. Once again, ladies and gentlemen, please continue to stand by. Your conference will resume momentarily. You're connected.
Thank you. Q3 Investment Management revenues were $42,000,000, up 4%. Assets under management were $36,200,000,000 at September 30, 2020, up modestly from June 30, 2020. Harrison Street's demographic investment strategy focuses on lower volatility alternative asset classes, including student and senior housing, medical office, storage, social infrastructure. And for the most part, the underlying value of these assets remained stable.
Adjusted EBITDA for the core was $15,000,000 versus $16,000,000 in the comparative period impacted by catch up fees on a new fund earned in the prior quarter. Our net debt to adjusted EBITDA leverage ratio was 1.5 times as of September 30, 2020, which was the same as and uncertain. However, as Jay mentioned, we have updated our working assumption for the balance of the year to reflect better than expected operating results for the third quarter. Well as to narrow the range for a 10% to 15% decline relative to 2019. The updated adjusted EBITDA range is a 10% to 15 percent decline relative to 2019.
Looking forward, we expect transactional leasing and capital markets revenues, both of which have a highly variable cost structure to remain below 2019 levels for the 4th quarter. Investment management and outsourcing and advisory revenues are expected remain on track for the fourth quarter. That concludes my prepared remarks. And I would now like to turn the call over to Sean.
Thank you, Christian. As reflected in our Q3 results and updated working assumption for the balance of the year, the level of uncertainty related to the COVID-nineteen pandemic that negatively impacted our operations. And those most of our clients abated somewhat during the last few months, although we are not out of the woods yet. We saw a positive change in sentiment and momentum during the last few months, and we expect this trend to continue for the balance of the year and beyond, supporting modest improvement in business activity. As a global business and leading provider of professional services and investment management to property, occupiers, owners and investors, Callyers continued to put clients first, providing our diverse and relevant experience during this unprecedented period.
Based on our experience since the outset of the pandemic, we are confident that the time, attention and value delivered today will be rewarded by our clients In fact, we're already seeing tangible examples of our advice leading to significant client engagements, most notably in our workplace advisory practices, which we anticipate will lead to future transaction advisory work. Across our global business our business leaders, professionals and support staff remain highly engaged despite the challenging operating conditions and the cost containment measures in place. Just about 6% of our employee base still furloughed primarily in transactional services. We continue to manage our business Despite the pandemic, Colliers continues to strategically invest in talent across our global platform and take advantage of opportunities to close gaps in build capabilities by attracting leaders and professionals looking to be part of a global business where the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well. We expect this to continue and accelerate going forward and to complement this investment in people, we continue to invest in technology that helps improve our productivity and service the clients.
Over the next couple of weeks, app designed to serve as a user friendly diagnostic tool to visualize the future workplace using a variety of inputs based on client preferences. This technology was the first developed by Colliers globally under our new updated IT platform and strategy development that focuses on our clients most pressing needs. The beta version of this technology with the input and involvement of our global workplace practices team has been responsible for winning workplace advisory engagements with several Hallmark clients While the cost management remains an operational priority across our business, other areas of focus include the integration of Collier's mortgage into our U. S. Brokerage and by leveraging our relationships across relevant advisory practices that drive value to our clients and brokerage professionals across our US platform.
Looking beyond the current crisis, we expect to see a significant uptick and leasing and capital markets transactions across our global markets, largely related to deferred decision making by occupiers and investors. To reverse. Driving a recovery in activity, which from an operational perspective, we intend to maximize by leveraging our recent investments in acquisitions, talent and technology and emerging from the current crisis stronger than ever before. That concludes our prepared remarks. And I would now like to turn the call back to our operator to facilitate
Our first question comes from the line of George Doumet with Scotiabank. Your line is open.
And congrats on yet another strong quarter. You guys raised your 2020 working assumptions. Q4 is our big quarter. You must have some visibility there. Can you maybe share what you're seeing in terms of pent up demand?
And second part to that question, guys feel comfortable that you've baked in enough wiggle room there given the pretty meaningful second waves that we're seeing in Europe and the Americas?
Well, George, I mean, when you look at the working assumption, it is a working assumption and there's a new number of, factors up way there. And certainly, we can't predict the future. But we can take a look at our pipeline of activity. And, as you're aware, for sure, Q4 is a very strong transactional activity quarter, in particular, in our EMEA business. And our EMEA business typically in a normal year generates close to half of EBITDA in Q4, because it has that high transactional activity waiting.
So, you know, we take a look at our pipelines, talk to our teams and we feel, at this stage, based on what we know today, quite confident, our working assumptions for Q4. That being said, you know, if there's new factors that come to play, we'll have to, those are ones we can't anticipate.
Okay. Thanks. And maybe a question to John. As to where we're trending on that $150,000,000 in cost savings. I think we're at $60,000,000 last quarter.
And second part of that is how much do you guys plan on investing back into the business over the next, maybe next few quarters.
Look, in terms of that number, we're pretty much right on where we were going to be. So the reason been no change to that number. That's been a consistent factor since we initially identified what we expected those savings to be. So we're running right at that level. And in terms of investments, I am not going to quantify that, George.
It is very selective and somewhat opportunistic around talent. It depends on the availability and whether or not we can connect and make arrangements, which work for those that we're hopeful of joining callers and for the company itself. And then ongoing spend around particularly technology. We've already indicated our expected amount for CapEx this year, which is down. But, roughly half of the CapEx relates to technology in some way.
And while we have deferred certain expenditures in that area. We are still focusing on those that will drive the greatest return to callers during the current period and beyond. So we still investing there, definitely.
Okay, thanks. And just one last one, if I may, maybe to Jay. I'm just wondering if the pandemic has at all kind of made you rethink the investment management segment, maybe more particular, what types of asset classes that you'd be interested in acquiring?
It's a good question, but I think the best way to do to answer it is to go back to the very, strategic decision we made at the time we entered investment management We didn't want to go into the investment management business as the same as, we wanted to have a unique, a differentiated, product or, or a service offering We spent a lot of time looking at virtually every type of platform in investment management around the world. And concluded that alternate asset classes where institutions were, significantly expanding their allocation was the it's a more complicated, way of managing assets which creates a differentiator, keeps most of the people out of the, out of the space. And so we concluded that Harris Street was the, was the ideal platform. And on top of that, they had an incredible management team with a great desire to grow really on all fours with what we look for in a partnership, relationship. So, the pandemic has not changed that at all.
In fact, we're, in luck, skill, call it what you want, but we're very happy where we are. We continue to look in alternate asset classes as a way to, grow that segment of our business, but also assets or strategies that have clear differentiation. They're the same as, same as, they're clearly differentiated strategies. So, I think we have a tremendous platform here and, tremendous leadership team. It's obviously been growing, as you can see, despite the pandemic, Most others have seen asset values fall.
We're, essentially flat. And I would say we're flat because some of the investors have pressed pause on it, on making, making further allocations that nothing to do with the, the quality of the assets that we, we administer. So we're very happy with Harrison Street. Think it has a bright future. Looking at some, interesting opportunities to continue to grow it.
We have an amazing management team that we've got great confidence in. And, and I think the future in that segment of our business is very bright.
Okay, great. Thanks for your answers. I'll pass the line.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Frederic Bastent with Raymond James. Your line is open.
Hi, good morning, everybody. I was wondering if you're able I was wondering if you're able to quantify by the contribution of both Maser and DILITY made to the outsourcing and advisory and the capital markets, service lines, respectively?
Yes, Fred, we, we give the, internal growth rates, on a auditing basis and not by region. But as you're aware, the, those businesses are concentrated in the Americas segment. And, I'll tell you that, again, the EBITDA growth, internally in Americas was positive, and much we've from the acquisitions was significant as I outlined in my comments.
Okay, cool.
On a related topic, are engineering and mortgage banking services that you plan on growing aggressively in the EMEA and back regions or is there something unique about these markets that would keep you from doing that?
I think I think our goal in both segments is they were additional engines for growth that were very closely tied to our core business. So we are looking at opportunities, in both segments globally. We are, taking advantage of our existing platforms and spending most of our time trying to leverage what we own into bigger businesses, bigger opportunities. But, having these additional recurring, earnings service lines within our family, provides great growth opportunities, not just in, the Americas, but virtually around the world.
Thanks Jay. And are there service lines that you'd like to add, that you're not currently offering that some of your peers may be offering, but that you're not?
Well, It's an interesting question. I'm not sure our peers are our peers as much as people think. We have really evolved our business. As you would know, Fred, you've followed us for a lot of years. If you compare us to, the, you know, some of the names that you mentioned, I think we are closer to property service and, is, yes, a portion of our business overlaps with the others, but, we are increasingly evolving differently.
So that's what I would say to that comment. And the second thing I would say is that, we have, we've been fortunate to add 2 great new engines for growth. 3, if you include investment management, which we completed in early 2018. And in fact, it had been on the books for even longer than that. So we've got our, we've got so many opportunities to grow.
In our existing service lines. We have an incredible culture, which I've talked about. You've seen for so many years means we can execute on transactions globally despite what's going on in, in with travel and a variety of other things. So we feel like we are in a very unique position and, and, have a unique culture that is used to, growing in and through acquisition. And we'll continue to pursue that, over the next number of years.
Did we lose you?
Thank you.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Steven MacLeod with BMO Capital. Your line is open.
Thank you. Good morning guys and congratulations on another great quarter. The outsourcing and advisory business really led the way this quarter in terms of the revenue contribution and the revenue resiliency. Can you just, notwithstanding obviously that the mortgage and engineering services businesses were positive contributors. Can you just give a breakdown of how, each segment within outsourcing of advisory trended in the quarter?
Well, I would say that, property management was very, very stable Steve, like, you know, perhaps even up in a couple of markets. And then, the project management business, was down slightly and, particularly in India. And India has very challenging situations with its control of the coronavirus and, we're watching that closely and that business has, has seen some delays in its, in its productivity, in the project management space. So, evaluation and advisory continues to be, resilient, and, business there particularly in the U. S.
Is very strong, but also solid, elsewhere around the world.
Okay. And would will the engineering business will Mazor And Color's mortgage be, the new, new platforms within outside your advisory? Like, will you be segmenting those revenues separately in different segments in different sort of verticals?
They are component of Outsourcing Advisory for sure. So loan servicing and engineering, and, we will not be, explicitly segmenting those. So they will be part of of that Outsourcing Advisory group just like the other components.
Right. Okay. Okay. No, that's great. Thank you.
And then when you think about Q4, you talked a little bit about the pipelines that you have and the visibility that you have. How would you characterize your visibility beyond Q4 into 2021? Is that something that is beginning to evolve or emerge in terms of your sidelines?
Steve, it's John. Look, this is all about uncertainty And, I think at this point, it's a little bit too early to tell what 21 will show for us, but One thing we do know is that there has been an incredible deferral of activity, particularly in leasing. Where companies have opted to make short term decisions. And ultimately, that's not really where they want to be. They just need a bit more clarity.
And then we expect there to be a resumption of longer term. That might adjust a little bit relative to the way it was in the past, but most occupiers are going to want certainty and certainly landlords as well beyond just sort of a 1 year roll forward. So that is coming. And whether that is in 2021 or later, we don't know at this point, but it's significant. And it will occur, either next year or the year after.
So we certainly have that as sort of anecdotal evidence is what we expect.
Okay. That's helpful. And then maybe just finally, you mentioned the entrepreneurial culture and you've made quick decisions around the cost adjustments that you need in the early days of the pandemic and clearly that's benefited, EBITDA over the last couple of quarters. I'm just curious, as you see revenues recover, do you have to bring more costs back into the platform to support those revenues or are you now in a position where you can pursue other revenue growth opportunities without adding back without adding the costs that you've taken out back in?
So, Stephen, we've expect to take out $150,000,000 this year of costs. And as we look forward, we think we can, become more efficient in a number of areas. I mean, this has been a real, a bit of a challenging, but yet rewarding experience in some ways with silver linings appearing through some of the things we've seen and learned. And certainly our hope that when we, start to reinstitute some of these costs, in 2021 and going forward will not have to reinstitute all of these costs. We will be able to, make some pretty significant transformation in the way we do business.
The way we approach travel and discretionary expenses, the way we approach some of our support staffing, in our, transaction businesses, particularly, but also in the other businesses. So our intention would be that, our cost structure will be different, going forward as we return to more normal conditions.
Okay. That's helpful. And then maybe just one final one. Just maybe for Jay. I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about the Colliers' mortgage and Maser and how those businesses have trended relative to your expectations.
In the somewhat short period that you've owned them, but obviously very strategically important decisions. Just wondering how your experience has been so far.
So, in terms of those businesses, we're very pleased with their performance, to date. We've owned them for a very short period of time, but, we spent, obviously a lot of time in diligence with them. So we know them well, And, and the period we've owned them has been very, very successful so far with integration proceeding well as Jay has outlined And John also outlined, I think, on his, in his comments, the Colliers mortgage business, is benefiting some strong refinancing activity, at the moment, and that will continue for the next few quarters. Interest rates, as you know, are at historic lows and this is an attractive time, for multifamily property owners to refinance properties. So it is benefiting, from that.
And it's also taking market share in, in a Fannie Mae origination, which is what we expected would happen. And so those factors are combining to, to, bring some very solid high results. The engineering business is performing well in all the that it, it plays in, and the, margin performance there as well has been strong with, with strong staff utilization, and productivity from the client or from the employee base.
Great. Thank you very much and congratulations.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Steven Sheldon with William Blair. Your line is open.
Hi, thanks and congrats on the continued strong execution. Wanted to ask a little more directly about the visibility you have, especially as you look into 2021 into how your clients are thinking about their office footprints this point and the adoption of remote working policies. Could it take an extended period for companies to think through work from home adoption, which could continue to weigh on lease durations per period?
Steven, Absolutely. I think, I think you hit the nail on the head. I think it's going to take a time, a bit of time here to sort out. I mean, it's a perplexing issue. When you think about it.
I mean, and it's dynamic because it's changing. And every company has got a different perspective on how important the workplace is and how it impacts our culture and all those kinds of things. I mean, the short answer is that in the immediate term, it's difficult to change the dynamics. And that's partly why there's been a deferral. I think many decisions around leasing.
But as I said in my remarks, our workplace advisory business has really run off their feet. Counciling with the who's who of companies that are all going through a discovery process currently to evaluate what they think best work for them going forward. And that's going to, I think, unfold over the next several months and well into next year. And then beyond that decision, we'll get made and we'll there'll be a little bit more certainty. But it certainly is a great time to be in the workplace advisory business.
As long as you've got 24 hours of the data to dispense your advice.
Got it. Makes sense. I think the thought out there has been that leasing activity would likely come back and recover before investment sales in particular in office. Especially just given the impact that leasing dynamics within a property can have on a property's value, how do you think about that dynamic, especially as it seems like investment sales activity is holding up as well, arguably maybe a touch better than leasing so far?
Yes. I mean, the leasing the impact on leasing is really around, deferrals, which many companies have opted to sort of roll forward in consultation with the landlords who obviously want to retain their tenants roll forward and year forward. So the additional obligation and based on the way most of the industry is paid on fees, the fees are adjusted accordingly. So this becomes a bit of a short term situation right now that depresses overall leasing revenues But certainly, the activity will resume and revenues will again come back to where they were before once companies are more engaged to commit to longer periods of time, around the time when they have more certainty as to what their future occupancy requirements are likely to be. So I think we'll start seeing a lot more of that once we get into say mid-twenty 21.
If the pandemic, again, kind of goes through the second wave here and then ultimately, resolves and things come back to whatever the new is in 2021 or beyond.
Got it. And then last one for me. Just curious what the M and A pipeline looks like right now. And have you seen anything notable in terms of valuation expectations out there, especially for smaller players that may have less flexibility to write out the volatility
The short story is, yes. I think there's a lot of fee a lot of targets that, feel they missed, the, sell their business. I'm now talking about more traditional, capital markets and leasing. We're being very, very careful there. You, you know, we're excited about buying significant business like our, our affiliate in, in Nashville, which is something like 90 knows, fully balanced business, property management, valuation, project management and expertise in health care, obviously, in that of the market.
They happen to be the market leader also in Nashville. So from our perspective, that is a profile type opportunity. We're seeing, some of those around the world, couple in the U S, several in Europe, and a couple in Asia, more Australia and New Zealand, in particular. But generally King, I think the, it's, it's fertile for acquisitions right now, although valuations, for acquisitions, particularly those that have earnings, using these types of, these types of assets in the hope of potentially consolidating and doing whatever do and ultimately, I think they're going to have, more, more, more headwinds than normal given the maturity of, of the marketplace. It's, it's, very powerful for Collier's mortgage to associate itself with Collier's because there's so many different points of leverage, both between Colliers and Harrison Street.
And I'd say the same, for Maser. And, we're seeing that in a variety of different M and A opportunities. So We've got a nice pipeline, whether we'll be able to bring some of them home or not is a, is a different question. But the beauty is, when we make a deal, it's for the right reason. It's because the leadership teams align with our UV culture.
They want to stay continue to grow and leverage their business. And, that's been a great, differentiator for us, over not just the last few years for the last 25 years as we've executed on our growth strategy.
Great. I appreciate the color. Thanks.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Daryl Young with TD Securities. Your line is open.
Good morning guys. First question
is on the Collier's mortgage business. And just a point of clarification, how much of the mortgage origination and loan portfolio would have been stemming from recommendations from Colliers originally? Or is it all going to be net new and therefore rendered revenue synergy upside?
It's early days. And, that's, that is the fact. It's early days. We have, within the Colliers, a platform, a number of mortgage professionals that's, that, that work hard to find a debt for our clients around the country. They never had the ability to, leverage and access, an entity like, Collier's mortgage that has the power of the pin and in particular group of asset class areas.
So, the early days have been, how do we average, that how do we connect and create a flow of business, but it's still early days. The thing that's very interesting is that Colliers' Mortgage And Harrison Street, have a lot of alignment as well because Colliers' mortgage has the power of the pen to, provide lending capacity to the types of assets that Harrison Street acquires as well. So in this acquisition, we went in with, 2 potential leverage opportunities. We've already been successful in both, originating and funding Callyers deals, not a lot yet. And Harrison Street deals, one deal so far, but, it's still early day that the average, the average, period between signing a letter of intent and closing a transaction is several months.
So we did start a few of them earlier than closing, but I think, it'll be interesting to see how we develop both over the course of the next 6
a second question. In terms of the brokerage business, it seems pretty clear that you're taking significant market share through this environment. Some of which is likely the enterprising culture. Is there also an element of in the Americas, specifically the secondary are outperforming some of the gateway cities? Or is that maybe just a little color there?
So, you know, I would say 2 things. I would say, given our legacy, we are, relative to the top 2 players in commercial real estate, we've been around the least. So I would say we have the momentum. I would say that, the whole industry is watching every move. Just take a look at their press releases and the way they articulate their strategies when compared to ours.
But, I would say that Colliers has been consistently market leaders in secondary markets a lot of years, places like Salt Lake City, Nashville, Kansas City, the list goes on, Detroit. These are all Pittsburgh These are markets that are evolving and changing as a result of COVID. And, we're seeing, we're seeing new activity in these markets been a very, very positive for us. And, and the other, the other, the other area is that, you know, Colliers has, has really, added lots of technology and a variety of differentiating, differentiating services to clients in a way that's allowed us to win greater share of business. And that has translated as you can see into, additional revenue streams.
We hope that it continues. And, you know, lastly, we're the place of choice for many of the top flight professionals, especially ones that are on platforms that are in distress right And so that's opening, opportunities for us, not just for professionals, but also for leadership, which as, as those that have followed us for a long period of time know, we always try and start with leaders and, and have them operate the Colliers way. And we believe that that is, is, is a differentiator for us as well.
Our next question comes from the line of Matt Logan with RBC Capital Markets. Your line is open.
Thank you, and good morning. Good morning. Just following up on some of the questioning previously, In terms of your capital markets and lease brokerage businesses, those are both tracking well ahead of industry figures.
Can you talk a little
bit about what's driving the gains in market share? Is it simply the differentiation between secondary cities Is it called yours entrepreneurial culture or are there other factors in terms of technology that's driving that gap?
Matt, there's a few things. And I think there's one single thing, but there's a focus obviously on trying to improve our share. Jay already outlined kind of our set up in a lot of the U. S. Secondary cities, which I think has been a good factor during this current pandemic.
We all know what's happened. Unfortunately, to New York, where we also have an operation, but not nearly as significant as some of our other competitors. We have also been a company that has been over time focused very much again thinking about the U. S. Primarily in suburban markets.
And Suburban markets have had gained a bit of a new life and a lot of interest as a result of the pandemic. So we're very, very well positioned. We've also always been a pretty significant player in industrial, which again, various parts of the industrial built environment has been actually growing during this period of time. There's a lot of that those properties are repositioned for supply chain use and other things going forward. So that's a lot of it.
In addition, we've been focused on building our corporate solutions business. And, in our industry leading Colliers 360 technology, which has actually allowed us to generate a lot of business, along with competencies of our team. And that has led to additional transaction work that is a long term build and we're getting incremental compounding impact of that. And it's actually generating a lot of additional activity. So when you put that all together, it's not surprising to see us make the gains that we have made.
That's great color. And maybe turning to the recurring piece of your business without putting a number on it, would it be fair to characterize it as stable to modest growth?
Yes, I'd say on an overall basis that's, that's true. Certainly, with, obviously, a couple of, pain points in, as I described earlier in project management with delays on some on some, transactions, but generally, yes, it's, it sits flat to, do flat top.
And when we look out to 2021, you're approaching the 60% mark in terms of your recurring EBITDA And obviously with a view to grow some of your recent platform acquisitions, how could we see that trend will the rebound in brokerage largely offset continued growth in, the recurring EBITDA or could we see that 60% figure trend towards, say, 65?
It's you're making a couple of interesting observations based on, the flow of our business. I would say that for the most part, nicely balanced here, you know, would recurring move to 65% of our EBITDA over time maybe, maybe 70% looking out 2 or 3 years. But, our transaction services, capital markets and, and, leasing are critical important essential services And so they will always be part of our mix. And they're the front of callers. They call on clients every single day.
1 of the one of the great benefits that I don't think gets enough airtime is we have 5000 calling on clients around the world everyday offering a variety of callers services of any sort fessionals is very valuable and, and is, is, a critical part of our long point where, we feel that the balance is give or take, give or take the right balance for Colliers as we see it.
I appreciate that. Maybe taking that one step further. When you think about investments in talent and technology, how would you compare that to the opportunity for just traditional M and A or tuck under acquisitions? Like how big or is there an uptick in the opportunity to invest in talent and technology in the current environment?
Yes. Absolutely. We're spending some very focused time with our business leaders who ultimately have responsibility for building our capabilities, our people capabilities. And as Jay has indicated earlier, I mean, there's lots of uncertainty generally in the market right now on on top of that, some of the other platforms, for a variety of reasons, whether it's potentially perceived instability, or maybe places that are maybe too crowded relative to the amount of business that's available and the complement of people suing that within those businesses, there's a lot of white space as we say at Colliers. And, we're having success attracting this talent.
We're focused on it. We're not going to do things that don't make sense for us, but we're going to continue to try and attract professionals who can be highly successful within the Colliers global platform. And that goes, that's really across the world. So We're absolutely on that. Of course, during the time of uncertainty, there's lots of emotions that get have to be processed by those that we're talking to.
But we've already had some really good success where kind of a little bit behind where we wanted to be because of the pandemic, but, we, we're all over this and think there's a tremendous opportunity for callers to build our bench over the coming months and into 2021.
Appreciate the color. That's all for me. Thank you very much.
Thank you. I'm showing no further questions at this time. I will now turn
participating in today's call. The fourth quarter is an important quarter for callers. Let's hope that we have a strong one and look forward to speaking again in early February. Have a good day.
Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.