Colliers International Group Inc. Q3 FY2025 Earnings Call

Welcome to the Colliers 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 factors that could cause 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 40-F as filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. As a reminder, today's call is being recorded. Today is Tuesday, November 4, 2025. And at this time, for opening remarks and introduction, I would like to turn the call over to the Global Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Jay Hennick. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, operator. Good morning, and thank you for joining us for the third quarter conference call. As the operator mentioned, I'm Jay Hennick, Chairman and CEO of Colliers. And with me today is Christian Mayer, CFO. This call is webcast and available in the Investor Relations section of our website, along with the presentation slide deck. Colliers delivered excellent third quarter results, highlighting our momentum across all segments of our business. In Engineering, which includes project management and program management, we achieved impressive growth this quarter. This was driven by both strategic acquisitions, 7 completed so far this year, as well as robust organic performance. With a strong pipeline ahead, we are well positioned for continued expansion. In just 5 years since entering the Engineering sector, we have established a significant multidisciplined global platform. This business now generates over $1.7 billion in annualized revenue and employs more than 10,000 professionals. Our unique partnership philosophy and decentralized operating model set us apart and enable us to continue to capitalize on compelling growth opportunities in this rapidly expanding industry. Real Estate Services also delivered excellent results, marked by a surge in leasing and capital markets transactions. While capital markets recovery has been gradual, we anticipate an increase in business activity as interest rates stabilize and investor confidence builds. This brings positive tailwinds to our business. We're excited about unifying our operations under the Harrison Street Asset Management brand. And while meaningful change takes time, our plan will strengthen our business and deliver meaningful value to our shareholders. Operationally, our Investment Management business is highly resilient. Over 85% of our funds are held in long-dated or perpetual investment vehicles, generating long-term and predictable earnings for our shareholders and top-tier investment returns for our investors. Assets under management finished the quarter at $108 billion, a 10% increase from last year, reflecting the success of our acquisition strategy and solid fundraising momentum to date. Harrison Street has multiple products in the market with new vintages of our flagship funds launching later this quarter and into 2026. These initiatives are expected to drive ongoing revenue growth through next year and beyond. With $9 billion in dry powder across the organization, we are well positioned to deploy significant capital on behalf of our investors. Colliers with 30 years of visionary leadership and 3 powerful growth engines has become a resilient and highly differentiated professional services and asset management company, a company that is well positioned to continue to seize opportunities and deliver lasting value for our shareholders. Now let me turn things over to Christian for his financial report, and then we'll open things up to questions. Christian?

Thank you, Jay, and good morning, everyone. As a reminder, all non-GAAP measures referenced today are defined in the materials accompanying this call. Revenue growth figures are presented in local currency terms. Our third-quarter revenues were $1.46 billion, up 23% year-over-year. Our Engineering and Real Estate Services segments led the increase from a combination of internal growth and recent acquisitions. Overall, internal growth for the quarter was 13%. Adjusted EBITDA was $191 million for the quarter, a 24% increase from last year. Real Estate Services segment revenues increased 13% overall. Capital markets were up 21%, reflecting sales growth in all geographies and in all asset classes with particular strength in the U.K., Japan, and Canada. Debt finance activity was also strong, particularly U.S. multifamily originations. Leasing revenues were up 14%, also led by the U.S. and driven by industrial and office as well as data centers. Outsourcing revenues increased 8% for the quarter with our valuation and advisory practice leading the growth. Segment net margin was 11.3%, up 180 basis points year-over-year on solid operating leverage from higher transactional revenues, partly offset by continued investments to strengthen our geographic and asset class capabilities. Engineering net revenue was up 36%, fueled by acquisitions and internal growth of 6%. The infrastructure and transportation end markets delivered notable revenue gains in the quarter. The net margin was 15.2%, slightly lower than last year, mainly due to service mix. Our backlogs continue to be solid across our geographic markets, giving us visibility and confidence as we look ahead to 2026. Our Investment Management net revenues increased 5% due to the favorable impact of the RoundShield acquisition and higher fee-paying assets under management. However, the net margin declined slightly to 42.3%, primarily due to additional costs incurred as we integrate operations under the Harrison Street Asset Management brand. We expect these costs will continue for the next 2 to 3 quarters and will modestly impact our margins as a result. In the third quarter, we raised $1 billion in new capital commitments. Since quarter-end, we have raised an additional $1.2 billion, bringing total year-to-date fundraising to $4.4 billion. As Jay mentioned, we have several funds currently in the market, including one significant new vintage launching in the coming weeks. For the full year, we expect to come in near the midpoint of our $5 billion to $8 billion fundraising target. Assets under management totaled $108.3 billion as of September 30, up 5% from June 30, driven by the recent acquisition and new capital raised, partially offset by asset sales in older vintage funds. Turning to our balance sheet. Our leverage ratio was 2.3x as of September 30 and includes the impact of several acquisitions completed during the third quarter. We continue to expect our leverage to decline to just under 2x by year-end. This assumes no significant additional acquisitions. We are maintaining our full-year consolidated outlook. In our Real Estate Services and Engineering segments, we may exceed our previous full-year guidance, while in Investment Management, we expect to be off slightly given the timing of fundraising and costs associated with unifying our operations under the HSAM brand. Putting it all together, on a consolidated basis, we remain confident we will meet our full-year outlook. That concludes my prepared remarks. Operator, can you please open the line for questions?

Your first question comes from the line of Stephen MacLeod from BMO.

Just wanted to circle in on a couple of things. Just with respect to the Engineering margins in the quarter, you noted some service mix headwind. And I'm just curious if you could give a little bit of color around sort of what you saw in the quarter and how that weighed on your numbers or weighed on the margin, I suppose?

Well, Steve, you got to look at this on a net revenue basis. We have a lot of pass-through costs in Engineering, and those are at low or very low margins. So on a net basis, our margin was down very slightly. We're talking 20 to 30 basis points. And it really just is some service mix across our geographic markets.

And then just on the Investment Management business, obviously, strong fundraising on a year-to-date basis, and you guided to sort of being in the midpoint for your target for 2025, which is great. Just as we think about the additional costs, again, sort of weighing on the net margin this quarter. Can you talk a little bit about sort of how you see that evolving as you get into 2026? Or is it maybe too soon to talk about 2026 margins at this point?

Well, look, Steve, we don't want to talk about 2026 until year-end. We'll give a full outlook for 2026 at that point. But as it relates to Investment Management, in my prepared remarks, I did reference that we will have 2 or 3 quarters of headwinds from cost to unify the segment. So that will be a modest impact on the margin.

And let me add something to that, Steve. We are a public company. We have, over the years, brought together some pretty exceptional Investment Management platforms. And now we're taking steps to bring some of them together to really create a powerhouse under the Harrison Street brand. That takes costs, that takes time, that takes effort, and it will definitely translate into shareholder value over time. And other people just leave things alone. You've seen us do this before. And so we're doing some pretty interesting things to really solidify that business for the long term. And you'll see fundraising growth, which is wonderful. But that comes on new programs, new strategies, and a lot of that has to do with unifying the teams and sharing the best of the best across the board. So if we were a private company, you would never see this. But in a public company situation, which we've done before, there's some modest impact on margin here or there as we invest in our business, and we're going to continue to do that because for Colliers, it's about creating long-term value for shareholders.

Our next question is from Tony Paolone from JPMorgan.

Just on Engineering, can you talk about what you think organic growth has looked like? It's a little hard to see just given all the acquisitions and such in there. And along the same lines, like when you do underwrite on these acquisitions, how do you think about what you expect from, say, the producers that you're bringing on in terms of growth in the top line there?

Tony, our year-to-date organic growth in Engineering is around 8%. And I think for the year, we guided to sort of mid-high single-digit area. So we're fully on track with our organic growth ambitions for the year, and we expect that to continue. We play in rapidly growing markets, infrastructure-oriented markets, transportation, energy, communications, public sector investments that are being made by governments, frankly, around the world. So when we look for acquisitions, we look for businesses that are playing in these sectors and where there are long-term tailwinds for growth in this highly fragmented industry. So that's the way we think about it.

And then just a follow-up on that as it relates to the investment pipeline. Can you talk about just how that looks, sizes of the deals, like any larger type of transactions? And is it still skewed towards Engineering? Or are there other areas that you're seeing activity in?

So far this year, we've made acquisitions in each of our segments, with Engineering having the highest number of transactions, even if they aren't the largest in size. This industry is massive and highly fragmented, with multiple areas of specialty. Even in our most established businesses, we see opportunities for growth in different regions. This creates chances for acquisitions. For a company like Colliers, which has been successful in internal growth and acquisitions for 30 years, this is the kind of segment we seek to expand. Our strategy has been to enter markets as a top player and then enhance our presence, which we have successfully done in Canada, the U.S., and are continuing to do in Australia. The Engineering sector offers tremendous opportunities, and I am optimistic that we can double our business regarding both revenue and profitability in the coming years. Our unique operational approach, characterized by a partnership philosophy and decentralized operations, is a significant advantage for our targets. We are excited about this sector and believe it will present substantial growth opportunities in the future.

Our next question is from Himanshu Gupta from Scotiabank.

So just on IM fundraising, I mean, you have done almost $4.4 billion this year. What is the mix of that, like open-ended versus close-ended? And is that also impacting the margins apart from the integration cost?

Hello, Himanshu, that's a good question. And you're talking about fundraising and the mix of open-ended funds versus close-end funds. And then we also have now credit, which is a much bigger part of our business. And when you raise close-end capital, the fees turn on immediately and typically at a higher fee rate than an open-ended fund or a credit vehicle would. So that type of fundraising has more immediate impact on our revenues, and we are seeing that a little bit in 2025 as we have been very successful raising open-ended fund capital this year. We've also raised some pretty significant credit capital. And that open-ended and credit capital does not start generating fees until such time as we deploy that capital, which can take 3 to 6 months. Day referenced, we have $9 billion of dry powder, and that is capital that's ready and waiting to be deployed. So our teams are focused on that. And once that capital is deployed, it will start to earn fees.

And the next question is you're working on the integration of IM under this Harrison Street platform. Have you received any initial client feedback so far? I mean, as you integrate Rockford versus the Harrison Street? And I know it's early days, but still wondering if any client feedback on this process.

Yes, the client feedback has been excellent. This has been a significant part of our efforts to unify these operations. It means we can now utilize our debt capacity in areas where we have expertise, such as seniors and students, which opens up many opportunities to achieve more with the same investments. The client response has been very positive. They appreciate a more streamlined fundraising approach and want to understand the investment opportunities available to them. They can select the ones they are interested in, and then we can leverage our expertise to meet their investment needs. Overall, the feedback has been very encouraging, and our investors are responding by increasing their capital contributions to us. While it's never enough, it’s certainly an improvement compared to previous years.

And clearly, it's in the right direction. And then just switching gears, on the leasing side. I mean, it looks like industrial leasing was strong. Any particular geography which is impacting that? And how much is tariff discussion now compared to first half of the year?

Well, Himanshu, leasing was led by the U.S. in the third quarter. Industrial and office, particularly strong. And if you recall, in the first half of the year, leasing was challenged. We had some tariff and trade impacts in the second quarter, which caused clients to pause, particularly on the industrial side of things. So we're feeling good about our leasing trajectory, and we expect leasing to be up nicely year-over-year as we finish the year in Q4 here.

Our next question is from Julien Blouin from Goldman Sachs.

I just wanted to go back to Investment Management. I mean, you touched on all the work you're doing to integrate the back office and the market-facing brands within Investment Management. I guess beyond the 2 to 3 quarters of margin pressure ahead from the integration costs, do you still feel like you can get to that 45% to 50% margin that we've talked about in the past? And will you wait until you get to those margin levels before considering any of the strategic options you've talked about in the past for realizing the value of that segment?

For us, the priority is to strengthen this platform. Over the next few quarters, we have a clear perspective on where our margins might head, but we will continue to invest in making our platform robust. We remain open to acquisition opportunities in this space, as there are significant possibilities available. Many companies in this sector are discussing potential collaborations, and we are exploring various avenues. We'll assess how the upcoming quarters progress, but our focus is on building this business for the long term. If it means sacrificing some margin points to achieve over 20% internal growth, we are willing to do that. It's straightforward. I'm not certain if that fully addresses your question, but that's our outlook for the business moving forward.

And then maybe digging into capital market, can you give us a sense of how October and the fourth quarter is shaping up and maybe where pipelines of activity stand versus this time last year?

Yes. Good question, Julien. We had last year a very strong quarter in capital markets. And this year, the pipelines are looking solid, and we feel confident at this point in our prospects for the fourth quarter, and we should be able to exceed our performance of last year, which, as I said, will be a relatively tough comp compared to the comps we've seen so far year-to-date.

Our next question is from Erin Kyle from CIBC.

I just wanted to tag on to that last question there and see if you can maybe elaborate a bit more on the pace and breadth of the capital market recovery. And if there's any particular regions, I know you called out the U.S., or asset classes that are leading the improvement?

Yes. I think the capital markets recovery is broad-based. And we highlighted a few asset classes where sales brokerage has been strong, or sorry, a few geographic markets where capital markets growth has been strong. But Erin, I really would make the comment that this is a multiyear recovery. It is really a global recovery. If you recall, 2023 was a very challenging year in Europe, in particular. Our European business is really well positioned to capture the rebound in activity, and that's been evident in the numbers year-to-date, and that's going to continue as we look ahead to Q4 and into 2026. So I think it's really, as I said, broad-based across all geographies.

I would also add that capital markets are not fully back yet. There is strength in the U.S., but in Europe, Asia, and to some extent Canada, there are more transactions occurring, although it's a slow process. Stability around interest rates and debt costs is still lacking, and investor confidence needs improvement. However, I see this as a positive sign because, even within our fund business, we have sold several assets, which is typical as we continue to redeploy assets when the timing is right. There is significant pent-up demand in capital markets, but we have yet to see a full recovery. While we've observed some activity, it hasn't returned to previous levels, which presents future opportunities for us.

Could you remind us how many funds in Investment Management are currently in the disposition phase, and what percentage of those funds are typically recycled?

Most funds are always looking to sell assets at the right times. Generally, older funds tend to sell their assets more quickly. This is driven by the returns they can generate. If an asset is not fully developed or leased and still has potential for growth, our asset managers are likely to hold onto it because they recognize its value. This is part of the strategy in managing and achieving high returns for investors. Deciding the right time to sell and which assets to sell is a key consideration. Sometimes, it's beneficial to bundle two or three assets together so that a larger buyer can purchase them at a higher price, ultimately providing better returns for our funds and investors. This is a skill of our asset managers, and one of our unique advantages is that our key team members have an equity stake in the business. This means they are motivated not just to deliver strong returns for investors but also for shareholders. That's how I would respond to your question.

Our next question is from Mitchell Germain from Citizens Bank.

Jay, I'm curious about the M&A activities you've undertaken in the services sector. I believe you announced deals with Greystone and Triovest in recent months. How do these acquisitions relate to your hiring strategy? What is the current pace of hiring, or is your focus mainly on investment in M&A?

Each of our businesses actively recruits top talent. While we often discuss mergers and acquisitions, it's important to note that we have significant costs associated with recruiting talent to address gaps in different geographic areas, which negatively affects our margins. We have specific goals and a dedicated team in each region that excels in recruitment and retention, particularly in underserved areas. This focus on recruitment sometimes gets overshadowed by discussions on internal growth. For instance, our internal growth in the residential business this quarter was around 8%, possibly higher at 13%. However, some of the costs of recruiting were reflected in that 13%.

No, that was the revenue number. However, I would add that our margin is impacted on an ongoing basis. We have observed this year-to-date. In the third quarter, we experienced significant operating leverage from higher revenues. Despite that, we still face margin pressure from recruiting, which is a cost we are willing to accept because we are bringing in top professionals and expanding our capabilities in various asset classes and geographies, and we plan to continue doing so.

Yes. I was thinking margin. I'm sorry, Mitch. I was thinking about margin and the impact on the margin. So thanks, Christian, for clarifying that.

Yes. Jay, I understand your point. Many of your colleagues are discussing the significant data center opportunity, which you mentioned in your earnings release. I’m interested in how you are positioning Colliers to take advantage of this expanding sector in the future.

That's a great question, and I'm glad you asked it because I’ve been listening to some of the other players in the real estate services space who have been vocal about data centers, referring to them as a new major growth opportunity. For most of these companies, data centers are just another asset class. They assist clients in buying, selling, leasing, and financing data centers. At Colliers, we go beyond that. In addition to those significant services, we also design and entitle land for development. We manage projects and programs related to both construction and maintenance through our Engineering group. Furthermore, our Investment Management segment allows us to invest in data centers, creating a comprehensive capability. While data centers are currently getting a lot of attention and are strategically important to us at Colliers, our involvement extends beyond just Real Estate Services. Unlike many of our peers who focus solely on providing traditional Real Estate Services for a trending asset class, only a few of us, including Colliers, are engaged in the entire lifecycle of data centers, along with much more beyond that. This is a crucial part of our business, and it will continue to grow; it's likely our fastest-growing segment, even though it still doesn't represent a significant percentage of our overall revenue. I hope that gives you some perspective on how we view this opportunity.

Our next question is from Daryl Young with Stifel.

Just one question for me related to commercial real estate services. I wanted to get a sense of whether you're seeing any green shoots on construction activity or we're still early in the cycle. And I guess, just the magnitude of what you would see as upside from that over the next couple of years?

Well, it depends on what construction activity you're talking about and in what markets. So I would say that the construction of condominiums in Canada and the U.S. is soft. You're seeing some construction in multifamily or build-to-rent. There's obviously lots of activity around data centers and related infrastructure assets. And it's a little bit the same in Europe, although it's smaller numbers. So new construction is really at a pause from our perspective right now, which is creating a lot of pressure for companies that were traditionally focused on this type of construction from the ground up.

Our next question is from Jimmy Shan from RBC Capital Markets.

Just a couple of questions on the operating leverage within real estate services. So this quarter we did see roughly $100 million of year-over-year revenue growth, and then we saw EBITDA grow by $23 million. So I think that's the leverage math that you've spoken about before. Is that how we should be thinking about the leverage as we look out to '26, I guess, #1? And then secondly, maybe if you could speak generally about sort of the excess capacity that you see within the organization. If volume continues to come back the way it has been, how well staffed are you today?

Well, Jimmy, the operating leverage math that you quoted there is absolutely correct. So we had about 22% operating leverage on an incremental revenue dollar in Q3, and that's in line with what was telegraphed over the last several quarters in terms of what our expectations are. And as revenues continue to grind higher here, and this is a gradual recovery in capital markets and leasing is also on a growth trajectory. As those revenues increase, we should hopefully continue to see that 20-plus percent operating leverage through 2026.

So in general, would you say there's a lot of excess capacity still?

Yes. I mean we have a tremendous amount of productive workforce on the ground, 4,500 productive brokers around the world. And we continue to invest and add new brokers and new geographies and new asset classes. So these folks are primed and ready and highly, highly motivated to generate additional commissions for themselves and for the firm. So we expect that these folks will contribute more and become more productive as the market improves. And as I said earlier, I mean, the market hasn't even returned to where it used to be. And the number of brokers that we have in the organization is up probably 15% from our high capital markets production number globally, I'm talking about. So I think as capital markets continues to gain strength, we'll be able to do substantially more revenue at high margins with a workforce that's larger today than it was at the high.

Right. And then just on that topic in terms of kind of future tailwind, with respect to office leasing and capital markets, the recovery so far, it seems to have been a little bit more weighted towards the major markets in the U.S. And I could be wrong here, but I think your footprint in the U.S. tends to be a little bit more secondary markets. So is it fair to assume that to the extent we see the same sort of recovery in those non-coastal, non-major markets, we should expect a little bit better upside in the future?

First, I want to provide some context about our business in the U.S. We rank among the top three in nearly every market, whether large or small, with only a couple of exceptions. This indicates that we are one of the leading players across the board. Typically, major markets generate higher revenues, largely because lease rates in these areas are significantly higher compared to secondary markets. It's quite varied overall. Competitors with a larger presence in places like New York City may generate more leasing revenue during upswings than we do, given their larger number of brokers. However, Colliers stands out as one of the leading, well-balanced global real estate service firms with strong market positions everywhere. While we aim to expand in certain markets, we maintain a well-rounded business model. Over the past few years, even during challenging times in real estate services, Colliers has shown consistent performance, demonstrating the resilience of our business. We are focused on making improvements and as the market strengthens, we anticipate our results will improve as well.

Our next question is from Stephen Sheldon from William Blair.

You've got Pat on for Stephen today. My first one, with the relative strength you're seeing in leasing and capital markets. Can you just touch on the puts and takes in terms of maintaining your real estate services revenue guide for the year? Were there any overly significant deals that came through this quarter? Or any dynamics we should be thinking about across those 3 services subsegments heading into the fourth quarter?

No, there are no significant transactions to note in the third quarter. To meet our full year guidance, we would like to see an increase in capital markets activity compared to last year. As I mentioned, capital markets performed very well in the fourth quarter of 2024, making it a tougher comparison, but we do see the potential for continued growth. Leasing is also expected to show positive trends in the fourth quarter, which is consistent across all our services. In our outsourcing business, which is a key part of our real estate services, we have a strong growth trajectory in our valuation and advisory services, and we expect that to continue along with rising revenues from property management and loan servicing. Overall, we feel confident about all these services, and there are no unusual factors to consider.

And Jay, just to piggyback off of a prior question and your prior commentary on data centers. I understand you all have significant capabilities across the portfolio there, including in the Investment Management business. But I wanted to ask, as you expand your platform through continued M&A, is it of interest to build out more technical capabilities on the services side? And as you think about that, what are you seeing in terms of the valuations for that type of asset?

First of all, in the Engineering segment, which is currently about $1.7 billion globally, we provide many technical services, similar to most engineering firms. I can't specify the exact number of data centers we’re involved with worldwide, but it’s quite substantial. That said, the acquisition costs for firms in the data center space—whether they’re building, managing projects, servicing, or overseeing operations—are very high. From our viewpoint, we can't justify investing at these elevated valuations. We're pleased to continue expanding our Engineering segment to support this area and are actively seeking more opportunities to finance and own data centers, as that could lead to greater potential for us in the future. However, as expected, valuations in this space remain high.

Could I get a quick clarification, Christian? It seems that the guidance for Engineering suggests that the fourth quarter growth will decrease organically unless there's some volatility in the pass-through costs. Am I interpreting that correctly? Is there anything else we should consider?

Yes, you're looking at that correctly. There could be a small step down in organic growth in the fourth quarter. I'll remind you that we did indicate on a full year basis that organic growth would be in the mid to high single-digit range, and we'll be firmly in that range for the full year. And we've been outperforming to that for the first 3 quarters.

Our next question is from Maxim Sytchev from National Bank Capital Markets.

Jay, I wanted to go back to your prepared remarks. And I think you made a comment, and unless I misunderstood, but the $9 billion of dry powder across the organization, do you mind maybe expanding a little bit on that figure unless I, again, misinterpreted it?

I didn't really hear that. I didn't hear.

He was asking about the $9 billion of dry powder we have across the organization and if we have any more details on what that is.

We have all the details, but we believe it's an aggregate number that we can comfortably share. It encompasses all available capital across the funds, including alternatives and debt. So, it's a combination of all the capital at our disposal. Even if I provided a detailed breakdown, it wouldn't be very useful because the real impact comes from when that capital is deployed, which then translates into returns. As Christian mentioned, our fee structure in the debt space is lower than in our open-ended and closed-ended funds. The key factor is how and where we invest that money and the revenue we can generate from those investments. Therefore, I think $9 billion is a solid figure, significantly higher than last year, and we are actively seeking the right opportunities to deploy that capital across the board.

And I apologize for my connection. And another question I had in relation to the Australian foray on the Engineering side. Do you mind maybe talking a little bit about the reason why you went into that geography? I mean it has been a bit sluggish. So is the thought process that right now, you're kind of picking it up on a trough? Maybe any color would be very helpful there.

Max, the acquisition we announced last night is a well-established urban development consultancy and engineering firm operating in Adelaide. It's a market that is of significant size in the Australian sort of geography and a place we want to expand to. It's a relatively small firm, with 65 staff. So we were able to do this transaction, add these folks to our established platform, which I think, I believe we've got well north of 500 people now in our Australian engineering business, and these folks will tuck in to that business, and they will be nicely accretive for us. And we're able to do these tuck-in acquisitions, as you know, at very attractive valuations. So that makes this all the more compelling for us.

Question is from Frederic Bastien from Raymond James.

On Max's question on engineering. Really excited to see this segment perform strongly, and you continue to partner with industry leaders, both you saw that in Canada and Australia, but it really feels like it's the real deal here. And it feels like you're only scratching the surface. You've got good scale right now in Canada with Englobe. But can you comment on the potential for additional growth in the U.S., Australia, and Europe? Europe seems like there's massive opportunity there that you're still waiting to tap.

You've captured that perfectly. In the U.S., we want to accelerate our growth. We're seeing good progress, but there's definitely room to grow faster. Canada is performing exceptionally well, and we are very enthusiastic about that. In Australia, the situation is positive as well. We're working on building our platform gradually since there are not many large competitors there. Europe presents a significant opportunity for us, and we are dedicating considerable effort there. We have some intriguing platforms under consideration. Our partnership philosophy and decentralized operations appeal to larger partners who prefer to retain an equity stake rather than being fully acquired by a single entity. They wish to remain involved in the future growth of this sector and leverage relationships we may have, whether in real estate or investment management. As we've noted repeatedly over the years, the overall segment is vast, even larger than I originally anticipated, with ongoing opportunities for growth. We see this as a substantial growth engine for many years ahead, and our plan is to keep building. We don’t need to be the largest; we just aim to be among the best with a distinct strategy, and we are confident we have that. Our steady approach has helped us reach $1.7 billion in five years, and we are hopeful to follow a similar path to double our size in the next couple of years.

Last question for me. Regarding the Astris and Triovest deals that you completed on the RES side. They've only been contributing for a few months, but I was wondering if you could provide an update on how these businesses are performing under the Colliers umbrella?

It's still too early to provide a definitive update. Triovest has been a long-term target for us due to its almost entirely recurring revenue. We are currently working on integrating it into our Canadian property management operations. Interestingly, some of our Canadian clients with U.S. assets have requested us to manage those assets as well, and that integration is underway. We are excited about Triovest and are also in the process of rebranding it. However, I want to emphasize that these acquisitions require significant cost, time, and effort for successful integration. Regarding the concern about our engineering margin decreasing by 20 basis points this quarter, I think that's a minor issue. Triovest is progressing well, and we are hopeful about its potential. Additionally, we acquired a real estate company named Astris, which has been performing better than expected. We had an advantage with Astris because they already had pre-existing relationships with our investment management platforms in several areas, giving us insight into the quality of their professionals. We are seeing increased opportunities in financing mid-market infrastructure businesses through the Astris team, and we are cautiously optimistic that it will evolve into a successful venture for us over the next few years.

There are no further questions at this time. I would now like to turn the conference back to Mr. Hennick. Please continue.

Thank you, operator, for handing it back, and thank you to everyone for joining us. We look forward to discussing our fourth quarter results in February. Have a great day.

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes the conference call. Thank you for your participation, and have a nice day.