CIGI — Q2 2026 Financial Report Analysis

Deal flow came back, and a big Spanish acquisition did the rest

Colliers' revenue rose 17% to $1.57 billion in the second quarter of 2026 (April–June). Two things drove it. Commercial property deals picked up: fees from leasing office and industrial space and from selling buildings (what Colliers calls Capital Markets) were each up 23%. And the company kept buying engineering firms, most of all Ayesa Engineering of Seville, Spain, which it bought for $690 million in May. Stripping out acquisitions and currency moves, the company says its existing businesses grew 8%.

That growth did not reach the bottom line. GAAP operating earnings (profit from running the business under standard accounting rules, before interest and tax) were $98.4 million, against $99.2 million a year earlier. Deal costs, amortization of the intangible assets Colliers bought, and a 70% jump in interest on the money borrowed to pay for Ayesa took up the extra revenue. Diluted earnings per share went from $0.08 to $0.56, but most of that jump comes from a smaller accounting charge tied to minority partners' stakes (explained below), not from the business earning more. On the company's own adjusted measure, EPS rose 6% to $1.83.

At a glance

• Revenue +17%, but only 8% from existing businesses. The rest came from acquisitions (mainly Engineering) plus about one point from currency moves.
• GAAP EPS of $0.56 vs $0.08. Mostly an accounting swing: the charge for minority partners' stakes fell from $43.7 million to $4.6 million. Total net earnings actually fell 23%, from $64.0 million to $49.2 million.
• Debt is up by $870 million since December to $2.51 billion after the Ayesa deal. Net debt is now 2.8 times adjusted EBITDA, up from 2.0 times, and interest costs rose from $15.5 million to $26.4 million.

Key figures

Net revenues leave out costs Colliers passes straight through to clients, such as subcontractors on engineering jobs. Adjusted EBITDA is the company's own profit measure: earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, also excluding deal costs, restructuring and stock-based pay.

Takeaway: The operating businesses are healthy: property deal activity is recovering and Engineering is growing fast. But Colliers is paying for its growth with borrowed money and acquisition costs. Adjusted EBITDA rose 14%, yet adjusted EPS rose only 6% because higher interest and a higher tax rate took much of the gain. The $0.08-to-$0.56 jump in GAAP EPS is mostly an accounting swing, not better business.

The three businesses

Commercial Real Estate (brokerage, property management, valuation) is still the largest at $997.3 million in revenue, up 12%. Transaction fees did the work. Leasing (fees for arranging tenancies) rose 23%; the company credits the US and "continued strength in industrial and office." Capital Markets (fees for arranging property sales and financing) also rose 23%, led by the Americas and Asia Pacific. The steadier fee lines grew more slowly: property management was up 7% to $144.2 million, and project management fell 16% to $94.0 million, which the company puts down to "a reduction in local project management activity in Europe and Asia." Adjusted EBITDA rose 14% to $105.9 million. That means the segment kept a little more of each extra dollar of deal fees, because brokerage overhead does not grow as fast as commissions.

Engineering is now the fastest-growing part. Revenue was up 30% to $427.8 million, and adjusted EBITDA up 28% to $52.1 million. Its margin on net revenue held at about 14.5%. The company does not split this segment's growth into acquired and internal pieces. It says growth came from "recent acquisitions and solid internal growth," and Ayesa only joined in May, so most of its contribution is still to come. In this quarter's statements, Ayesa alone accounts for $284 million of new finite-life intangible assets (provisional), which will be amortized (written down as an expense) over the coming years.

Investment Management (the Harrison Street fund business, which earns fees for managing other people's money) grew revenue 17% to $147.2 million, but adjusted EBITDA slipped 1% to $49.4 million. The company says it is deliberately spending to build out the Harrison Street brand across real estate, infrastructure and credit, and that this spending "is expected to continue in the second half of the year." Fee-paying assets, the base the company actually earns management fees on, were $54.6 billion, up 6%. The margin squeeze is the cost of this plan: adjusted EBITDA as a share of net revenue fell from about 42% to about 36%.

What the headline numbers hide

• The GAAP EPS jump is an accounting effect. Many Colliers subsidiaries are partly owned by their local managers, who can sell their stakes to Colliers at a set price based on profits. When that price goes up, the increase is booked as a charge against Colliers' earnings, called the "NCI redemption increment." Last year's Q2 charge was $43.7 million; this year's was $4.6 million. That $39 million swing is the main reason EPS rose from $0.08 to $0.56. Pre-tax earnings actually fell 15%, from $89.2 million to $76.1 million.
• The GAAP vs adjusted gap is wide: $0.56 vs $1.83. The biggest items Colliers excludes from adjusted EPS (after tax, per share) are amortization of acquired intangibles ($0.61), acquisition-related items ($0.43, up from $0.21, mostly Ayesa deal costs), stock-based pay ($0.16), restructuring and integration ($0.12) and the minority-stake charge ($0.09). It also subtracts $0.16 of gains from mortgage servicing rights, a non-cash gain booked when its lending arm keeps the right to service a loan. Amortization and deal costs come from Colliers' strategy of growing by acquisition. Investors should treat them as an ongoing cost of that strategy, not as truly one-off.
• Debt and tax took much of the operating gain. Net interest expense rose from $15.5 million to $26.4 million. The company cites "higher average debt outstanding" and a C$550 million bond at 4.73% issued in March, and says last year's quarter also benefited from a one-time interest reimbursement. The effective tax rate rose from 28.3% to 35.3%, which the company attributes to non-deductible acquisition costs and a valuation allowance on losses at "certain European entities" (it does not expect to use those tax losses). That is why adjusted net earnings rose only 7% ($93.6 million vs $87.5 million) while adjusted EBITDA rose 14%. Buybacks played no part: diluted share count edged up from 50.9 million to 51.2 million.
• Cash flow: strong quarter, weak half. Operating cash flow was $139.7 million in the quarter, well above net earnings of $49.2 million. For the first half it was negative $47.8 million, because annual bonuses are paid early in the year (accrued compensation fell by $186.8 million). Part of Q2's cash came from selling receivables to banks under an accounts-receivable facility. Colliers raised that facility's limit to $250 million in March and had drawn $248.4 million by June 30. Selling receivables brings cash in sooner but is not extra earnings. Over the trailing twelve months, the company's free cash flow was $365.6 million, which it puts at 106% of adjusted net earnings.
• Receivables look fine once Ayesa is counted. Accounts receivable and contract assets were $1,128.6 million, up 20% from a year earlier, a bit faster than revenue's 17%. The acquisitions brought in $161 million of non-cash current assets, of which Ayesa was $138 million, and that covers the gap.

Outlook

Management reaffirmed its 2026 guidance, which includes Ayesa: "mid-teens percentage growth in each of revenues, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EPS for the full year," excluding any further acquisitions. That puts a lot on the second half. Adjusted EPS was $6.57 in 2025. Mid-teens growth (roughly 14–16%) means about $7.49–$7.62 for 2026. With $2.74 earned in the first half, the second half would need roughly $4.75–$4.88, or about 19–23% growth over the $3.98 of H2 2025, against just 6% in H1. Revenue looks more reachable: about 14% growth in the second half at the midpoint, helped by a full six months of Ayesa.

Our read: revenue and EBITDA guidance look achievable, because Ayesa's contribution is mostly still ahead and deal volumes are recovering. Adjusted EPS is the harder target. Interest on the extra debt will last a full half-year, the European tax drag may continue, and Investment Management spending is set to continue. In the Q3 report (due November 4, 2026), watch three things: whether adjusted EPS growth moves into double digits, whether Investment Management margins stabilize, and whether net debt starts to fall from 2.8 times EBITDA. Colliers' bank facility temporarily allows up to 4.0 times for four quarters after a large acquisition, so there is headroom, but leverage this high cuts into the budget for further acquisitions.

Source: Colliers' Q2 2026 interim financial statements and MD&A (Form 6-K, Exhibit 99.1, filed August 5, 2026) and the Q2 2026 earnings release (Form 6-K, filed July 30, 2026). All amounts in US dollars.