Asset Sales Help Jones Lang LaSalle Pay Dividends

CHICAGO-Favorable real estate markets have helped Jones Lang LaSalle pay dividends. If investors are not attracted by its 25 cents per share semi-annual payout, Jones Lang LaSalle is doubling its share repurchase program to two million shares.

With the company's Americas region helping lead the way, Jones Lang LaSalle saw a 21% increase in revenue in the third quarter compared to 2004, and an 18% increase year-to-date compared to the same nine months a year ago. Helping boost the Americas' 24% quarterly revenue jump and 19% year-to-date increase was LaSalle Investment Management, which doubled its third-quarter revenues thanks to increased fees from asset sales as well as portfolio performance. Setting records for capital raised and invested, the unit now has $29 billion in assets under management for various funds, an increase of $5 billion.

"We feel good about LaSalle Investment Management," says chief operating and financial officer Lauralee Martin, recently named to Jones Lang LaSalle's board of directors. "We believe the fourth quarter will be a very good quarter for LaSalle Investment Management."

Jones Lang LaSalle also reaped benefits from the sales of the largest and third-largest hotel deals in Chicago history, the $230-million sale of the Palmer House Hilton and $155-million Fairmont Hotel deal. The company's hotel division brokered both deals.

On the other hand, corporate clients' bottom-line focus has reduced revenue for Jones Lang LaSalle's tenant representation business, the only laggard in the company's operations. "They're not doing as many large transactions as they did last year, and they continue to be very savvy about their space," Martin says of the company's 50-plus corporate clients. As a result, Jones Lang LaSalle tenant representatives are doing more consulting work, she explains.