Pre-tax profits at CBRE fall by 88.5%

Pre-tax profits at the property firm that recently handled the €67 million sale of the Burlington Hotel in Dublin plummeted last year by 88.5 per cent, to €196,396.

CBRE is one of Ireland’s largest property firms. New figures show that profits fell from €1.7 million to €196,396 in 2011, after revenues fell by 16 per cent, to €11.48 million.

Chief executive Guy Hollis said the performance was reasonable in a difficult environment. There would be €600 million worth of transactions in the commercial property market here in 2012 – almost three times the value in 2011.

At their peak, commercial property transactions were worth €2.6 billion.

Mr Hollis attributed some of the improvement to foreign investors investing in prime Irish assets.

The directors’ report states that property prices have fallen by about 60 per cent from their peak, which has had a direct impact on fee levels in recent years.

CBRE paid a dividend of €15 million to its parent last year. Remuneration for the firm’s 12 directors dropped by 32 per cent from €2.59 million to €1.8 million.