CW 2020 Annual Report
Expand Margins Through Operational Excellence . Our management team has driven integration benefits during the period of our ownership by the Principal Shareholders resulting in significant margin expansion through organic operational improvements, the successful realization of synergies from previous acquisitions and developing economies of scale. We have a demonstrated track record of expanding adjusted EBITDA margins since our inception in 2014 and expect this trend to continue over time. We view margin expansion as the primary measure of productivity. Leverage Breadth of Services to Provide Superior Client Outcomes. Our current scale and position creates a significant opportunity for growth by delivering more services to existing clients across multiple service lines. Following the DTZ, Cassidy Turley and Cushman & Wakefield mergers, many of our clients realized more value by bundling multiple services, giving them instant access to global scale and better solutions through multidisciplinary service teams. As we continue to add depth and scale to our growing platform, we create more opportunities to do more for our clients, leading to increased organic growth. Continue to Deploy Capital Around Our In-fill M&A Strategy . We have an ongoing pipeline of potential acquisitions to improve our offerings to clients across geographies and service lines. We are highly focused on the successful execution of our acquisition strategy and have been successful at targeting, acquiring and integrating real estate services providers to broaden our geographic and specialized service capabilities. The opportunities offered by in-fill acquisitions are additive to our platform as we continue to grow our business. We expect to be able to continue to find, acquire and integrate acquisitions to drive growth and improve profitability, in part by leveraging our scalable platform and technology investments. In-fill opportunities occur across all geographies and service lines and over time we expect to invest in acquisitions with recurring and more visible revenue streams. Deploy Technology to Improve Client Experience . Through the integration of DTZ, Cassidy Turley and Cushman & Wakefield, we invested heavily in technology platforms, workflow processes and systems to improve client engagement and outcomes across our service offerings. The recent timeframe of these investments has allowed us to adopt best-in-class systems that work together to benefit our clients and our business. These systems are scalable to efficiently onboard new businesses and employees without the need for significant additional capital investment in new systems. In addition, our investments in technology have helped us attract and retain key employees, enable productivity improvements that contribute to margin expansion and strongly positioned us to expand the number and types of service offerings we deliver to our key global customers. We have made significant investments to streamline and integrate these systems, which are now part of a fully integrated platform supported by an efficient back- office. Competition We compete across a variety of geographies, markets and service lines within the commercial real estate services industry. Each of the service lines in which we operate is highly competitive on a global, national, regional and local level. While we are one of the three largest global commercial real estate services firms as measured by service line fee revenue and workforce, our relative competitive position varies by geography and service line. Depending on the product or service, we face competition from other commercial real estate services providers, institutional lenders, in-house corporate real estate departments, investment banking firms, investment managers, accounting firms and consulting firms. Although many of our competitors across our larger service lines are smaller local or regional firms, they may have a stronger presence in certain markets. We are also subject to competition from other large national and multinational firms that have similar service competencies and geographic footprint to ours, including Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated (NYSE:JLL) and CBRE Group, Inc. (NYSE: CBRE). Corporate Information DTZ Jersey Holdings Limited, our parent company prior to the restructuring, is a Jersey limited company that was formed in 2014 in connection with the purchase of DTZ from UGL Limited. On July 6, 2018, the shareholders of DTZ Jersey Holdings Limited exchanged their shares in DTZ Jersey Holdings Limited for interests in newly issued shares of Cushman & Wakefield Limited (the “Share Exchange”), a private limited company incorporated in England and Wales. On July 19, 2018, Cushman & Wakefield Limited re-registered as a public limited company organized under the laws of England and Wales (the “Re-registration”) named Cushman & Wakefield plc. On July 20, 2018, the Company undertook a share consolidation of its outstanding ordinary shares (the “Share Consolidation”), which resulted in a proportional decrease in the number of ordinary shares outstanding as well as corresponding adjustments to outstanding options and restricted share units
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