JLL Plans $500 Million Accelerated Buyback, Says It Sees 'Significant Value In Our Own Shares'
The CEO tied the repurchase to rate-driven swings in the stock, and both executives said acquisitions must clear a high bar.
Jones Lang LaSalle, the commercial real estate services firm, intends to imminently sign a $500 million accelerated share repurchase, CEO Christian Ulbrich said on the company's third-quarter earnings call. "We see significant value in our own shares," he said, pointing to recent rate-driven volatility in the stock.
The buyback terms
CFO Kelly Howe said on the call that the accelerated repurchase would run under an existing authorization that had $2.5 billion remaining at quarter end. She said the company expects to finish it by year-end, and that as of October 23 it represented more than 3% of JLL's shares.
JLL bought back $142 million of stock in the third quarter and $552 million for the year to date, Howe said. That is more than two and a half times the full-year 2025 amount and has cut the share count by over 3% from a year ago.
After the accelerated deal, about $2 billion of authorization will remain, Howe said in answer to a question, and the company plans to stay active on it. Ulbrich called the repurchase a sign of a confident outlook and disciplined capital allocation through the cycle.
In Wednesday trading, JLL shares were up about 10% at $328.82, for a market value of $13.8 billion.
Buybacks versus acquisitions
Asked by a Citi analyst how buybacks trade off against deals, Ulbrich said the first priority is investing in the platform, including AI, automation and people. Buying back shares comes next, which he called "highly highly attractive" given the company's outlook through 2030.
JLL will not lower its acquisition bar just because it has not done a major deal in several years, he said. If no sizable opportunity clears it, the company will skip M&A for the foreseeable future. Howe said the pipeline is active but that JLL holds acquisitions to a high bar against the risk-adjusted return on repurchases.
Strong quarter, rate worries
Ulbrich said JLL, which sells leasing, property management, capital markets and investment management services, reported record third-quarter revenue and profit. Revenue rose 12%, adjusted EBITDA 33% and adjusted EPS 52%. Howe raised the 2026 adjusted EPS target to $25.20 to $26.30, which implies 37% growth at the midpoint.
Net leverage fell to 0.5 times, and Howe cited $3.6 billion of corporate liquidity as the backing for flexibility to invest and return capital.
Higher bond yields are the main caution. Ulbrich said interest rates materially affect only capital markets, where some deals have been repriced or delayed, and that US multifamily has been hit hardest.
Howe said the company expects to complete the accelerated repurchase by year-end.
Sources
- Jones Lang LaSalle Non-GAAP EPS of $6.76 beats by $0.58, revenue of $7.28B beats by $20M (JLL:NYSE) — seekingalpha.com
- JLL sets up global treasury centre at GIFT City to centralise operations | Industry News - Business Standard — business-standard.com
- JLL acquires Indonesian realestate- services company Procon — The Edge Malaysia
- ‘I despise the term headcount’: JLL exec on automating real estate without losing the people | Fortune — fortune.com
- Data centre sector in Asia-Pacific will continue to grow, says JLL — The Edge Malaysia
