Sticking to their guns

Mladen PetrovThe advisory agencies’ financial results are here and – again – it is not looking good. As profits fall, the global agencies are tightening their belts. What could this mean for the CEE region? No one knows the property market better than real estate consultancies. Or at least most people tend to believe so. So, when their financial results finally came they were the last ones to be taken by surprise. In the quagmire of explanations about the reasons why profits were significantly down (credit crunch, slowing down of leasing and investment activity), there remains some room for optimism.Few digits to start withCushman & Wakefield was the first company to announce an actual loss in the first half of 2008. The deficit of USD 67.3 mln was published in the accounts of its Italian owner, the Ifil Group. The owner commented that the main reason for the losses is to be found in the sudden drop in the performance of the capital markets advisory services, wh