International Workplace Group plc (IWG) Q2 2026 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

Good morning and welcome to the IWG First Half Results 2026 presentation. Hosting today's call will be Christian Schmitz, Chief Executive Officer, and Charlie Steel, Chief Financial Officer, supported by Mark Dixon, Founder and Executive Chair. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. And as a reminder, this call is being recorded. And I'll turn over the call to Christian to begin. Please go ahead. Good morning, and thank you for joining us. I'm Christian Schmitz. I became chief executive in June. I'll take you through the first half and the strategy, and Charlie will follow with the numbers. I will start with the market. For decades, an office meant a long lease, significant capital, and fixed cost carried whether the space was used or not. That is changing. Companies want real estate as a service. They want to flex up and down. They want to pay for what they use. This shift is structural and we are still early in it. IWG is positioned for it. We have the network, the brands, and the platform. No other operator has comparable coverage. My starting point, therefore, is straightforward. The opportunity ahead of us is larger than the one behind us. And that is exactly why I joined IWG. This slide summarizes the first half. System-wide revenue grew substantially by 11%. Group revenue grew 6%. Company-owned revenue grew 5%. And recurring management fees grew 84%. That is our capital-light recurring high margin income, and it is growing fastest. We returned $100 million to shareholders in the half, and we have announced $150 million buyback for the year. We are reiterating our guidance for 2026 and our medium target of at least $1 billion of EBITDA. The strategy is simple, and it hasn't changed. Expand margins in company-owned. Grow fee incom...