Nandita Nayar

Nandita Nayar of Bank of America Merrill Lynch questioned whether the double-digit growth in the advisory business is driven by the overall market or by AECOM capturing more share, and asked about the balance between investing in the business and expanding margins.

Answer

President Lara Poloni attributed the advisory growth to capturing an earlier segment of the project lifecycle and growing wallet share with existing clients. Chairman & CEO Troy Rudd emphasized that margin improvement has been driven by making high-return investments, not by cutting costs, and stated the company remains optimistic about future margin expansion through continued investment.

Nandita Nayar, on for Mike Feniger, asked for an update on real estate transaction activity and whether the company is seeing any 'green shoots' given the rate easing cycle.

Answer

Executive Alexander Hockman stated that with the easing of interest rates, NV5 'absolutely anticipates' continued growth in its real estate transaction business. Executive Chairman Dickerson Wright added that he has anecdotally seen 'very strong results' and a 'quite an improvement' from the company's real estate transactional groups, encouraging him about the market's direction.