With remarkable speed, the favorable business environment of recent years has given way to the most abrupt downturn of the postwar period. It is testing consumers, corporate leaders, newly elected governments, and inescapably, commercial real estate markets around the world.

One factor has remained constant: Cushman & Wakefield is as committed to our clients today as we have been since our founding in 1917. With low leverage, private ownership and the strong backing of our majority investor, EXOR S.p.A. (formerly IFIL), we are in an enviable position to help both occupiers and investors in real estate navigate a transformed marketplace.

The most experienced talent in the industry is responding with the personal resilience and creativity needed to create new solutions. Yet we maintain a long-term view of client needs. Even in addressing new and urgent priorities, we look beyond the current financial quarter to ensure that plans laid today will prove sustainable once the economic recovery has taken hold.

Without question, difficult choices have been made, and difficult choices remain ahead as our society reduces debt and business models adjust to new expectations of revenue. But for more than 90 years, Cushman & Wakefield has persevered through every kind of cycle without altering our name or our focus on our clients. No other global firm can say this.

Whatever comes next, our professionals are ready with the full resources of our global platform. Together, we will meet the challenges of 2009 and beyond.