Marcus & Millichap (MMI) has reported a marginal fall of 0.21 percent in profit for the quarter ended Sep. 30, 2016. The company has earned $15.14 million, or $0.39 a share, compared with $15.18 million or $0.39 a share, a year ago.    

Revenue during the quarter grew 8.90 percent to $180.63 million from $165.88 million in the previous year period.

Cost of revenue rose 11.61 percent or $11.84 million during the quarter to $113.85 million. Gross margin for the quarter contracted 153 basis points over the previous year period to 36.97 percent.

Total expenses were $155.73 million for the quarter, up 12.47 percent or $17.27 million from year-ago period. Operating margin for the quarter contracted 274 basis points over the previous year period to 13.79 percent.

Operating income for the quarter was $24.90 million, compared with $27.42 million in the previous year period. However, the adjusted EBITDA for the quarter stood at $28.09 million compared with $29.60 million in the prior year period. At the same time, adjusted EBITDA margin contracted 229 basis points in the quarter to 15.55 percent from 17.85 percent in the last year period.  

"We continued to achieve positive results in the third quarter with 8.9% year-over-year revenue growth and 10.2% sales force growth, relative to a still healthy but changing market environment and a challenging prior year comparable. Our Private Client brokerage revenue grew 6.4% with a transaction increase of 3.1%, amid preliminary reports of a year-over-year decline in market sales, which indicates further expansion in our share," stated Hessam Nadji, president and chief executive officer. "These results also point to further gains built on 15.2% revenue growth in the Private Client Market segment during the third quarter of 2015. Our success in executing $20 million and above transactions continued in the quarter with a 26.8% increase over the same period last year. Although larger asset sales are more variable from quarter-to-quarter, the ability of our more senior agents and IPA division to service major private and institutional clients remains a positive factor at all price points. We continue to believe that this year’s slowdown in investment sales, in the aftermath of transaction and volume records set in 2015, is a natural part of the real estate cycle. This has been compounded by a number of external factors that have resulted in additional investor and lender caution; however, we expect healthy occupancies, rents and competitive yields to support an active marketplace."

Investments stood at $48.38 million as on Sep. 30, 2016, down 64.10 percent or $86.39 million from year-ago.

Total assets grew 26.66 percent or $75.77 million to $360 million on Sep. 30, 2016. On the other hand, total liabilities were at $118.08 million as on Sep. 30, 2016, up 3.69 percent or $4.21 million from year-ago.

Return on assets moved down 116 basis points to 4.31 percent in the quarter. At the same time, return on equity moved down 265 basis points to 6.26 percent in the quarter.