Adjusted EBITDA rose 32.1% to $114 million, with an improved margin of 15%, up 139 basis points.
Adjusted EPS increased by 40.9% to $0.31 from $0.22, demonstrating strong operating leverage.
Capital Markets revenues surged 37.9%, reflecting a 135% increase in total debt volumes compared to 38% industry growth, and investment sales volumes rose 26% versus 11% industry growth.
Cash and cash equivalents ended at $195.8 million with net leverage of 1.4x; cash generated by the business was $133.9 million.
Introduced adjusted free cash flow metric showing $228 million for the 12 months ended June 2025, a 121.4% year-over-year improvement.
Leasing revenues increased 13.8%, led by double-digit growth in retail volumes and improving office activity in key gateway markets.
Management services, servicing and other revenues grew 13.6%, driven by 30% growth in Valuation and Advisory and improvements in servicing and asset management.
Newmark delivered strong revenue growth of 19.9% in Q2 2025, with total revenues reaching $759.1 million compared to $633.4 million a year earlier.
The company repurchased approximately 10.8 million shares for $125.5 million at $11.58 per share, reducing fully diluted weighted average share count by 1.2% to 252.6 million.
Return to Organic Loan Growth Driven by Market Conditions and M&A Activity
Loan originations nearly doubled in Q2 2025 compared to Q1, reaching $640 million, marking the highest level since 2022.
Pipeline remains healthy, supporting continued growth.
Market dynamics, including increased M&A activity in Texas, are creating opportunities for customer acquisition and talent recruitment amid some disruption.
Strategic Focus on Deepening Market Penetration Over Expansion
Management emphasized the importance of getting deeper into existing markets rather than pursuing new market expansion, aiming to double or triple the size of current markets.
The company built a 'mile wide, inch deep' model intentionally and now plans to focus on increasing market share within current regions.
Leadership indicated that future growth will primarily come from organic deepening rather than de novo branch openings or acquisitions.
The company is already planning for 2026, with a focus on consolidating and expanding within its current footprint.
This strategic shift suggests a mature growth phase where depth in existing markets is prioritized over geographic expansion.
Management highlighted the opportunity to significantly increase market share in their current markets, especially in tertiary MSAs.
AFG reported core net operating earnings of $2.14 per share for Q2 2025, down from $2.56 in the prior year quarter.
AFG returned over $100 million to shareholders in Q2 2025 through dividends and share repurchases.
Alternative investments returned 1.2% annualized in Q2 2025, down from 5.1% in the prior year quarter, negatively impacting overall investment income by about 5%.
Annualized core operating return on equity was 15.5%, despite lower returns from alternative investments.
Gross and net written premiums increased 10% and 7%, respectively, driven partly by earlier crop acreage reporting.
Net investment income excluding alternatives increased 10% year-over-year due to higher interest rates and asset balances.
Underwriting margins in Specialty Property & Casualty insurance were strong with a 93.1% combined ratio, up 2.6 points year-over-year.
Dafinchi