2023 was an exciting and inspiring year for us at WSP. Our dedication and hard work have enabled us to build one of the most innovative engineering and professional services firms in the world.
This year, thanks to the leadership, passion, and rigour of our teams worldwide, and our strong operational execution, we met our financial ambitions, including solid organic growth and improved profitability.
We focused on diligently integrating the businesses acquired in previous years, the majority having been in our Earth & Environment sector, which welcomed 13,000 new employees in the past two years. We also completed four strategic acquisitions in 2023, including BG Consulting Engineers in Switzerland and Calibre in Australia. They have respectively strengthened our foothold in Europe and boosted our mining capabilities in a key Australian market. This ability to diversify our offering and seize market opportunities has fuelled our work intake, attesting to the growing demand for our services.
People Are our Superpower
We recognize our people are our superpower and continue to support them to do the best work of their lives. In 2023, we introduced a significant level of transformation activities including the roll-out of a new ERP in Canada, and several initiatives to enhance our employee experience and be an even more agile WSP.
We remain committed to fostering a workplace culture that inspires collaboration, empowers individuals, and cultivates the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion. We are pleased to report that we achieved our goal of increasing internal progression and improving the representation of underrepresented groups.
Our engagement scores remain healthy, and we have reached our internal promotion objective with 75% of our leadership roles having been filled internally. This is a testament to our commitment to career development and succession planning.
Creating Enduring Legacies for our Clients and Communities
WSP is dedicated to creating lasting legacies for local communities across the globe. We are privileged to work with like-minded clients and partners who share our objective of building a more inclusive, equitable, and sustainable world. In 2023, approximately 63% of our annualized revenues were derived from activities that support the UN Sustainable Development Goals,1 an increase relative to last year.