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.

Our key initiatives and leadership in creating a more sustainable and resilient world continued to gain widespread industry recognition in the form of awards, rankings, and ratings. In the current context of energy transition, decarbonization, and aging infrastructure, there is a clear and growing need for our strategic expertise. WSP is well positioned to offer best-in-class services to our public and private-sector clients while reaping the benefits of stimulus programs deployed across our key geographies.

Reporting Strong Financial Performance

In fiscal 2023, we achieved strong financial performance, with net revenues reaching $11 billion, up 22% compared to 2022. We delivered $1.9 billion adjusted EBITDA and our adjusted EBITDA margin rose to 17.6%, up from 17.1% the previous year. We are making significant strides towards attaining our goal of 1 million hours saved globally through improvements and simplification. Market conditions remain healthy and we are on track to exceed our 2024 strategic financial ambitions.

Late last year, we enhanced our sustainability-linked financing structure to reflect the significant progress we have made over the past few years to advance our ESG strategy, set ambitious targets and broaden our scope of impact. We are grateful to all our investors for their support and commitment to our long-term strategic vision.

As we enter the last year of our three-year strategic plan, we will continue to focus on achieving our goals and leading our business with discipline. We will seek to unlock further opportunities, face challenges head-on, and we are already planning and preparing our next strategic cycle. We maintain our unwavering dedication to being distinguished as the undisputed leader in our industry.

Unlocking Possibilities

I am proud of our well-balanced business and exceptional team and am convinced that 2024 will bring a wealth of possibilities for us to keep transforming the world. While the macroeconomic and geopolitical environments are fluid, our business is well-diversified and resilient, and I trust in our ability to navigate with agility, vigilance, and discipline.

We remain steadfast in our efforts to create a more sustainable future for our teams, our clients, our communities, as well as for the industry as a whole. We have entered 2024 with renewed optimism and determination, and trust in our ability to develop solutions and deliver on our purpose.

I wish to extend my sincere thanks to our employees, clients, Board members, and shareholders for their trust and ongoing confidence in our company.

Alexandre L’Heureux
Global President and Chief Executive Officer