Letter from the Chair and the CEO
Driving sustainable change in a dynamic world
With our expertise in architecture, engineering, and consultancy, it has been our privilege to steer our clients and stakeholders through a challenging 2023.
Like much of our industry, we witnessed the impact of higher inflation and interest rates, and strained supply chains, which pressured our clients and the business cases of their investments. This affected most of our markets, but especially Buildings, Transport, and Architecture & Landscape.
At the same time, the urgent need to address climate change and biodiversity loss has never been higher. These factors triggerd growing demand from our clients for more sustainable solutions to help meet their business goals, while better managing climate and nature impact. Leveraging our unique portfolio of competencies and services across our markets, we are well-positioned to support our clients in these difficult times and truly be their Partner for Sustainable Change.
The results of our efforts are reflected in our financial results. We are satisfied to have steered through global economic headwinds, delivering solid organic growth and groundbreaking projects. Driven by demand for sustainable solutions across our markets, we delivered 8.8% organic growth in 2023. Growth was particularly high in our Energy and Environment & Health markets, which saw double digit growth.
Despite the economic headwinds, our operations in Denmark, UK, and the US delivered their strongest results ever. Overall, our revenue and profit reached an all-time high. We are pleased to have achieved earnings (EBITA) above DKK 1 billion for the first time in the company’s history. Our EBITA margin improved to 6.1%, ending slightly below our 2023 ambition.
Delivering value for clients
These results demonstrate that our strategy, “The Partner for Sustainable Change,” is more relevant than ever. Halfway into the strategy period, we are progressing well to meet our 2025 strategic objectives.
During 2023, we further strengthened partnerships with key clients, working closely to meet their goals. The value we bring to our clients is reflected in their feedback in our project satisfaction and client loyalty surveys, which return high scores. Importantly, over 90% of respondents said they see Ramboll as a trusted partner, an achievement we are proud of and committed to maintaining.
A great example of the value we bring to clients, and the trust they place in us, is demonstrated by our joint venture “Venergi” with Wien Energy, the largest regional energy supplier for Vienna. As their exclusive engineering and consulting services partner, we will facilitate the green energy transition of the Austrian capital’s energy supply, helping the city reach net-zero emissions by 2040.
Enabling sustainable change
In 2023, we boosted our sustainability offerings. Among others, we continued to improve our competence in strategic sustainability consulting through the acquisitions of two leading consulting firms, thereby strengthening our position in transport and mobility, energy, and energy-intensive industry sectors.
We also continued to progress on our strategic ambition to become the global industry leader in the green energy transition. This is reflected in our growing portfolio of projects within Power-to-X, electrical grid upgrades, and offshore substations for windfarms. As an example, we are collaborating with Norway’s transmission system operator Statnett to strengthen the country’s electrical grid to keep pace with rising power demand.
Furthermore, by the end of 2023, we were involved in more than 200 green hydrogen and Power-to-X projects, and 125 projects within Carbon Capture and Storage.
As an industry leader, we embrace our responsibility to share our expertise with clients and stakeholders. In 2023, we initiated our Thought Leadership Programme to share expert insights to help transform industries towards a more sustainable path. We also joined the Global Offshore Wind Alliance as the first consultancy company to enable the rapid and at-scale build out of offshore wind.
Let’s close the gap, together
Our achievements would not have been possible without our talented and dedicated employees who are at the heart of the sustainable change we want to make. We are pleased to see in our annual employee survey that satisfaction and engagement is higher than ever, demonstrating that Ramboll is a people-centric company. We will continue to invest in our employees and the competencies needed to meet evolving client needs.
The actions we take today to address climate change and biodiversity loss, while creating places where people and nature flourish, can have a profound impact on future generations and the health of our planet. Let’s continue to close the gap to a more sustainable future – faster and at greater scale.
We thank our employees, clients, and stakeholders for all that we have achieved together in 2023 and look forward to our continued collaboration going forward.
Jeff Gravenhorst, Chair of the Group Board
Jens-Peter Saul, CEO