Strategy

Our strategy directs our activities in the markets we focus on, and how we grow aiming for long-term continuity and sustainable value creation. Our ownership structure is important for our ability to align our commercial development with our purpose and deliver on our sustainability goals. As an independent organisation, partly-owned by employees, we have more room for social impact, innovation and professional autonomy – prioritising our independence and long-term purpose over profit maximisation. We continually engage with our stakeholders and monitor external trends and developments, fine-tuning our focus in response.

During 2024, the impact of climate change brought increasingly extreme weather events to all corners of the globe. Our expertise in solutions to navigate climate change and build a sustainable society continues to be in strong demand. This is further driven by new environmental and climate legislation and by public opinion calling for sustainable business practices. Alongside climate change and the drive for sustainable climate resilient solutions, we see data-driven working and AI, and the rewiring of global supply chains due to geopolitical tensions as major business trends. Clients confirm these trends and emphasise that they are looking for partners who understand their challenges and can offer tangible solutions.
Inflation, changing geopolitical and economic conditions as well as significant political change in Europe, had limited impact on our activities due to the diverse portfolio of industries and geographies that we serve.

The competitive landscape continues to change with new entrants, more consolidation and increased local competition. By adjusting our service portfolio, we ensure we continue to add value for clients. Digitalisation is an important element in this as we help our clients lead in their markets by incorporating it into our propositions. In parallel, we increase the efficiency of our own activities.
Operating in tight labour markets and given changing workforce desires, we remain focused on attracting and retaining talented people who are at the heart of our success.

Royal HaskoningDHV reports a strong performance in 2024. Our people have worked hard supporting clients with solutions that are sustainable and future proof. The execution of our strategy, Stronger25, has been successful and has delivered results that are ahead of target. We are proud to have achieved all Stronger25 targets already in 2024. For 2024, we focused on four key strategic priorities: People first, Enhancing Society Together, Embracing digital, and Solid performance. On People first, we increased our employee engagement score; 83% of all employees feel enthusiastic and dedicated towards their work. We made significant progress in making our purpose Enhancing Society Together tangible. Every project can be assessed using our Purpose Matrix and we continued to deliver positive impact across all 5 Enhancing Society Together themes. We are systematically exploring and embedding technology and AI in our day- to-day work as well as in our products and services. We delivered strong growth across our global leading markets and in the Netherlands, which led to a growth in operating income of 10%. Working smarter, increased use of automation and a close focus on costs grew our EBITA margin to 9%.

Read more about our organisational structure in Our company.

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Our strategy Stronger25