Witteveen+Bos shows resilience with good results
Refined strategy and new governance model in 2025
Witteveen+Bos shows resilience with good results
With revenue of 199 million euros and a net result of 23.3 million euros, Witteveen+Bos achieved excellent financial results in 2024. These results were formally adopted at the company’s annual general meeting on 14 April 2025. During the meeting, changes to the company’s administrative structure, including its board of directors, were also announced. As a result, from today the company’s executive committee has a new form
Managing director Wouter Bijman: ‘Last year, we of course worked very hard to help all our projects succeed, but we also looked at how we can continue operating as an agile and sustainable organisation in a volatile world. That resulted in a number of strategic insights. In the period ahead, we will use these insights to equip ourselves even better for the longer-term future. We will look to increase and optimise synergy, with the ultimate aim being to maximise our impact on society and achieve healthy financial returns. Realising these goals will ensure we remain a reliable and constructive partner for all our stakeholders worldwide.’
Financial results
Witteveen+Bos’s net result in 2024 was 23.3 million euros (2023: 18.3) with a net profit margin of 11.7 % (2023: 10.3 %). These positive results belie a slow start to 2024: until the summer, results were 0.5 million euros below budget. In the second half of the year, however, this deficit was more than made up for. Ultimately, our final result was 6.6 million euros above budget. Helping us reach this figure and tempering our initial caution were improving markets, declining sick leave, and fantastic employee growth of 8.8 %.
Wouter: ‘In times of success, it is always wise to ensure sufficient preparations are being made for future challenges. How, for example, should we approach the increasing uncertainty in global politics, continuing shortages in the labour market, or the absence of a solution to the nitrogen problem? And how can do this while also having the biggest possible impact on society? With these questions in mind, we reflected last year on the direction and actions we want to take in the future. We worked on refining our strategy to determine where we want to go and how our policies and governance structure can help us get there.’
Changes to board of directors
In 2024, Witteveen+Bos’s board of directors was formed by Wouter Bijman, Eveline Buter and Stephan van der Biezen. Members of the board of directors are required to step down after eight years. For this reason, Stephan van der Biezen formally left the board at the annual general meeting. He will continue working on projects at Witteveen+Bos, but he will also spend time in external advisory roles and in education. Eveline Buter also stepped down as director during the annual general meeting. She is going to seek a new professional direction outside the organisation. As a result, on 1 July 2025 she will leave the company following nineteen years at Witteveen+Bos.
Administrative changes
Besides changes to the board of directors, a broader administrative transition is underway at Witteveen+Bos. To effectively implement our strategy, the company’s executive committee will increase in size. Wouter Bijman remains our managing director. Maarten-Kees van Breukelen has been appointed director of operations, and Hannie Dierx will be our director of innovation and transformation. The four business line heads – Leonie Koops, Harry Mols, Edgar Rijsdijk and Marc Scheres – also join the executive committee. Finally, from 1 July Evelien Peeters will join the administrative team as director of Witteveen+Bos Belgium. This will result in an executive committee totalling eight members.
In recent years, Maarten-Kees van Breukelen was director of Witteveen+Bos Belgium. He will now head our departments to ensure that the company’s business operations and business lines become even better aligned. Hannie Dierx has previously been our head of office in The Hague. More recently, she was leader of the Environment and Health PMC. She will now oversee company-wide changes at Witteveen+Bos.
Wouter Bijman: ‘These changes represent quite a transition in the administrative structure of our company. By ensuring that decisions are widely supported in the organisation, we believe they will allow us to react and make decisions faster as an organisation. In the period ahead, we will all work together to successfully put our refined strategy into practice.’
In our 2024 annual report, we share our financial results, take you through a selection of our projects, introduce you to the people behind Witteveen+Bos, and share our vision for the years ahead.
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