Annual Reports

2009 was an important and milestone year for Hertel in a number of respects. First, we continued with our growth strategy, welcoming new companies, expanding to new geographic areas and adding services and capabilities in existing countries.

Second, 2009 was the first full year of the new top management structure, with the new Management Board effective from January. The structure has proven to work well, with the broader top level having direct responsible for operations over wide area. In addition, the representation of all of the geographic areas and businesses at the top level has further increased cross-border collaboration, winning a number of key contracts by leveraging the capabilities of the different regions.

Third, we came to the end of one journey and set about planning the next, as we came to the fulfilment of our four-year strategy and worked intensively on the strategy for the coming years. A great deal of involvement was experienced throughout the organisation, defining how continue to grow the company in a way that serves our customers, shareholders and our people best.

Continuing our growth in terms of colleagues, Hertel was strengthened by a further 2,000 people over the year. Growth of this magnitude does not come easily, and it is testament to the skill, management, agility and culture of our company that we are able to manage such growth. As well as growing in numbers, we also grew in terms of knowledge and technical skills, training record numbers of professionals worldwide.

As anticipated in 2008, this year was the year that our industry was affected by the global economic crisis. By following a strategy to build a balanced and sustainable business, we achieved a total revenue of €759m. The small variation from the previous year is testament to our efforts in establishing a balanced geographic spread, with the strong performance in the emerging markets stabilising the affect of the tough conditions in our established markets.

Executive Board
Hertel
Rotterdam, May 2010