WSP Global Inc. (TSX: WSP) ("WSP" or the “Corporation”) today
released the highlights of its 2022-2024 Global Strategic Action
Plan entitled Future Ready, which sets the stage for the next three
years of the Corporation’s evolution.
With the ambitions underpinning the
Corporation’s 2019-2021 Global Strategic Plan successfully
realized, WSP’s industry-leading platform is primed for growth with
the ability to capitalize on transformational market trends.
Building on this momentum, the Corporation has developed a
three-year global strategic action plan, while simultaneously
delineating an ambitious long-term vision for WSP.
“In 2019, we challenged ourselves to expand our
horizons, setting ambitious goals to push ourselves even further.
Since then, we have navigated through a period of extraordinary
changes, added new talent and depth to our organization, and now
have the most diversified platform in our industry with leading
positions in our core markets,” said Alexandre L’Heureux, President
and Chief Executive Officer of WSP. “Today, I am proud to unveil
our 2022-2024 Global Strategic Action Plan, designed to empower our
people to leverage a Future Ready® mindset in advising our clients,
stand proudly at the forefront of the world’s green transition, and
deliver industry-leading financial results. Through the forces that
drive us, namely ESG, Innovation and Technology, we will further
evolve our organization, reflecting the needs of both our
professionals and our clients, and creating a platform where our
insightful advice, cutting edge expertise, and smart designs
provide the highest standard of services to clients.”
LONG-TERM VISION
WSP’s long-term vision sets an ambitious
destination for WSP to become the undisputed leader in its
industry.
“Looking through the lens of our diverse
stakeholders and given that many of the world’s most compelling and
urgent global trends are well aligned with WSP’s strengths,
expertise, and service offerings, the long-term vision for our
organization became strikingly clear. We believe WSP is uniquely
positioned to create an enduring legacy of greater impact,” stated
L’Heureux.
The Corporation’s long-term vision has distinct
ambitions for WSP to act as a bold change agent for the clients and
communities it serves, raise up and empower the diversity of
communities, and attract the brightest minds to solve the most
complex challenges through exceptional service and the trust of our
clients.
“The journey to becoming the undisputed leader
in our industry puts us on a trajectory with aspirations to double
in size, achieve sustainable industry-leading organic growth, and
realize adjusted EBITDA margins above 20 percent. We cannot predict
with certainty when we will arrive at this ambitious destination,
but we know we will get there,” continued L’Heureux.
2022-2024 GLOBAL STRATEGIC ACTION
PLAN
WSP’s 2022-2024 Global Strategic Action Plan
will set the course for the continued evolution of the
Corporation’s foundational pillars (People & Culture, Clients,
Operational Excellence and Expertise) to support profitable growth,
drive technical excellence and innovation, and deliver exceptional
value to our clients.
LEADING BY EXAMPLE IN ESG
COMMITMENTS
Over the next three years, WSP intends to make
significant progress towards achieving its previously announced
science-based GHG emissions reduction targets, which will
contribute to the Corporation’s commitment to achieve net zero
emissions across its value chain by 2040. The Corporation will also
strive to grow its clean revenues to more than half of its business
and remain steadfast in its commitment to working safely and with
integrity.
“With our Future Ready® approach, we are more
committed than ever before to leading the world’s green transition.
Against this backdrop, we have given careful thought to who we are
as an organization and the role we play in creating a brighter
future. As we advance toward a more sustainable world, we recognize
that exiting certain sectors or industries might seem like the
right thing to do. However, leaving the field altogether will not
help us transition to a better future,” stated L’Heureux. “Real
change comes from assisting clients who share our goal of moving
swiftly towards an equitable, inclusive, and net zero world. To
that end, we will focus on projects that are consistent with that
journey, or more fundamentally, with what we stand for.”
PEOPLE & CULTURE: FOSTERING
INGENUITY
WSP’s success relies on the ingenuity and
expertise of its professionals. To that end, the Corporation is
committed to making significant efforts to provide its more than
55,000 people with a newly imagined best-in-class inclusive work
environment, aimed at empowering them to deliver on their full
potential. Additionally, WSP will provide an employee experience
that attracts and retains the best professionals and will seek and
promote talent through its commitment to broad recruitment and
development programs that address under-represented groups in the
industry.
EXPERTISE: LEADING THROUGH TECHNICAL
EXCELLENCE AND INNOVATION
The Corporation continues to be recognized as a
key player in the industry landscape, delivering some of the
largest, most complex, and transformative projects globally. Over
the next three years, the Corporation will seek to further leverage
its global presence and ability, market leadership and the breadth
of its expertise through accelerated organic growth and its proven
disciplined approach to acquisitions.
WSP aims to continue to drive growth and expand
in new areas by facilitating greater connections across borders and
harnessing the wide-ranging and diverse brainpower of WSP
professionals, while continuing to drive technical excellence in
every discipline. With the rapid advancement of technology, WSP
will also increase its focus on both the provision of digital
solutions for clients and advanced tools for employees.
Over the next three years, the Corporation
intends to capitalize on its strengths and further scale its
capabilities in its top three market sectors: Transportation &
Infrastructure, Earth & Environment and Property &
Buildings. In parallel, the Corporation plans to expand in key
services, sectors, and markets with significant growth
opportunities, such as consulting and digital advisory services,
water, power and renewable energy.
As a result of this continued diversification,
WSP’s industry-leading platform should be stronger, more balanced,
and resilient, ready to help its clients succeed in a changing
world.
CLIENTS: ELEVATING THE STANDARD IN
CLIENT EXPERIENCE
As market trends continue to shape the world of
tomorrow, the Corporation will continue to expand its discipline
through organic and acquisitive growth to bring WSP’s complete
technical, advisory, and digital capabilities to tackle its
clients’ needs. Additionally, the Future Ready® approach WSP has
honed over the past few years will continue to provide a
collaborative and forward-thinking model for innovative
problem-solving. By 2024, WSP aims to achieve over $10 billion in
net revenues.
OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE: DRIVING LEADING
PERFORMANCE AND EFFICIENCY THROUGH TRANSFORMATION
The Corporation’s acquisitive growth has
provided an opportunity to bring best practices from leading firms
to WSP. Over the next three years, the Corporation will work to
simplify and streamline systems and approaches, leveraging scale to
create commonality across the business and driving elevated client
delivery, a world-class employee experience, and greater
efficiency, enhanced by additional investments in digital tools and
solutions. By 2024, the Corporation aims to save more than one
million hours through simplification and achieve a 30-50 bps annual
increase in adjusted EBITDA margin.
FINANCIAL AMBITIONS
Through the ambitions set out in its 2022-2024
Global Strategic Action Plan, WSP aims to grow net revenues in
excess of 30%, adjusted EBITDA (1) by 40% and adjusted net earnings
per share(2) by 50% by 2024, bringing the Corporation one step
closer to its long-term vision.
WSP will measure its performance by targeting
the following metrics:
|
2022-2024 FINANCIAL AMBITIONS |
Net revenues
(3) |
>$10B |
Annual organic net
revenue growth |
>5% |
Adjusted EBITDA
margin
(2)
(3) |
17.5% to 18.5% |
Free cash flow
(1)/ net earnings attributable to
shareholders of WSP |
>100% |
Net Debt to adjusted
EBITDA ratio |
1.0x to 2.0x |
Adjusted EBITDA of $1.3B in 2021 and $1.1 B in
2020; and earnings before net financing expense and income taxes of
$724.6M in 2021. Free cash flow of $646.1M in 2021 and $735.3M in
2020; and cash flow from operating activities of $1.1B in 2021.
These financial ambitions, provided on March 9,
2022, as part of the presentation of the 2022-2024 Global Strategic
Action Plan, are meant to assist analysts and shareholders in
formalizing their respective views on the Corporation’s strategy.
The reader is cautioned that using this information for other
purposes may be inappropriate. These measures are subject to
change. The target ranges presented above were prepared assuming no
fluctuations in foreign exchange rate in markets in which the
Corporation operates. The Corporation considered numerous economic
and market assumptions regarding the competition, political
environment, and economic performance of each region where it
operates. In preparing its 2022-2024 Global Strategic Action Plan
forecast, the Corporation also assumed that economic factors and
market competition in regions where it operates would remain
stable.
(1) |
Non-IFRS financial measure without a standardized definition under
IFRS, which may not be comparable to similar measures used by other
issuers. This press release incorporates by reference section 22,
“Glossary of segment reporting, non-IFRS and other financial
measures”, of WSP’s Management's Discussion and Analysis
(“MD&A”) for the year ended December 31, 2021, which is
filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, which includes explanations of the
composition and usefulness of adjusted EBTIDA and free cash flow,
as well as section 8.3, "Adjusted EBITDA" and section 9.1,
“Operating activities and free cash flow” for quantitative
reconciliation of these historical non-IFRS financial measures to
the most directly comparable IFRS measures. |
(2) |
Non-IFRS ratios that are
forward-looking, without a standardized definition under IFRS,
which may not be comparable to similar ratios used by other
issuers. This press release incorporates by reference section 22,
“Glossary of segment reporting, non-IFRS and other financial
measures”, of WSP’s MD&A for the year ended December 31,
2021, which is filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, which includes
explanations of the composition and usefulness of these non-IFRS
ratios. Adjusted EBITDA margin is defined as adjusted EBITDA
expressed as a percentage of net revenues. Adjusted net earnings
per share is the ratio of adjusted net earnings divided by the
basic weighted average number of shares outstanding for the
period. |
(3) |
By 2024 |
WEBCASTA webcast will be held
on March 10, 2022, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (Eastern Time) to
discuss the 2022-2024 Global Strategic Action Plan. This event will
include insights from several key leaders from WSP, including
regional and corporate executives. To participate in the event,
register by accessing www.wsp.com/investors. The webcast and
slideshow presentation will also be archived on WSP’s website at
wsp.com under the Investors section.
NON IFRS MEASURESThe
Corporation reports its financial results in accordance with IFRS.
WSP uses a number of financial measures when assessing its results
and measuring overall performance. Some of these financial measures
are not calculated in accordance with IFRS. Regulation 52-112
respecting Non-IFRS, and Other Financial Measures Disclosure
(“Regulation 52-112”) prescribes disclosure requirements that apply
to the following types of measures used by the Corporation: (i)
non-IFRS financial measures; (ii) non-IFRS ratios; (iii) total of
segments measures; (iv) capital management measures; and (v)
supplemental financial measures.
In this press release, the following non-IFRS
and other financial measures are used by the Corporation: net
revenues; adjusted EBITDA; adjusted EBITDA margin; adjusted net
earnings; adjusted net earnings per share; free cash flow; and net
debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio. Additional details for these
non-IFRS and additional financial measures can be found in section
22, “Glossary of segment reporting, non-IFRS and other financial
measures” of WSP’s MD&A for the year ended December 31,
2021, which is posted on WSP’s website at www.wsp.com, and filed on
SEDAR at www.sedar.com.
Management believes that these non-IFRS measures
provide useful information to investors regarding the Corporation’s
financial condition and results of operations as they provide key
metrics of its performance. These non-IFRS measures are not
recognized under IFRS, do not have any standardized meanings
prescribed under IFRS and may differ from similar computations as
reported by other issuers, and accordingly may not be comparable.
These measures should not be viewed as a substitute for the related
financial information prepared in accordance with IFRS.
FORWARD-LOOKING
STATEMENTSCertain information regarding WSP contained
herein may constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking
statements may include estimates, plans, strategic ambitions,
objectives, expectations, opinions, forecasts, projections,
guidance, outlook, or other statements that are not statements of
fact. Forward-looking statements made by the Corporation in this
press release include statements about our proposed strategy, and
our operating performance, financial outlook, and prospects. These
forward-looking statements are based on a number of assumptions
believed by the Corporation to be reasonable as at March 9,
2022, including assumptions about general economic and political
conditions; the state of the global economy and the economies of
the regions in which the Corporation operates including the impact
of inflation and Increasing interest rates; the state of and access
to global and local capital and credit markets; the anticipated
impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Corporation’s businesses,
operating results, cash flows and/or financial condition, including
the effect of measures implemented as a result of the COVID-19
pandemic; the expected benefits of the Golder Acquisition and other
acquisitions, and the expected synergies to be realized as a result
thereof.
Although WSP believes that the expectations
reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can
give no assurance that such expectations will prove to have been
correct. These statements are subject to certain risks and
uncertainties and may be based on assumptions that could cause
actual results to differ materially from those anticipated or
implied in the forward-looking statements, including risks relating
to the COVID-19 pandemic. WSP's forward-looking statements are
expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.
The complete version of the cautionary note regarding risk factors,
which, if realized, could cause the Corporation's actual results to
differ materially from those expressed or implied in
forward-looking statements, are included in WSP's MD&A for the
year ended December 31, 2021, which is available on SEDAR at
www.sedar.com. The forward-looking statements contained in this
press release are made as of the date hereof and WSP does not
assume any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking
statements, whether as a result of new information, future events
or otherwise unless expressly required by applicable securities
laws.
ABOUT WSPAs one of the world’s leading
professional services firms, WSP provides strategic advisory,
engineering and design services to clients in the Transportation
& Infrastructure, Earth & Environment, Property &
Buildings, Power & Energy, Resources, and Industry sectors.
WSP's global experts include advisors, engineers, environmental
specialists, scientists, technicians, architects and planners, in
addition to other design and program management professionals. Our
talented people are well positioned to deliver successful and
sustainable projects, wherever our clients need us. wsp.com.
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, PLEASE
CONTACT:Alain MichaudChief Financial OfficerWSP Global
Inc.alain.michaud@wsp.com Phone: 438-843-7317
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