Imtech

Imtech is independent and a powerful specialist in total technical solutions in Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, the United Kingdom and Spain. We are specialised in a unique combination of electrical and mechanical engineering with control of all underlying technical competences. Furthermore we offer a broad mix of international ICT & Technology activities: high-grade information & communication technology, telecoms solutions, maritime technology and board automation as well as advanced systems technology. These are activities that add a high added value to the primary processes of clients. Long-term partnerships with both customers and suppliers are part of this added value.

Measurable added value for our customers produces value for our shareholders and provides an exciting and high-quality working environment for our employees.

History
Imtech’s history goes back to 1863, the year when various companies that are now integrated into Imtech were founded (for example, Van Rietschoten and Houwens and Rud. Otto Meyer). Imtech itself was established in 1993 from a combination of 35 different technical companies. All of these companies were part of the Internatio-Müller conglomerate, established in 1970 after the merger of the Internatio (1863) and Müller (1878) trading and shipping companies. In 1993, the then Internatio-Müller Board of Management decided that the conglomerate’s activities required more synergy. It therefore elected to combine the 35 technical companies in the conglomerate, which at the time had a combined turnover of around 300 million euros. Instead of providing monodisciplinary technical services, Imtech began focusing on multidisciplinary technical services in several product-market combinations. That was a radical process, which took a lot of time and had to be implemented step-by-step. That meant that companies with their own name and organisational structure were brought together in multifunctional clusters, and literally thousands of employees were given new positions within the organisation. From 1998 onward, the name Imtech - that had been used just internally since 1993 - was presented to the outside world. A new technical service provider of stature had arrived. After all, Imtech can provide its customers with measurable added value by offering high-quality total solutions. Imtech distinguishes itself by its pro-active, innovative and multidisciplinary approach from one point of contact, ranging from advice and design to realisation, maintenance and management. At the time, Imtech was years ahead of its competitors, who were still focusing on monodisciplinary activities.

Fast growth
Since the introduction of the name Imtech, the company’s activities have grown rapidly. Imtech’s autonomous growth was linked to a series of successful takeovers. The most recent takeovers include Turnkiek, Rud. Otto Meijer, PAC, Novocalor, Datelnet, Rheinelektra Technik, EIA and the Meica Group. Imtech is one of the fastest growing technical service providers in Europe. Its average growth of turnover on a comparable basis in the period from 1996 to 2002 was 22 percent per annum, of which 6 percent was autonomous. During that period, the average growth of the result (EBITA) on a comparable basis was 19 percent per annum. This growth was one of the reasons why the Internatio-Müller conglomerate decided to opt for just one core activity in 2000 - that is, Imtech. As a result, all activities not belonging to the conglomerate’s core activities (pharmacy, harbours, technical trade and chemical distribution) were sold. A total of over 1.3 billion euros in turnover was deconsolidated. In October 2001, the name Internatio-Müller N.V. was changed to Imtech N.V. This signalled the formal completion of the transformation process. Now Imtech aims to become one of the larger technical service providers in Europe - helped by the proceeds from the non-core activities that it sold off.

Imtech is ambitious for the future. The goal is a growth of the turnover in the next five years of up to 3 billion euro with an increasing EBITA margin.

Profile
Imtech N.V. is a European technical service provider in the field of electrical engineering, information and communication technology, and mechanical engineering, and is active in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom and Spain. Its activities are distributed over a number of market segments: buildings, industry, maritime, infra and telecom. Imtech is (financially) powerful, reliable and independent. Imtech is customer-oriented and has the capacity to provide its customers with measurable added value by offering high-quality total solutions. Imtech distinguishes itself by its pro-active, innovative and multidisciplinary approach from a single point of contact, from advice and design to realisation, maintenance and management. For every conceivable kind of project - large or small, at local, regional, national or European level. With its 13,000 employees, Imtech realises an annual turnover of over 2 billion euros. Imtech’s shares are listed on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange (Euronext), where Imtech is included in the Midkap Index (AMX) and the Next 150 index.

Strategy
Imtech supplies a cohesive package of technical services which combine three technologies (information and communication technology, electrical engineering and mechanical engineering) and five activities (advice, design, installation, maintenance and management) and are offered in five markets (buildings, industry, infrastructure, marine and telecoms).
This combination of services, coupled with the size the company has achieved, distinguishes Imtech from the competition and gives it a unique profile. The activities are divided into three clusters:

- multidisciplinary technical solutions in the Benelux;
- multidisciplinary technical solutions in Germany, England and Spain:
- ICT & Technology solutions within and outside Europe.

The technical services market is a fragmented market in which many competitors are active in one single technology. Imtech can offer total solutions via one contact point. Imtech achieves added-value by possessing an in-depth insight into and knowledge of (the primary processes) of the customer, by co-operating intensively with and for the customer and by offering a complete, integrated range of concepts and services. This allows customers to concentrate more on their own core activities. Imtech strives for long-term partnerships with both customers and suppliers. In addition, Imtech is (financially) powerful, reliable and independent.

The building-up and strengthening of Imtech’s position as a multidisciplinary service provider was prompted by the trend among customers to out-source non core activities, such as engineering and maintenance, preferably to large, multidisciplinary players with one contact point. In response to this trend Imtech’s activities in the field of electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and ICT were clustered and offered to the market as an integrated whole. This multidisciplinary offering of technical solutions enabled Imtech to meet the growing demand and
increase added-value substantially. The most important strategic success factors are:

* offering customers the combination of information and communication technology, electrical engineering and mechanical engineering via a single contact point;
* effective cross selling between these technologies;
* covering of the entire service provision column throughout the life-cycle of specific products or services in the markets and countries relevant for Imtech;
* taking responsibility for all non strategic technical affairs for customers so that they can concentrate more on their own core activities;
* taking initiatives that lead to early involvement in projects so that Imtech can demonstrate its added-value;
* achieving leadership through the creation of scale combined with strong positions (top-3 market positions) and outstanding technological innovation;
* co-operation with third parties by entering strategic alliances and partnership relationships with suppliers of specific technological products;
* a decentralised, customer-oriented organisation in which the ‘entrepreneurship’phenomenon is well developed and overheads are relatively low.

Action points for implementing the strategy are:

* acquisitions in the field of ICT;
* extending the position in Spain to through acquisitions in the field of electrical engineering and ICT;
* expanding activities in the new European Community countries from existing market positions;
* further strengthening of the position in England;
* reinforcement in a number of specific markets, such as the infrastructure, industrial and marine
markets and the parking segment.

In addition, Imtech is striving for a further strengthening of its design, advisory (for example consultancy and engineering) and technical maintenance and management activities. Imtech has sufficient means to finance complementary acquisitions for the majority of these strategic trajectories. Acquisitions must fit in with the strategy, make an immediate contribution towards earnings per share, provide measurable added-value, possess a capable management and offer possibilities for synergy.

www.imtech.nl