Earlier this year, SGS announced its Strategy 27: Accelerating growth, building trust
I am very excited about this new chapter, which will guarantee that SGS remains the point of reference when you need to be sure. The testing, inspection and certification industry has significant growth potential, and we are uniquely positioned to capture this opportunity.
We belong to the gold standard solutions providers in the industry with over 145 years of established history and experience. We will keep our ambition to remain at the forefront of the megatrends driving our markets. These are focused on powerful sustainability transition, ongoing innovation in digital capabilities and new technologies, ever-growing supply chain complexity and increasing regulation and public awareness.
To fulfill this ambition, the Board of Directors is delighted to welcome Géraldine Picaud to the helm of our Group. She is an inspiring leader bringing the right blend of strategic vision and operational execution skills to SGS. As our next CEO, she has the Board’s full confidence in driving our upcoming phase of growth and profitability. I take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to Frankie Ng for his leadership over the past nine years. It is thanks to his vision that SGS has become the world’s undisputed leader in testing, inspection and certification.
I am proud of our roadmap (see page 48 for details) that we have set for the next four years. Our financial targets provide a foundation to clearly outperform the industry growth and our sustainability targets positively underline the contribution of SGS to a better society.
Our customers and our people are at the core of these objectives. Every day, our employees strive to provide better services to our customers. They lead the way in bringing highly innovative testing, inspection and certification solutions to market. We will continue to embed agility and performance in our culture, our actions and our decisions to make sure that this momentum continues unabated. By maintaining highly trained, passionate and committed employees, we will continue to drive a thriving and sustainable business that provides real value to all stakeholders.
In 2023 SGS delivered sales of CHF 6.6 billion, strong organic growth of 8.1% and a significant increase in free cash flow. I am proud of how our teams have navigated the ever-increasing complexity of the world we live in and managed to turn challenges into opportunities.
Finally, my sincere thanks and gratitude to all our employees, to my fellow members of the Board of Directors, the Executive Committee and to you, our Shareholders, for your trust and continuing support.
This is a very exciting journey: together, guided by our promise 'when you need to be sure', we will accelerate growth and build trust.
Calvin Grieder
Chairman of the Board