Engineering consultancy Movares can look back on a good year. Movares Nederland and Movares Deutschland have done particularly well, while 2009 was a difficult year for Movares Polska. The Movares Group operating result was € 9.2 million on a turnover of € 166.5 million, with net profits of € 3.8 million. The credit crunch has had little effect on the company so far, as there have been no cutbacks in the markets where it operates.

Broadening the customer base is high on Movares’ list of priorities. The company is achieving this by broadening its field of activities and through a regionalization policy. Over the past year, Movares has gradually expanded its activities in the fields of water management, power and light rail. Regionalization took the form of new offices at prime locations in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Arnhem and Eindhoven. However, Movares remains a relatively specialized company, focusing on mobility, quality of life, public transport and infrastructure.

Movares Nederland
The credit crunch had little effect on Movares during 2009. Movares Nederland consists of three divisions: Rail, Infrastructure and Mobility & Spatial Planning. The Rail Division did very well in 2009, acquiring a number of strategic contracts: the Hanzelijn, the Merwede-Lingelijn, the Schiphol Amsterdam Almere Lelystad corridor (SAAL) and Maasvlakte 2. The volume of work in the light rail sector increased by 67% over 2008 levels.

The Infrastructure Division concentrates on non-railway infrastructure. Rijkswaterstaat, the Dutch Directorate-General of Public Works and Water Management, is a major customer. Work for Rijkswaterstaat included a programme of structure inspections. Other contracts included designing the Rotterdamsebaan motorway connection for the city council of The Hague and building the Maasbracht and Massvlakte substations for power supplier TenneT.

The Mobility & Spatial Planning Division focuses on sustainable mobility issues and on property and area development. The division is also making a significant contribution to the regionalization process.

Sustainability and innovation
As in previous years, Movares won a number of awards. These included an honourable mention in connection with the Erasmus Innovation Award and the AWVN Award for the fourth quarter. It was interesting to note that almost all these prizes were related to the combination of sustainability and technical and social innovation. Movares has made major investments in these fields over the past year.

Movares International
After two good years, Movares Polska faced a rapidly deteriorating market. As a result, 2009 ended with a loss. This was due to internal problems at Polish infrastructure manager PLK, our most important customer. There was some good news, however: at the end of 2009, Movares Polska won the Balice contract. This is a major project, involving construction of a rail link between Katowice Airport and the city. The order books were full at the beginning of 2010, giving every reason for confidence.

Movares Deutschland specializes in safety analyses, creating added value for its customers by applying high-quality expertise in specialized areas. This approach resulted in a good year for the company.