Her Royal Highness the Queen of the Netherlands has granted Imtech N.V. the right to use the designation ‘Royal’. The special predicate was awarded by Mr. Jan Franssen, Queen’s Commissioner in the Provence of South Holland, in the presence of Mr. Ahmed Aboutaleb, Mayor of Rotterdam.
The designation ‘Royal’ is a distinction that can be granted to associations, foundations, institutions and major firms. The designation ‘Royal’ was conferred for the first time in 1806 by King Louis Napoleon on what was then known as the Staatsdrukkerij (State Printing House) and the Netherlands Navy.
To become eligible for the designation, a company needs to be at least 100 years old, to be distinguished in terms of its nature, size and reliability, and to occupy a dominant or highly prominent position in the Netherlands in its sector – and preferably be of international stature. The size of the company and its workforce and its revenue are all taken into account. Its operational management needs to be beyond reproach. The company, its board members and members of its supervisory board need to be of high repute and irreproachable conduct. The Queen herself is the only formal institute authorised to confer the designation. The designation is strictly limited to the organisation in question, entitling it to add the Predicate ‘Royal’ to its name and include the Royal Crown in its logo. Generally speaking, the Queen confers this designation on only one organisation in each sector.
Becoming Imtech
In 2010, it was exactly 150 years ago that Jan Jacob van Rietschoten put his career as sea captain in the long-haul shipping trade behind him and started working as an independent stevedore in Rotterdam in 1860. He was one of the first people in Europe to use steam power for loading and unloading ships. This formed the start of Van Rietschoten & Houwens, and this, in turn, formed the basis of Imtech today. The company worked on the first electric railway (1888), the first basic automation on board ships (1930), the invention of energy-saving cogeneration technology (combined heat-power solutions) coupling and decentralised power plants (1935), through to the present-day ‘green’ buildings, data centres, ships and high-tech power plants.
In 1967, Van Rietschoten & Houwens was acquired by Internatio. The merger between Internatio (established in 1863) and Müller (established in 1878) in 1970 was followed by a series of acquisitions, leading to a conglomerate of more than 100 companies called Internatio-Müller Techniek, or Imtech. In 2000 the non-technological activities were disposed of to concentrate fully on technology. Internatio-Müller became Imtech in 2001 and was quoted on the Euronext stock exchange in Amsterdam.
Imtech Today
Imtech has grown from 7,000 employees (and revenue of 350 million euro) in 1993 to a workforce of 27,000 (and revenue of over 4.5 billion euro) today. This makes Imtech one of the largest companies in the Netherlands. Imtech is currently characterised by strong market positions in North-western Europe and in the global marine market. Imtech offers a comprehensive range of technical services to over 21,000 customers. Imtech is a leading company in the field of ‘green’ technology, with over 25% of its total revenue relating to sustainable technology solutions.
Picture: https://imtech.eu/NL/corporate/Newsroom/Press-releases/2011/Imtech-receives-the-designation-Royal-%28Royal-Imtech%29.html?highlight=[Imtech]
