Good day, everyone, and welcome to the 2020 Annual Shareholder Meeting of WSP Global Inc. For the first time in the company's history, we will be holding this meeting virtually. The decision to hold a virtual meeting was made in an effort to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and to prioritize and support the well-being of all our shareholders, employees, and other meeting attendees in line with public authority recommendations. I wish to thank you all for joining us here today and adapting to this new format. Hosting our Annual Shareholder Meeting virtually allows us to give an equal opportunity to all our shareholders to participate in the meeting regardless of their geographic location. Joining me on the webcast today are Pierre Shoiry, Vice Chairman of the Board of WSP, Alexandre L'Heureux, President and CEO of WSP, and Philippe Fortier, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary of WSP.
Also joining us virtually today are the other board members of WSP, all of which are nominee directors for this Annual Shareholder Meeting. They are Louis-Philippe Carrière, Linda Smith-Galipeau, Birgit Nørgaard, Suzanne Rancourt, and Paul Raymond. As this is the first time we are holding a virtual meeting, I would like to provide you with some general remarks on the conduct of this meeting. Please note that we have until 12:00 P.M. Eastern Time to conclude all matters intended to be covered at this meeting. During such time, we will first hold the formal part of the meeting, followed by a brief presentation by Alexandre, and we will conclude with a question period.
Should we encounter any technical issue and we are unable to proceed with the meeting, please be advised that the notice of the Annual Shareholder Meeting has been properly sent to shareholders, a quorum is present, all matters to be voted upon shall be deemed to have been properly put before the meeting, and the meeting will be adjourned. If we adjourn the meeting before the polls are closed, we will keep the web portal open until 12:00 P.M. today to receive votes to the extent it is possible.
The meeting agenda contains five matters to be voted on during the business part of the meeting, and they are as follows: one, presentation of the audited consolidated financial statements of WSP for the year ending December the 31st, 2019, and the independent auditor's report thereon, two, election of each of the nominee directors who will serve until the end of the next Annual General Meeting of the shareholders or until their successors are appointed, three, appointment of the independent auditor of WSP for the forthcoming year and the authorization to the directors to fix the independent auditor's remuneration, four, consideration and approval in a non-binding advisory capacity of the approach to executive compensation policies, and five, consideration of such other business, if any, that may properly come before the meeting.
Please note that you will be able to vote on each matter throughout the formal part of the meeting by casting your vote on the right-hand side of your screen. After we conclude the formal meeting to be conducted, sorry, after we conclude the formal business to be conducted at the meeting, we will close the polls. Shareholders can submit their questions at any time during the meeting by entering them in the question box on the bottom left-hand side of the screen. When you are entering your question, please remember to enter your first name and last name. Questions pertaining to the business conducted at the meeting will be read aloud at the end of such formal part. All other general questions will be addressed during the question period. If we receive similar questions through the web portal, we will combine them into one question.
Shareholders and duly appointed proxy holders will also have the opportunity to ask their questions verbally by dialing in the number appearing on the left side of your screen above the question box. The line operator will cue in the questions and open the line at the appropriate time during the question period. As always, the meeting will be conducted in both English and French. Consequently, questions can be submitted in either language. Any questions that we do not get to during the time available will be addressed on our company website under the 2020 Annual Meeting of Shareholders page found in the investor section. Please note that during this meeting, we may be making some forward-looking statements and the actual results could be different from those expressed or implied, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise any of these forward-looking statements.
To hold the formal part of this meeting in French, I have asked Pierre Shoiry to chair that part of the Annual Shareholder Meeting. But before I hand over to Pierre, please allow me to make a few remarks. The world has changed in the last couple of months. Every day, this ongoing COVID-19 crisis brings a different set of challenges, considerations, and a swirl of new what-ifs about what our world will look like tomorrow, next week, next month, next year. As a global community, we have all been impacted by this health crisis. And before I go any further, on behalf of WSP, I would like to thank our healthcare professionals and other vital frontline key workers who are working so tirelessly to keep us safe and healthy and for their extraordinary courage.
From the onset of this crisis and as it continues to evolve, our top priority is ensuring the health, safety, and well-being of our employees. During my 40-plus years' career in this industry and in watching WSP evolve through the generations, I have seen my share of disturbances that have impacted our industry, business, and economies. However, this is different. It is different with the uncertain dynamics presented by the current situation. In most of WSP's major hubs, many of our services and many of our projects are considered essential. In addition, drawing on our vast range of experience, our experts are being mobilized to help our clients and communities respond to the unique challenges posed by this epidemic, to which Alex will provide some additional color a little later.
On behalf of the board, I would like to thank our people for continuing to fulfill WSP's role and purpose during these unparalleled times while juggling complex demands in both their professional and personal lives. Whether they are working remotely or continue to work on-site, our professionals have remained focused on providing excellent client care with compassion to the benefit of the communities in which we operate. I would also like to thank our management for distinguishing themselves as they work through this fast-evolving crisis. Given the breadth and scale of WSP's diversified business model, there are a multitude of different realities to navigate geographically and operationally, which in themselves provide our resilience and opportunities. WSP entered this crisis in a strong position, and with Alex and his management team, we have the leadership needed to come out of this pandemic on the other side an equally strong organization.
The people and leadership of this company have made WSP into a global leader it is today. Following the presentation of our 2019-2021 Global Strategic Plan back in January 2019, we successfully continued to strengthen our organization across all our foundational pillars in view of attaining our ambitious objectives. If you haven't done so already, please do read our 2019 Annual Report, which demonstrates the fortitude of our client relationships and local knowledge through the featured projects, how the company ranks favorably in our industry, and how we advance several of our leading initiatives, such as our sustainability agenda, which is now more relevant than ever. For example, last April, WSP committed to supporting the United Nations Global Compact, a voluntary initiative to promote sustainable development and good corporate citizenship.
We also strengthened our sustainability governance at the board level in 2019 and remain committed to our non-financial objectives to ensure that WSP operates in harmony with sustainability principles. Our continuing mindfulness of these issues and efforts to strengthen the organization in these ways create value for all stakeholders, as well as trust in our accountability. While we recognize the challenging conditions in the world today and the uncertainty that lies ahead that may impact our strategic ambitions, we are pleased that our business continues to perform well during the first quarter of the year, as can be seen from the results that we released yesterday. This is directly attributable to the resilience we have built over the years as a diversified international consultancy, providing a full range of professional services to a wide varying range of clients.
Moreover, the board is proud to govern a company that continually strives to remain professionally alert, flexible, and prepared for changes as they arise. It remains committed to providing shareholder value and achieving this with high standards of corporate governance practices in an ethical, sustainable, and safe working environment. It exemplifies its guiding principles underlying the pillars of the strategic plan that I've referred to earlier. Before I turn now to Pierre for the formal part of this meeting, I would like to thank him and the other board members for their continued support and dedication to WSP during these complex times. I would like to reiterate our thanks to the leadership team and all our employees around the world for their resilience and steadfast devotion to the work that they do to shape the collective future of our clients and communities, which at this time is truly evolving.
And finally, to our loyal shareholders, thank you for your trust. Your confidence and vital support during this time provides a solid base from which WSP will persevere and grow. Thank you very much, and now to you, Pierre.
Thank you, Chris. Bonjour, Mesdames et Messieurs. L'assemblée annuelle des actionnaires de WSP est maintenant ouverte et, à la demande du président du conseil, j'agirai à titre de président de la partie formelle de cette assemblée. Philippe Fortier, chef des affaires juridiques et secrétaire corporatif de WSP, agira quant à lui à titre de secrétaire de l'assemblée et il s'assurera que les procédures soient convenablement suivies et documentées. Nous allons maintenant passer aux procédures de l'assemblée. Pour votre information, Messieurs Chris Voutinas et Alex Cao, représentants de la société Broadridge Financial Solutions, agiront à titre de scrutateurs pour les fins de cette assemblée virtuelle.
Leur rôle est de procéder au dépouillement des votes reçus par procuration et ceux exprimés durant la présente assemblée. Je demanderai maintenant à Philippe Fortier, secrétaire de cette assemblée, de nous confirmer si toutes les procédures requises ont été suivies pour déclarer cette assemblée dûment constituée afin de traiter de toutes les affaires pour lesquelles elle a été convoquée. Merci, Pierre. J'ai reçu une confirmation des scrutateurs qu'ils ont envoyée à tous les actionnaires habiles à les recevoir en date du 25 mars, soit la date de référence, une copie de l'avis de convocation à l'assemblée annuelle des actionnaires et de disponibilité des documents de procuration et du formulaire de procuration.
Les états financiers consolidés audités de WSP pour l'exercice clos le 31 décembre 2019 ont été envoyés aux propriétaires véritables d'actions ordinaires qui en ont fait la demande expresse et ont été mis à la disposition de tous les actionnaires via SEDAR et via notre site web. L'avis de convocation contient les renseignements sur la façon de se procurer en ligne la circulaire de sollicitation de procuration et les documents relatifs à l'assemblée, incluant, tel que mentionné précédemment, les états financiers consolidés audités de WSP pour l'exercice clos le 31 décembre 2019, ainsi que la manière d'en demander un exemplaire imprimé conformément aux procédures de notification et d'accès permises par les autorités canadiennes en valeurs mobilières.
Vous pouvez accéder à l'avis de convocation et à la circulaire de sollicitation de procuration relative à cette assemblée, ainsi qu'au rapport annuel de WSP pour l'exercice clos le 31 décembre 2019, en cliquant sur le lien du document situé en bas à droite de votre écran. De plus, une copie de tous ces documents, de même que l'affidavit confirmant l'envoi aux actionnaires, sera conservée dans les registres de WSP. Les scrutateurs ont également la liste des actionnaires de la société en date du 25 mars, soit la date de référence servant à déterminer les actionnaires habiles à voter à l'assemblée. Les actionnaires qui le souhaitent peuvent prendre connaissance de la liste lors de l'assemblée en nous envoyant un courriel à l'adresse électronique corporatecommunications@wsp.com, qui apparaît également dans la présentation défilant présentement à la droite de votre écran.
Avant le commencement de l'assemblée virtuelle, les scrutateurs m'ont informé du nombre d'inscriptions d'actionnaires et de procurations reçues, et sur cette base, je confirme qu'il y a quorum pour l'assemblée. Le rapport des scrutateurs sera également versé au procès-verbal de l'assemblée aujourd'hui. En conséquence, je déclare que cette assemblée a été régulièrement convoquée et est dûment constituée afin de traiter de toutes les affaires pour lesquelles elle a été convoquée. Merci, Philippe. Je vais maintenant déposer les états financiers annuels consolidés audités de WSP pour l'exercice clos le 31 décembre 2019. Ces états financiers sont accompagnés du rapport de l'auditeur indépendant. Un exemplaire du rapport annuel 2019 a été envoyé aux actionnaires qui l'ont demandé.
Comme vous avez eu l'occasion d'en prendre connaissance, je demanderai au secrétaire de joindre au procès-verbal de cette assemblée le rapport annuel incluant les états financiers consolidés audités pour l'exercice clos le 31 décembre 2019, ainsi que le rapport de l'auditeur indépendant s'y rapportant. Avant de procéder à l'adoption des résolutions, j'aimerais commenter brièvement sur la procédure de vote. Chacune des actions confère à l'actionnaire une voix à l'égard de toutes les questions devant être débattues à l'assemblée. Le résultat des points devant être soumis au vote sera déterminé par la majorité des voix exprimées à l'assemblée par procuration ou durant l'assemblée par les actionnaires. Comme l'avis de convocation à l'assemblée l'indiquait, la date limite pour soumettre les procurations était le 5 mai 2020 à 17 h.
Les scrutateurs m'ont informé que, sur la base des procurations reçues avant l'assemblée, au moins 80.79% des actions permettant de voter à l'assemblée seront votées aujourd'hui. La majorité le seront en faveur de chacun des points soumis au vote. Afin de simplifier et d'accélérer les procédures au cours de la réunion, nous avons demandé à deux actionnaires participant à notre webdiffusion de présenter et d'appuyer chacune des propositions aujourd'hui. Passons à l'élection des administrateurs. Le conseil a fixé à huit le nombre d'administrateurs devant être élus à l'assemblée. Tous les membres actuels du conseil préalablement présentés se portent de nouveaux candidats au poste d'administrateur. Le parcours de chacun des candidats est décrit plus en détail dans la circulaire de sollicitation de procuration, laquelle contient une liste de huit candidats à l'élection au poste d'administrateur.
Ces candidats sont Louis-Philippe Carrière, Christopher Cole, Alexandre L'Heureux, Birgit Nørgaard, Suzanne Rancourt, Paul Raymond, Linda Smith-Galipeau et moi-même, Pierre Shoiry. Quentin Weber, un actionnaire de la société, est disposé à proposer la candidature de ces personnes à l'élection au poste d'administrateur de la société. Merci, M. Shoiry. Mon nom est Quentin Weber et je suis un actionnaire de la société. Par la présente, je propose la candidature de Louis-Philippe Carrière, Christopher Cole, Alexandre L'Heureux, Birgit Nørgaard, Suzanne Rancourt, Paul Raymond, Linda Smith-Galipeau et Pierre Shoiry comme administrateurs de la société. Merci, Quentin. Joëlle El-Feghali, une actionnaire de la société, est disposée à appuyer la proposition. Merci, M. Shoiry. Joëlle El-Feghali, actionnaire de la société, j'appuie la proposition. Je déclare maintenant la période de mise en candidature close.
Je confirme que chacune des personnes mises en candidature a confirmé être prête à siéger au conseil d'administration et que chacune de ces personnes est admissible à titre d'administrateur en vertu des dispositions de la Loi canadienne sur les sociétés par actions. La proposition ayant été dûment faite et appuyée, nous procéderons donc maintenant à un vote pour chacun des candidats. Tout actionnaire inscrit ou fondé de pouvoir n'ayant pas encore voté par procuration ou qui désire maintenant changer son instruction de vote peut le faire à travers la plateforme virtuelle en sélectionnant son choix à la droite de son écran. Les actionnaires ayant déjà voté et qui ne désirent pas changer leur instruction de vote doivent simplement attendre la fin de la période de vote actuelle. Nous prendrons une pause de quelques secondes pour vous laisser le temps de voter. Merci d'avoir voté.
En me basant sur les votes préliminaires, je déclare la proposition adoptée et chacun des administrateurs dûment élus jusqu'à la prochaine assemblée annuelle ou jusqu'à l'élection de son remplaçant. La seconde résolution concerne la nomination de l'auditeur indépendant pour l'exercice financier en cours et l'autorisation accordée au conseil d'administration de WSP d'établir sa rémunération. La direction et le conseil d'administration de WSP jusqu'à la prochaine assemblée annuelle. Quentin Weber, actionnaire de la société, est disposé à faire la proposition nécessitant activement la nomination de PricewaterhouseCoopers. Merci, M. Shoiry. Mon nom est Quentin Weber, et je suis un actionnaire de la société. Par la présente, je propose que PricewaterhouseCoopers soit nommé comme auditeur indépendant de WSP jusqu'à la prochaine assemblée annuelle et que le conseil d'administration de WSP soit autorisé à établir sa rémunération. Merci, Quentin.
Joëlle El-Feghali, une actionnaire de la société, est disposée à appuyer la proposition. Merci, M. Shoiry. Joëlle El-Feghali, actionnaire de la société, j'appuie la proposition. Merci, Joëlle. La proposition ayant été dûment faite et appuyée, nous procéderons donc maintenant à un vote. Tout actionnaire inscrit ou fondé de pouvoir n'ayant pas encore voté par procuration ou qui désire changer son instruction de vote peut le faire maintenant à travers la plateforme virtuelle en sélectionnant son choix à la droite de son écran. Les actionnaires ayant déjà voté et qui ne désirent pas changer leur instruction de vote doivent simplement attendre la fin de la période de vote actuelle. Nous prendrons une pause de quelques secondes pour vous laisser le temps de voter. Merci d'avoir voté.
En me basant sur les votes préliminaires, je déclare la proposition adoptée que la firme comptable PricewaterhouseCoopers est dûment nommée comme auditeur indépendant de WSP jusqu'à la prochaine assemblée annuelle et le conseil d'administration de WSP est autorisé à établir sa rémunération. Nous passerons maintenant à la proposition portant sur le vote consultatif non contraignant sur la rémunération des membres de la haute direction, qui est détaillée dans la circulaire de sollicitation de procuration qui a été mise à la disposition des actionnaires en prévision de cette assemblée annuelle.
La résolution, telle que soumise aux actionnaires, se lit comme suit : Résolue à titre consultatif et non afin de réduire le rôle et les responsabilités du conseil d'administration, que les actionnaires acceptent la formule de rémunération des membres de la haute direction expliquée dans la circulaire de la société transmise en prévision de l'assemblée annuelle des actionnaires de 2020. Quentin Weber, un actionnaire de la société, est disposé à faire la proposition nécessaire relativement à l'adoption de la résolution non contraignante portant sur la rémunération des membres de la haute direction. Merci, M. Shoiry. Mon nom est Quentin Weber et je suis un actionnaire de la société. Par la présente, je propose que la résolution non contraignante portant sur la rémunération des membres de la haute direction soit adoptée. Merci, Quentin. Joëlle El-Feghali, une actionnaire de la société, est disposé à appuyer la proposition. Merci, M. Shoiry.
Joëlle El-Feghali, actionnaire de la société, j'appuie la proposition. Merci, Joëlle. La proposition ayant été dûment faite et appuyée, nous procéderons donc maintenant à un vote. Tout actionnaire inscrit ou fondé de pouvoir n'ayant pas encore voté par procuration ou qui désire changer son instruction de vote peut le faire maintenant à travers la plateforme virtuelle en sélectionnant son choix à la droite de son écran. Les actionnaires ayant déjà voté et qui ne désirent pas changer leur instruction de vote doivent simplement attendre la fin de la période de vote actuelle. Nous prendrons une pause de quelques secondes pour vous laisser le temps de voter. La période de vote est maintenant terminée et, en me basant sur les votes préliminaires, je déclare la proposition adoptée. Veuillez noter que tous les résultats de vote finaux seront déposés sur SEDAR dans les 24 prochaines heures.
Les questions à l'ordre du jour de l'assemblée sont maintenant épuisées. Avant de clore la portion formelle de l'assemblée, je demanderai à Philippe de confirmer si des questions relatives à l'assemblée ont été dûment soumises à travers la plateforme web. Merci, Pierre. Je confirme qu'aucune question relative à l'assemblée n'a été soumise à travers la plateforme. Merci, Philippe. Quentin Weber, un actionnaire de la société, est disposé à proposer la levée de la portion formelle de l'assemblée. Merci, M. Shoiry. Mon nom est Quentin Weber et je suis un actionnaire de la société. Par la présente, je propose la levée de la portion formelle de l'assemblée. Merci, Quentin. Joëlle El-Feghali, une actionnaire de la société, est disposée à appuyer la proposition. Merci, M. Shoiry. Joëlle El-Feghali, actionnaire de la société, j'appuie la proposition. Merci, Joëlle.
La proposition de lever la portion formelle de l'assemblée ayant été dûment faite et appuyée, je déclare la proposition adoptée et la portion formelle de l'assemblée 2020 des actionnaires de WSP Global Inc. levée. Back to you, Chris.
Thank you. Merci, Pierre. Before we move on, I would like to thank our shareholders for putting their trust in us and re-electing us as board members for an additional year. We will spare no efforts to meet and even exceed your expectations. It is now my pleasure to ask Alexandre to speak to the meeting. Alexandre.
Thank you, Chris. Bonjour, Mesdames et Messieurs. Good morning and thank you for joining us today for our first ever virtual annual shareholders meeting. Si vous me le permettez, je vais poursuivre mon allocution en anglais afin de permettre au plus grand nombre d'actionnaires, d'employés, de clients de suivre.
As we find ourselves in these unprecedented times, I would like to first take a couple of moments to provide an overview of WSP's response to COVID-19. I would like to begin by echoing Chris' sentiments regarding our first responders and frontline workers. We thank you for your tremendous dedication and relentless spirit during such challenging times. And, of course, a sincere thank you to our employees for exemplifying resilience in the face of this pandemic and its incomparable global challenges. Since COVID-19 first affected our Asian operations, specifically those in mainland China and Hong Kong, and then spread globally in the first quarter of 2020, our top priority has always been and remains to ensure the safety of our people, our clients, and the communities within which we operate, in addition to doing our part to slow the spread of the virus.
As the global response to preventing the spread of COVID-19 quickly extended to stay-at-home government orders, our comprehensive business continuity plans were put into action, allowing our people to access the technology tools and infrastructure necessary to continue to serve our clients and communities remotely without disruption. To date, we have close to 45,000 employees who are working remotely. Our teams have quickly shifted and embraced a digital approach to deliver projects and pursue new assignments, leveraging existing connectivity and collaboration tools. As Chris mentioned, in most of our major hubs, many of WSP's services or projects are considered essential. Consequently, the work that some of our employees do on job sites and in communities is continuing. On-site, employees follow strict safety protocols while they perform their critical work, including the additional consideration for social distancing. The COVID-19 pandemic is presenting unparalleled challenges in modern times.
From the health implications of the viral outbreak to the shortage of equipment, facilities, and supplies to handle its spread, to associated impacts to communities, businesses, and economies, our societal resilience is being tested on many fronts. Drawing on our healthcare expertise and vast experience providing emergency management services, we are proud that our teams are able to provide critical support to help keep our communities healthy. From advising healthcare clients on the creation of isolation wings, temporary quarantine facilities, and modular expansions, to working on-site at regional emergency operations centers, we are mobilizing our experts across the world to help clients respond to the unique challenges posed by this pandemic. For example, close to WSP headquarters in Montreal, members of our team are working on a project for an emergency isolation room expansion of the Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital. In the United States, our team is supporting the U.S.
Postal Service for the complete facility sanitization of the Westchester, New York, mail processing and distribution center, in addition to responding to multiple calls for disaster response services at sites across the country as part of our contract to help maintain USPS operations in the face of disruptive emergency events. At the onset of 2019, we shared our 2019-2021 Global Strategic Plan, setting our ambitions across our four foundational pillars, namely our clients, people, and culture, operational excellence, and expertise in view of becoming the premier professional consultancy in our industry by the end of this cycle. The strides we have made across these pillars during the past year, the past year, I'm sorry, have allowed us to continue to strengthen our platform while further fostering our ability to be agile and responsive.
Consequently, we have entered 2020 in accompanying uncertainty with a very strong company and business model, which allows us to focus our efforts on seamlessly supporting our clients today and into the future. I will now elaborate on these pillars in further detail, starting with our clients. The value we bring to our clients is anchored in our ability to help them face current challenges as well as the ones to come. This resonates stronger than ever before as the world we know is changing at an unprecedented rate. However, our purpose to future-proof our cities, communities, and the environment remains. Through our Future Ready program, the advice we offer our clients allows them to see the future more clearly through key trends in climate change, society, technology, and resources, further reinforcing our commitment to providing innovative solutions designed to lead the transition to a low-carbon, resilient, and prosperous economy.
In 2019, the Future Ready program was operationalized in the U.S., Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Denmark, bringing us closer to our 2021 ambition to have the program executed globally. As we navigate through these challenging times, we look forward to bringing our clients our Future Ready thinking and capabilities as their partners and trusted advisors. I would like to reaffirm our commitment to being operationally resilient and our continued focus on project delivery and meeting the needs of our clients and communities during this pandemic. One of the ways to achieve this is to facilitate collaboration and communication across our organization. Last year, we worked with our experts to enhance our knowledge-sharing and collaboration platform to enable our professionals to consistently bring our best expertise to bear across all of our projects.
Our new and improved Practice Area Networks platform was successfully launched across the organization at the beginning of 2020, ensuring that our technical excellence is not limited by geographic location, mobility, or time. In today's environment, with most of our workforce working remotely, this platform serves as an efficient tool for staying connected and collaborating digitally. Next, on our people and culture, well, our reputation is made up of the exceptional work of our professionals and their unwavering dedication to our clients and communities. Providing an environment for our people to deliver on their full potential is at the core of our people and culture strategy, regardless of where our people are located. One of the ways to provide this environment is through the right leadership.
2019 has seen some changes within the global leadership team to ensure that it is where it needs to be to lead our people with passion and deliver on our strategic ambitions. Managing a business through a pandemic involves significant challenges. However, I am confident that the global leadership team we have today will guide our people so that we can come out of this pandemic on the other side equally as strong. Moving on to our operational excellence pillar. As previously mentioned, WSP has entered 2020 in this crisis in a strong position. This is also attributable to our strong financial performance and balance sheet for 2019, which placed us on solid footing as we entered this year while delivering significant returns to our shareholders. Highlights include 14.4% growth in our net revenue, which stood at CAD 6.9 billion for the year, in line with our 2019 outlook.
Consolidated organic growth in net revenue stood at 3.5%, spanning across all reportable segments. In addition to our backlog of CAD 8.1 billion representing 10.6 months of revenues, we reported an Adjusted EBITDA of CAD 1 billion and an Adjusted EBITDA margin of 15.1%, reaching the high end of the 2019 guidance provided. In terms of the other metrics, we were pleased to report that day sales outstanding, or DSO, continued to decrease and reach 74 days at the end of 2019, a two-day improvement compared to 2018. Our free cash flow for the year came in at CAD 441.6 million, or 154% of net earnings, beyond our cash flow conversion target of net earnings. At WSP, we take our responsibility for sustainable leadership very seriously, not only in the advice we provide to our clients but also in our own operations.
In 2019, we continued to push to the forefront of sustainable transformation, ensuring that the principles we believe in run a common thread through our activities. In addition to WSP's commitment to the United Nations Global Compact that Chris mentioned, 2019 also saw the establishment of an internal task force to achieve the GHG reduction targets we set out in our strategic plan, comprised of key regional and global leadership. Additionally, this past February, WSP became the first professional services firm in the Americas to secure sustainability-linked terms to our syndicated credit facility, further demonstrating our commitment to deliver on our sustainability ambitions. Lastly, onto our expertise. Growth has always been part of our narrative, whether organic or acquisitive, and naturally, it has a part to play in our 2019-2021 global strategy.
Our growth strategy has never been about being the biggest, but rather about how we can create additional value for clients, people, and shareholders through an increasingly diversified and resilient platform that is better equipped to handle volatility and evolving clients' demands. In 2019, we strengthened our existing capabilities and expanded in new geographic regions with ASO, which not only strengthened our expertise in the environmental sector but also expanded our geographic presence in the U.S. Both identify as key areas of growth in the 2019-2021 Global Strategic Plan. I would also like to point out that since we announced our global strategy in January of 2019, we have added 1,470 employees to our environment platform, representing approximately 16% growth in net count since 2018. Once again, I would like to welcome all of our new colleagues to the WSP family.
As the full impact of this pandemic remains unknown, we do not believe that our diversified business model, from both a geographic and sector standpoint, our strong balance sheet, and regionally empowered leadership model should place us in a solid position to face these continuous challenges head-on, and I should say we do believe that our diversified business model. Regarding our financial performance to date, I will not go through our first quarter in detail as we held a quarterly conference call earlier today. However, I will reiterate that we are pleased with the underlying operational performance of our region. As we posted positive organic growth, we generated EBITDA margin in line with our expectation. We experienced strong backlog growth, good cash flow collection, and finished the quarter with a solid balance sheet. This performance was still possible despite having one less billable during the quarter.
The impact of the pandemic on our Asian operations, the economic and political uncertainty faced by U.K. operations resulting from Brexit, the adverse direct and indirect impact of our Western Canadian operation following the significant drop in the price of the barrel. All of this occurred against the backdrop of the global spread of COVID-19, which resulted in extreme market and currency volatility. As many of our projects and services in our major hubs are considered essential, we have maintained good productivity levels to date, and our clients have generally remained committed to their projects, particularly in the public sector. Since early March, we have started to see improvement in our operation in Hong Kong and Mainland China, which were first to be impacted by COVID-19.
As the world gradually begins to reopen businesses as government stay-at-home orders begin to be lifted, we will monitor market dynamics and leverage best practices from our Asian operation as we work through regional plans to reoccupy our offices. Even though some of our ambitions under our 2019 and 2021 Global Strategic Plan may be impacted, it remains premature to reassess them at this time. As I mentioned earlier this morning during our Q1 results call, regardless of global market dynamics, the underlying principles of our strategy remain very relevant. First, our clients remain at the center of everything that we do. Secondly, we will strive to provide an environment where our people can deliver on their full potential. Third, our aim remains to be a top-tier player in every sector in which we operate as a partner of choice for our clients.
Finally, we will continue to build upon our diversified and resilient platform regardless of the current environment, all in view of becoming the premier consultancy in this industry. At WSP, we are driven by one question: Can we help societies thrive in a world we do not control? The need to help our clients and communities prepare for rapidly changing future and unforeseeable events is at the core of who we are as a company. We share this concern, and more than ever, we know our role. Our experts have continued to exemplify their agility and commitment to delivering solutions in an ever-changing environment. I would like to thank the board for their support and guidance during this difficult time, and I would like to thank our clients and shareholders for their continued support.
Our success and ability to come out of this can only be reached through the diligence, passion, and commitment of our leaders and employees. I once again thank you for your unwavering dedication and commitment to our clients, our communities, and our great organization. Mr. Chairman, up to you.
Merci. Thank you, Alex. Now we would like to open up for shareholder questions. We will start by reading aloud and answering the questions received through the web portal. As mentioned, if you wish to ask your question verbally, you can do so by dialing in on the number appearing on the left side of your screen above the question box. The line operator will queue in your questions and open the line at the appropriate time. Please note that we will attempt to answer as many questions as possible within the allotted time.
Any questions that we do not get answered during the time available will be addressed on our company website under the 2020 annual meeting of shareholders page found in the investor section. Please remember to enter your first and last name if you submit your question through the web portal. If we receive similar questions, we will combine them into one question. Your question should be addressed to the CEO, who will answer or redirect it as necessary. Thank you.
Thank you, Chris. It appears that no question has been received through the web portal. I will now take questions from shareholders through the phone line. Before asking a question, please state your full name and confirm whether you are a shareholder or a proxy holder. I would now ask the operator to open the line, please.
At this time, if you'd like to ask a question, press star one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, press the pound key. Please wait while we compile the questions. There are no questions over the phone at this time.
Okay. We just received, I think, a question here. I don't know the name, nor I know whether it's a shareholder or proxy holder, but why is WSP's sustainability commitment a 25% reduction in GHG emission for 2018 to 2030 when the IPCC recommends a 45% reduction over this timeframe? What is the company's transition plan to pivot away from fossil fuel industries? The question was from Will Nash. Thank you, Mr. Nash.
Look, we are making leap steps into our sustainability commitment, and we have said at the beginning of 2018, a 25% reduction in GHG emission, but that doesn't mean that we are not going to pivot and increase this percentage to a higher number as we progress between 2018 and 2030. So clearly, this is our goal. We want to be a leading firm in the space, and we've made great strides already. And I mentioned a number of initiatives that we were able to deliver in 2019, and we'll continue to make effort to increase this and to raise the bar as we progress through a number of our future strategic cycle. The next question that I think you asked is, what is the company's transition plan to pivot away from fossil fuel industries? Well, we are already.
We have, over the years, expanded our horizon in a number of other industries, as noted today and in previous annual meetings that we've held. We expanded in transportation. We expanded in a number of different sectors and reduced over time our dependency to fossil fuel industries. Having said that, this is a very relevant industry in the Canadian context, and we are here to serve our clients to the best of our capabilities and capacities. Clearly, we're also playing a major role in renewable energies, and we are doing that not only in Canada but around and across the world. So we like to think that we are trusted advisors to our clients, and we are here to deliver the best services possible to our clients, and that's our aspiration.
Over time, indeed, we have reduced in Canada oil and gas exposure in terms of services to less than 5%. Ladies and gentlemen, it appears that there are no more questions. I will now turn it to our Chairman to conclude this meeting, and I once again thank you all for your continued support. Mr. Chairman?
Merci, Alex. We thank you very much for attending this first-ever virtual annual shareholder meeting. As we navigate this uncharted landscape, I am very confident that given WSP's legacy, drive to challenge the status quo, and determination in the face of any adversity, we will find ways to continue to grow as an organization. I look forward to seeing you all in person at next year's annual shareholder meeting. Please stay safe. Stay healthy. Thank you. Merci.
This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.