Press release: CEO NTS Group Tjarko Bouman leaving at end of 2023 to become new top executive of BDR Thermea Group

Tjarko Bouman (53, photo), CEO of Eindhoven-based NTS Group, first-tier supplier to the high-tech manufacturing industry, will be leaving at the end of December this year to become CEO of the BDR Thermea Group on 1 February 2024. The two companies have announced this in separate, simultaneous press releases today.

In 2020, Bouman took over the reins as CEO at NTS and has since implemented a new refined strategy, bolstered by significant investments from Highlands Beheer, the holding company of the Wintermans family (100% shareholder). With a more distinct market positioning, a clear ‘technology roadmap’ and organisational adjustments aimed at becoming more customer-focused, NTS has succeeded in positioning itself among the top three in the global semiconductor and analytical niche market where it has been operating over the past three years.

Bouman will be leaving, as he himself says, with a heavy heart and earlier than intended. He has nevertheless decided to take on a new challenge at BDR Thermea (turnover of around €2.2 billion, over 6,800 employees and active in more than 100 countries). “I will miss the NTS organisation and my wonderful, dedicated colleagues. We have achieved amazing results as a team over the past three-and-a-half years and I am grateful to them for that. NTS has a bright future ahead”, says Bouman.

Building on the adopted strategy

Between 2020 and 2022, NTS Group saw a growth in turnover from €281 M (2020) to €412 M (2022). Profitability also grew during this period to an EBITDA margin of around 10% by 2022. In the years ahead, NTS will continue building on the strategy it has adopted, starting with two new buildings for the production sites in Drachten and Singapore as well as expansions in Eindhoven and the Czech Republic in 2024. Due to a temporary decline in demand in the semiconductor industry in particular, NTS Group expects to achieve a similar turnover in 2023 as seen in 2022.

Roelof Hendriks, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of NTS, said in a statement: “We are grateful to Tjarko for all he has done for NTS and graciously grant him this opportunity. NTS is exceptionally well-positioned for expanding its business activities in the years ahead”.

Ed van der Sluijs, active as Executive Board Member and CFO for shareholder Highlands Beheer since early 2018 and as CFO of NTS Group since mid-2021, will be taking on the CEO role of Tjarko Bouman on an interim basis.