Thales Exceeds Forecasts with Strong Nine-Month Sales and Orders
French defence and security company Thales reported better-than-expected nine-month sales and orders, driven by rising European defence spending and a surge in space contracts. The company's sales rose 8.1% on an organic basis to €16.42 billion ($18.46 billion), exceeding analysts' expectations for 7.4% growth.
Thales' defence division, its largest and most profitable segment, posted organic growth of 13% to €9.36 billion. The company reaffirmed its 2026 targets, expecting organic sales growth near the upper end of its 6%-7% target range. Orders for the first nine months of the year rose 14% from a year earlier to €19.12 billion, beating expectations for an 11% increase.
The stronger-than-expected order intake was driven by a pickup in space contracts, including a €500 million order linked to the European Union's IRIS² communications constellation. Thales has signed an agreement with satellite operator Eutelsat to supply government payloads for the project. The company expects to book around €2 billion of additional IRIS² orders over the next few quarters.
Thales is also in talks with several countries regarding the export of its SAMP/T NG air defence system, a medium-to-long-range ground-based system seen as an alternative to the US-made Patriot system. France has recently ordered four additional SAMP/T NG systems. The company has also launched Hexaforce, an AI-enabled military command software platform, as an alternative to Palantir's Maven.
