PARIS (Reuters) – Thales raised its annual organic revenue growth target on Friday, after posting better-than-expected growth in the first half, thanks to the rebound in its civil aeronautics business and the progress of its security division.
The French group reported sales for the January-June period of 8.7 billion euros, up 7.7% at constant scope and exchange rates.
Order intake in the first half amounted to 8.6 billion euros, a decrease of 23% which is explained by the major contract for the delivery of Rafale aircraft to the United Arab Emirates signed last year at the same period.
Thalès indicated that order intake, excluding Rafale, remained at record levels, due in particular to solid demand for its ground defense radars.
The aerospace, defense and security equipment manufacturer also reported profit before interest and tax (Ebit) up 13.1% organically, to 993 million euros, with an Ebit margin of 11.4% against +10.8% over the same period last year.
It now expects organic revenue growth for 2023 of between 5% and 7%, which corresponds to revenue in the range of 17.9-19.2 billion euros.
CMA FINDINGS EXPECTED
Thales CEO Patrice Caine said the group expected the UK competition authority (CMA) to issue its findings in the coming weeks on the completion of Hitachi Rail’s proposed acquisition of its rail signaling business.
The Competition and Markets Authority is expected to conclude its investigation next month.
“We are moving forward on it, we are going through the stages one by one,” Patrice Caine told reporters. “The (CMA) is the next milestone. Once we have that, knowing that it is quite clear on the side (of the) European Commission, I believe that we will see clearly on the final time horizon.
Thales also expects tensions in supply chains and the weakness of the euro against the dollar to weigh on the second half.
Financial director Pascal Bouchiat indicated that, if the supply of semiconductors has improved, that of printed circuits, and especially mechanical equipment, remained “very difficult”.
“There are elements that are improving and there are others that are indeed still really under tension,” he explained.
(Report Tim Hepher; Camille Raynaud, edited by Jean Terzian)
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