The defense electronics manufacturer Hensoldt is raising its return expectations slightly and aims to more than double its turnover by 2030.

The adjusted operating return on sales (EBITDA margin) is set to rise to 20 percent in the medium term, as the defense supplier from Taufkirchen near Munich announced before a capital market day in London on Thursday. For the current year, Hensoldt still expects a margin of 18 to 19 percent. The manufacturer of radars and sensors is benefiting from the arms build-up in Europe and especially in Germany. Sales growth of ten percent is expected in the coming years, and even slightly more in 2025 - starting from 2.3 billion euros in 2024.

With an order backlog that has swelled to around 6.5 billion euros, Hensoldt says it has already secured 86% of its turnover for the coming year. "Our goal is to achieve a turnover of around five billion euros by 2030 - primarily through organic growth," explained CEO Oliver Dörre. "We will continue to benefit from significant and sustained market growth, driven by the high demand for defense solutions in Germany, Europe and worldwide."

A new strategy called "North Star" is intended to help Hensoldt achieve this: Dörre is increasingly focusing on business abroad. By 2030, only half of sales are to come from Germany, 30 percent from the rest of Europe and 20 percent from overseas. Production is to be increasingly converted to industrial manufacturing of important products. Software is also becoming increasingly important in defense. The goal is "software-defined defense" (SDD). Hensoldt wants to use software subscriptions to strengthen its market position, expand its business model and tap into new sources of revenue, the press release stated.

(Report by Alexander Hübner, edited by Myria Mildenberger. If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets).)