Thales (HO) Q3 2024 earnings summary

Executive summary

• Q3 2024 saw strong commercial momentum, especially in defense and security, with order intake reaching €15.6 billion for the first nine months, up 23% organically year-over-year, and robust sales growth of 6.2% organically, with significant contract wins and inclusion in the CAC 40 ESG index.

• Partnership with Mistral AI was announced to accelerate digital transformation and data protection, enhancing secure generative AI use internally.

Financial highlights

• 9M 2024 order intake reached €15,551 million, up 26% year-over-year (+23% organic); sales totaled €14,069 million, up 9.4% year-over-year (+6.2% organic); Q3 sales at €4,576 million, up 10.6% (+6.6% organic).

• Large orders more than doubled year-over-year, with 19 large orders in 9M 2024, mainly in defense and security.

• Acquisitions (Cobham, Imperva, Tesserent) contributed positively to scope, adding up to €568 million to sales; divestment of Aeronautical Electrical Systems reduced sales by €99 million.

• Currency impact was EUR -38 million over nine months; scope impact from acquisitions and disposals added EUR 469 million.

Outlook and guidance

• All 2024 objectives confirmed: book-to-bill ratio above one, organic sales growth between 5% and 6% (€19.9–20.1 billion), and EBIT margin between 11.7% and 11.8%.

• Guidance assumes no major disruptions to the economic context or global supply chains; defense and security organic growth expected to remain strong in Q4, while avionics faces a slowdown due to client delivery delays.