KNDS Puts Factory Expansion at Heart of Ambitious Summer 2026 Dual Listing
29.05.2026 - 23:41:07 | boerse-global.de
A €33.1 billion order backlog is both a blessing and a bottleneck for KNDS. The German-French defence group, set for a June or July 2026 dual listing in Frankfurt and Paris, must now deliver on a record pipeline that has exposed a critical gap: factory floor capacity.
The numbers heading into the IPO are striking. Revenue climbed 15.9% to €4.4 billion last year, while EBIT rose to €661 million, pushing the margin from 13.2% to 15.0%. New orders in 2025 alone reached €13.5 billion, lifting the total backlog from €23.5 billion at the end of 2024 to the current €33.1 billion — enough to keep the 11,000-strong workforce busy for years. CEO Jean-Paul Alary has called 2025 a "milestone year", and expansion is under way.
Scaling up, however, means finding industrial space fast. The company is sizing up the former Mercedes-Benz plant in Ludwigsfelde, south of Berlin, for potential takeover or lease. That move alone could transfer 1,800 to 2,000 workers to KNDS, adding both capacity and integration complexity. In Munich-Allach, a new production line for Boxer drive modules began operations in April 2026, targeting ten modules per month. The Volkswagen plant in OsnabrĂĽck is also under review. Production of the Boxer wheeled armoured vehicle, of which Berlin could order up to 3,000, is set to be scaled sixfold by 2030.
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To the south, the Kassel region — home to 2,400 employees across three facilities — is also being expanded. And in a sign of how deeply state interests are entwined with the listing, both Germany and France plan to take 40% stakes each at the IPO, later reducing to around 30% over two to three years while keeping voting rights balanced.
The political dimension extends beyond shareholding. Defence Minister Pistorius is pushing through reforms to oblige reservists up to age 45 — and career soldiers up to 65 — to take part in exercises, part of a broader plan to grow Germany's active and reserve forces to 465,000 by the mid-2030s. A cabinet vote on the bill is expected in early July 2026, just as KNDS prepares to list. That structural demand outlook adds weight to the company's growth story.
Competitors are also on the move. Elbit Systems secured a €650 million Greek order for PULS artillery rocket systems, a contract separate from the EuroPULS venture Elbit and KNDS unveiled in March 2026. Leonardo completed a €1.6 billion takeover of Iveco's defence business the same month, while drone maker Quantum Systems is targeting a 2027 IPO with a €10 billion valuation. KNDS has a head start — and a mandate to prove that Europe's rearmament boom can translate into shareholder value without being throttled by its own success.
With analysts pencilling in a valuation of €20 billion to €25 billion, the crucial test in the coming weeks will be whether the company can turn its record order book into a convincing production roadmap. Every new line and potential factory deal will shape investor confidence — and determine how quickly KNDS can transform a pile of orders into tangible revenue.
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