Czech arms group CSG's nine-month revenue leaps 82% (updated)

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18/11/2025 15:31

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PRAGUE, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Czech ammunition and arms maker Czechoslovak Group's (CSG) revenue for the first three quarters of the year jumped 82% year on year, continuing rapid growth led by the war in Ukraine and rising European defence spending.

The company owned by 33-year-old entrepreneur Michal Strnad said on Tuesday that revenue for the period reached 4.49 billion euros ($5.2 billion) while operating profit (EBIT) rose by 77% to 1.10 billion euros.

CSG is one of the top European makers of artillery and other large-calibre ammunition and among leading global manufacturers of small-calibre ammunition for handguns after its $2.2 billion acquisition of U.S.-based Kinetic Group last year.

The company has been considering an initial public offering to continue its rapid growth. Though it did not provide an update on a potential listing, finance chief Zdenek Jurak told an investor call the option remains on the table.

CSG could reach an enterprise value in the low tens of billions of euros going by core earnings multiples of European defence companies. Its nine-month core profit was up 79% at 1.18 billion euros.

The company has operations across Europe and the United States and has been acquiring companies to strengthen its ammunition supply chain and to diversify into drone engines and missiles

Full-year revenue was forecast at more than 6.4 billion euros and the operating profit margin was projected to remain at 24-25% this year and next, it said.

CSG also reported an order backlog of 14 billion euros and said it had a pipeline of 18 billion euros of opportunities it considered "reasonably achievable".

The company has been a significant participant in the "Czech initiative" under which arms companies source artillery ammunition from around the world and deliver it to Ukraine, with funding mostly from several NATO countries.

The future of the programme is unclear owing to criticism after the ANO party won last month's election and pledged to scrap or remodel the programme, calling it overpriced and untransparent.

($1 = 0.8631 euros)

(Reporting by Jan Lopatka
Editing by Jason Hovet and David Goodman)

((jan.lopatka@thomsonreuters.com; +420 234 721 614; Reuters Messaging: jan.lopatka.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net/))