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(Sharecast News) - Dassault Aviation reported higher revenue and operating profit for 2025 on Wednesday as deliveries of both Rafale fighter jets and Falcon business aircraft increased, while the French planemaker forecast further sales growth in 2026 amid strong defence demand and a large order backlog.
The group said net sales rose to 7.43bn in 2025 from 6.24bn a year earlier, beating market expectations and reflecting higher aircraft deliveries.
Adjusted operating income climbed to 635m from 519m, giving an operating margin of 8.6%, while adjusted net income reached 1.06bn, broadly stable compared with 1.06bn in 2024.
Dassault delivered 26 Rafale fighters in 2025, up from 21 the previous year and slightly above its guidance of 25, including 15 export aircraft and 11 for France.
Falcon business jet deliveries also increased to 37 units from 31 in 2024, though that fell short of the company's target of 40 aircraft.
Order intake totalled 10.94bn in 2025, marginally higher than 10.87bn the year before and ahead of analyst expectations, driven in part by an order for 26 Rafale Marine fighters for the Indian Navy.
Dassault also booked orders for 31 Falcon jets during the year.
The firm's backlog expanded to 46.6bn at the end of 2025 from 43.2bn a year earlier, including 220 Rafale fighters - 175 destined for export customers and 45 for France - and 73 Falcon aircraft, the company said.
Available cash increased to 9.42bn, supported largely by advance payments under export Rafale contracts.
Dassault's board proposed a dividend of 4.78 per share for 2025, slightly higher than the 4.72 paid for 2024, while headcount rose to 15,024 employees after the company hired 1,579 people during the year.
Chief executive ric Trappier said the operating environment remained uncertain despite strong defence demand.
"The military, geopolitical, and budgetary contexts, coupled with tariffs, are creating uncertainty for the business activity," he said.
"At the same time, the tax pressure erodes the company's competitiveness."
Dassault also highlighted continuing work on several development programmes, including upgrades to the Rafale F4 standard, the Falcon 10X business jet and mission aircraft based on the Falcon platform such as the Archange intelligence aircraft and the Albatros maritime surveillance aircraft.
The group's outlook remained supported by defence demand and industrial ramp-up efforts.
It said it expected net sales to rise to around 8.5bn in 2026, based on planned deliveries of 28 Rafale fighters and 40 Falcon business jets.
At the same time, Trappier warned that uncertainty continues to surround the Future Combat Air System (FCAS), a 100bn Franco-German-Spanish project to develop a next-generation fighter jet.
Speaking to reporters, he said the programme would be "dead" unless Airbus agreed to cooperate on leadership arrangements for the core fighter component, Reuters reported.
At 1105 CET (1005 GMT), shares in Dassault Aviation were up 4.83% in Paris at 347.00.
Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.