Welcome to the CSG's half year 2026 earnings presentation. Today's presenters are Michal Strnad, CEO and Chairman of the Board, and Zdeněk Jurák, CFO. Michal will begin with an update on the group's strategy delivery and the first half financial highlights. Zdeněk will walk through the performance in more detail. Q&A will follow the prepared remarks. Please do take a moment to familiarize yourself with the disclaimer information at the start of the presentation deck. I'll now hand over to Michal Strnad.
Good morning to all of you, thank you for joining us. The first half was a period of delivery against the commitments we set out. We achieved a strong financial performance across the group. Before we come numbers, I want to highlight the strategic progress behind that performance. Let me start with Land Systems, which doubled revenue year-over-year.
Land Systems now represent 46% of our order backlog. We are scaling this business exactly as planned. That is changing the shape of the group. The share of revenue from Ukraine is down from 27% at year-end to 17%. Europe, excluding Ukraine, is now more than half of our business. The United States has become our second largest market, and we are making significant gains in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. We win that business through reliable supply and one capability at a competitive cost.
The result is a better quality of earnings, more customers, longer programs, and less dependent on any particular geography or end customer. The market is moving our way. Customers want integrated systems. That is exactly what CSG delivers. In air defense, we own the backbone, critical layers, and the integration. The vehicle, the radars, the command and control system, and the launchers, missiles, and other effectors on top.
Trident, the layered air defense system we presented in June, brings those capabilities together into a system we can offer worldwide. The air defense contracts we won in Southeast Asia, worth nearly $2.5 billion, demonstrate the value of this approach. Air defense and related capabilities, CSG became a strategic investor in North Vector Dynamics. This is the Canadian developer of intercepts, precision-guided missiles, and counter- UAS systems.
CSG will provide its industrial expertise and commercial network to help North Vector Dynamics achieve production and gain access to global markets. In armored vehicles, we have agreed a new joint venture with Turkish company, FNSS. Production of the armored vehicles, which includes our new Karpat tank, will be based at our own facilities in Slovakia. This extends the same integration strategy into a new platform for the group.
In medium and large caliber ammunition, we are delivering on two priorities, expanding production and increasing vertical integration. Our annual production capacity increased to 850,000 rounds at the end of June. We remain firmly on track to reach about 1.1 million rounds by the end of 2027. At the same time, demand continues to shift towards long-range 155 mm ammunition. This market has few European producers and offers stronger unit economics.
Our investment in securing critical components creates value across the portfolio, more so in long-range, where each round requires more critical inputs. By increasing vertical integration, we are taking greater control of the supply chain. This takes cost out of every round and supports margin expansion. I am pleased to report that our German propellant plant, Greek explosive plant, and Slovak bimodular charge facility are all on the schedule and on budget.
Just this week, we also announced the acquisition of the Gnaschwitz industrial site in Germany. At this site, CSG will produce nitroglycerin as well as ammunition and components. This is yet another step towards self-sufficiency in energetic materials. It also enables us to sell to general customers. CSG is building an ever-stronger presence in the United States, the world's largest defense market. Last month, we broke ground on the Future Artillery Complex in Iowa, designed to load 36,000 artillery shells each month. I am pleased by our success here. No other European defense group has been trusted with a program of this kind on American soil.
Our small caliber businesses also won contracts valued at about $100 million with the FBI and other law enforcement agencies. These are important endorsements from different parts of the U.S. government. In addition, the opening of the CSG Land Systems North America brings our vehicle and artillery portfolio directly to the U.S. Army. Our new Washington office means senior U.S. executives are closer to our customers. Very little of this is reflected in today's revenue. We are very excited by the opportunity in the U.S. for CSG. Finally, unmanned systems are taking a growing share of defense spending.
CSG is building strong positions in the technologies behind them. Propulsion is one of the most demanding parts of long-range drones and missiles. We are one of only few Western suppliers of these engines. This summer, we announced a new production plant in Wisconsin that will serve U.S. and allied customers. The first engines will be produced this year, and the serial production will begin in 2027. CSG is also developing the digital systems that manage airspace.
This includes radar detection and the software that coordinates drones alongside manned aircraft. These moves give us early positions in fast-growing markets, and we intend to grow with them. Our horizon does not stop there. We are actively exploring further opportunities in autonomy, artificial intelligence, and space. While our core businesses continue to strengthen, we are investing today in what will drive our next phase of the growth.
I want to turn briefly to our leadership. We have made major investments here. We significantly strengthened our team, recruiting senior executives from the world's leading defense companies. Ben Hudson joined CSG as the CEO of Land Systems and Group Chief Technology Officer. He came to us from Hanwha with earlier roles at Rheinmetall, BAE Systems, and General Dynamics. David Jacobs is President of CSG Defense North America and is building out our new Washington, D.C. office. Jason Monahan leads our newly established Land Systems business in North America.
Both bring deep experience of the U.S. defense market. They are joined by several other senior appointments across Excalibur Army, Tatra Export , Fiocchi, and the group strategy. They come from companies including Rheinmetall, KNDS, Leonardo, and RWS. These hires help take us to the next level. They strengthen our team to execute on strategy. That includes scaling Land Systems, growing in the United States, and expanding across the mission. Let's now turn to our half-year financial highlights. The headline figures demonstrate a strong performance across all key metrics. Revenue was up 17% to EUR 3.3 billion.
This was driven by strong momentum across our core Defence Systems business, which grew by 27%. Our main measure of profit, operating EBIT, increased by 13% to EUR 784 million. This gave a margin of 24.1%. This margin performance keeps us at the top of our European Defence peer group. Our total backlog and pipeline reached a record EUR 46 billion. This provides strong revenue visibility and evidences the long-term structural demand we see in the market. The group remains highly capital efficient.
Net leverage at period end was 1.6x . Net leverage, therefore, remains within our long-term financial framework. We maintained strong cash conversion at 86%. CapEx intensity was 3.8%. As the year progresses, we will continue to invest significantly in production capacities and modernization to service demand. Net working capital as a percentage of the revenue was 40%. This reflects our strong build of inventory to support a record of backlog. We remain confident in our full-year guidance of below 20% and expect the ratio to improve through year, as categories are completed and working capital is released. Zdeněk will talk more about it later.
Looking at our revenue composition, Defence Systems drove close to 80% of the group revenue. This segment includes our medium and large caliber ammunition and Land Systems businesses. These made up 65% and 14% of total revenue respectively. Our other business segment, Ammo+, contributed 19%. The chart also shows CSG diversification away from Ukraine, with the revenue share from NATO and other allied countries, excluding Ukraine, increased to 83% from 73% at the year-end. Overall, it was an excellent set of results. Thanks to this strong first half, we remain confident in our full-year guidance. I will pass to Zdeněk, who will take you through our performance in more detail.
Thank you, Michal. I will start on page eight of our presentation. Growth in second quarter accelerated to EUR 1.7 billion according to our expectation. Looking also to the contribution of the second quarter to the full year, that is as well in line with our guidance from last quarter, meaning that first half of 2026 is approximately 43% of the guidance we did provide for 2026, so similar to the last year. Total revenue for first half of 2026 represents 17.2% year-over-year growth. At the same time, 90% of the Defence Systems revenue for the second quarter for the second half of 2026 is already under contract and further de-risking the delivery.
Profitability remains firm with margin at 24.1% and within 24%-25% guidance range. In addition, highlighting here the Ammo+ margin, which is recovering according to our expectation in second quarter, coming to 8% from 4% in the quarter this year. Finally, we continue to diversify growth across our platforms and geographies. Land Systems balance medium and large caliber ammo in terms of backlog contribution, as you will see in the next slide.
We continue to diversify the end market geography, resulting into decrease of Ukraine contribution from 27% as of the year-end 2025 to 17%, including both direct and indirect sales. Even though the demand from Ukraine remains strong at the same time as we don't see any change from the last quarter. On page nine, we highlight the continued increase in our backlog and pipeline over first half of the year. It reflects strong intake in new orders across the period.
Total backlog increased to EUR 17 billion in 2026, up from EUR 15 billion in December 2025. That means 15% year-to-date growth and represents 2.4x coverage ratio of our half year LTM revenue. Together with pipeline increase to EUR 29 billion means EUR 46 billion of total opportunities as of the end of June 2026. Total order intake ratio in first half of 2026 remains strong at 1.5x , similar to what we presented on our previous earnings call for Q1. Sizable and growing backlog gives us multi-year revenue visibility.
Our active pipeline, combined with our demonstrated track record converting pipeline into firm contract, drives our long-term growth momentum. On page 10, we are showing that the revenue growth is driven by strong momentum across our Defence Systems business. This reflects the sustained demand we are seeing both within our core European and NATO markets, as well as demand coming from increase and increasing from available markets.
Within our Defence Systems, medium and large caliber ammo continues with a very high demand, but starts to be more balanced by the Land Systems at the same time. Group EBIT margin was still at 24.1% for the half year. Within Defence Systems, we keep focusing on our vertical integration program and strategy, confirming our target we've set for it to be by end of this year, by end of 2027. For the time being, as of June 2026, we achieved EBIT margin 29% for the Defence Systems segment. What is also important is the recovery in Ammo+ margin through the record quarter to 8%, which means the same level as we achieved for the full year of 2025.
At the same time, Ammo+ is still improving further on the U.S. market, enabling us to rebuild volumes and improve pricing to mitigate the majority of the impact from increased copper price and achieve better margins. By the way, the margin in the second quarter has been 11% on EBIT. At the group level, looking ahead to the remainder of the year, as typical also for European defense peers, deliveries and revenue recognition are weighted towards the second half of the year. Our strong execution to date means that we are well-positioned for the second half of 2026.
At the same time, we've secured the majority of critical components needed to fulfill the backlog for the remainder of this year. As a result, all full-year 2026 and medium-term guidance is reaffirmed. Let me now turn to performance and operational developments across our two core segments, Defence Systems and Ammo+. Starting with Defence Systems on page 11, which made up about 81% of group revenue and which brings together our businesses in Land Systems, medium and large-calibre and related technologies through Aerospace & Defence Electronics and Advanced Systems.
Execution remains our primary operational focus here. Order intake remains strong and continues to build. At the same time, we continue to effectively manage the supply chain lead times, including, for example, export licensing. All of that means that our backlog is converted into deliverables and revenue. Revenue was EUR 2.6 billion in the first half of 2026, 27% up year-on-year. Operating EBIT increased 22% year-on-year to EUR 754 million and margin of 29%. Continuous work on efficiency and ongoing vertical integration supported the achieved results.
At the same time, split of revenue by geography continues to diversify, as we've already mentioned. We've seen continuous growing demand from both NATO members as well as from NATO allies countries from Southeast Asia and Central particularly. The revenue contribution from outside of Ukraine now stands at nearly 80%. In parallel, the strong growth of Land Systems means that this sub-segment is now 17% of the Defence Systems business.
We continue in our strategy and plans, increasing our own production capacity and focusing on automation, robotics, and new production lines. This all underpin our sustained growth and ambitions to expand the margins. On page 12, I would like to focus a bit on our Medium and Large Ammo sub-segment, which delivered another period of growth up 20%. The business here delivered on three fronts. First, our vertical integration and projects are all on track.
Second, we are looking at supply and critical components. Third, pricing is holding firm and strong demand as well. Starting with vertical integration, our new facilities and projects are progressing on schedule, and each one takes us farther up to supply chain. In Greece, our Lavrio site is already producing 155 mm ammo. Base bleed production starts this year, and TNT production is on track for the end of 2027, as we already mentioned.
Our German nitrocellulose facility remains on target for the end of 2027. Our propellant and joint venture with Eurenco in Slovakia should start the production by end of 2027 as well. Extended or long range, as we may name it, is where it matters the most now. Demand is shifting, and we are ready for it and removing bottlenecks to address that.
Energetics as well as the propellants, bimodular charges and others, which are setting the range of the medium and large-calibre accounts for around 50% of production costs when talking about 155 mm long range type. Producing such energetics ourselves is our goal within the vertical integration programs, and we are running it, and it's expected to cut propellant costs by approximately half once fully ramped.
This is the main driver behind our margin ambitions beyond the current level. Our own production of artillery and tank ammunition for 2026 is expected to be around 850,000 pieces. Supported by approximately another 400,000 pieces from the recommissioning. At the same time, 60% of 155 mm production should be long range as of the end of this year, which will have a positive mixed impact on our financials. Our pricing demand and constraints on critical components continue to support the price levels.
We see no meaningful pricing pressure in the current order book. Land Systems subsegment on page 13 is showing fast-growing, with revenue approximately doubled in the first half of the year to EUR 445 million. Operating EBIT margin at a healthy 17% remains weighted to the phase. Land Systems now contribute approximately half of overall group backlog and pipeline. We also launched CSG Land Systems North America, opening up a significant new addressable market for our products.
On integrated solutions, our vehicles are becoming the foundation for a growing range of advanced defense capabilities, air defense in particular, and combination our Tatra platform with radars, command control system, and others is giving customers flexibility and complete mission-ready solutions. Aerospace & Defence Electronics on page 14 is where we are building for the next phase of the growth.
Demand is evolving quickly. We are expanding existing capacities and adding good news. Contribution to the group revenue in the first half of 2026 was EUR 58 million as a standalone business. More important is strategically, as a part of integrated solution, we increase sale. Recently, CSG unveiled Trident, a new modular air defense system, combining short, medium, and long range together with the ground-based command platforms, advanced radar, electronic warfare integrations, and protection against drones.
This is only one of the examples how significant integral part Defence Electronics is into this Land Systems products. We also launched MAESTRO, the fully remote air traffic control tower platform with AI, which should extend our dual-use radar and air traffic management portfolio. In Advanced Systems, we are building a leadership position in turbojet, which is one of the most demanding part of the long-range drones and missiles.
Demand for CSG products from Middle East and Asia is a growing driver here. We also secured a strategic partnership with Ukrainian Armor for the development and supply of advanced propulsion systems for guided missiles and unmanned platforms. In the U.S., we announced a new Wisconsin plant to serve U.S. and international customers with first engine produced this year and serial production from 2027, as Michal already mentioned in his speech.
We are looking further, not only developing what we have, but also moving into the new fields. Autonomy, AI, and space are the areas where we are actively exploring. Ammo+ division on page 15. For that, we can see two main positive developments in the first half of 2026. The commercial market has turned, and our position with the U.S. government and law enforcement is getting stronger.
Revenue was EUR 631 million or 19% of the group revenue in the first half of this year, with EBIT EUR 51 million. More important, with the EBIT margin improving to 8% back to the 2025 level. On the commercial side, we have seen a steady recovery in both volumes and profitability since Q1 2026. Pricing firmed after increase. This has helped us to offset some inflation pressure, particularly when talking about the copper as a critical constituent to produce small-calibre ammunition. We also deliver on our strategy to increase Defence business and law enforcement business there.
We strengthened our relationship with intelligence agencies through approximately $100 million contracts. We reached an agreement with the U.S. Army to use patented Peak Alloy case technology across multiple cartridges and weapon systems. On page 16, it is worth spending some time and moment on working capital, its shape through the year, and what drives it. Net working capital at June stood at about EUR 2.9 billion, representing about 4% of LTM revenue. The build is deliberate. We are investing ahead of the production ramp-up to address the demand and growth.
It follows exactly the pattern we described at Q1 and follows our expectations. We are pre-stocking key long lead time components to secure our supply position ahead of accelerating our deliveries in the second half of this year. This sits mainly in medium and large caliber ammo through both direct purchases and advances given to the suppliers. Second reason is that first advance payments received have been converted into delivered revenue. That represents a mechanical reduction, and it reverses through new advances in second half of the year.
This seasonality has been expected and mirrors 2025, when a comparable first half build was followed by a material unwind during the second half of the year and fourth particularly. Decrease of the net working capital by 20% to reach guided 20% net working capital level at year-end 2026 represents a number approximately EUR 1.5. That is the amount which should be released as a cost of production, and finally will be converted together with the margin into the revenue in second half of 2026. Accounting revenue to go to meet the year-end 2026 guidance, such EUR 1.5 billion of net working capital to be released represents approximately 35% of the production cost.
Taking into consideration facts that first, majority of that is medium and large caliber ammo, and majority of that will be long range production, where the components and energetics are approximately 50% of the production costs. Second, that we expect other advance payments from the customers in second half of this year are coming. I'm confident to confirm our guidance of net working capital level to be below 20% of the revenue at the end of this year. On page 17 and on the next slide, we are giving more clarity to the drivers.
We have broken the working capital build into five components. Backlog and demand. Second, Land Systems, share of backlog and pipeline addressing the longer program cycle, more demand to working capital levels. Third is Land Systems delivery in second half of 2026, which is also a bit more demanded on the net working capital. Four, long range mix. And fifth, our own production share in a medium and large caliber ammunition for the plans for 2026. Land Systems delivery, long range mix, and our own production confirms my previous comment about cash to be released from the net working capital and our confidence about this.
On page 18, our cash flow and CapEx funding strategy. Operating EBITDA less CapEx was EUR 740 million in first half of 2026, up EUR 54 million or around 8% year-on-year. That's a strong underlying cash result. Free cash flow reflects two things. First, EUR 1.2 billion deployed into the working capital to address the ramp up, and second, higher tax payments, which are weighted into the first half of the year, particularly in second quarter, and are not linear, but rather one-off for only second quarter. CapEx was just below 4% of revenue, with cash conversion at 80%.
That's the pace of investment so far in capacity expansion and automation as we've guided. Free cash flow is expected to be according to the guidance by year-end 2026, mostly through release of the net working capital. At the same time, we expect the CapEx intensity to end up at expected level of 8.5% of the revenue as of the year-end. Connecting cash flow to the debt position and capital allocation on page 19. Here I would like to highlight steps we have taken to optimize our financing profile. Last month, we announced a refinancing of certain senior facilities.
That reduces our cost of debt by approximately 125 basis points- 150 basis points per annum and extended the maturity profile to six year without impact on leverage position. It also includes new sizable commitment, committed RCF, this gives us a flexibility in financing net working capital versus free cash to be used for the investments and CapExes. Net leverage 1.6x is according to expectation, copying the same trajectory as in year 2025, and we expect to reach our year-end leverage target of below 1.3x as guided.
To summarize the key takeaways on the page 20. First, I would like to highlight that the revenue momentum is strong with a record backlog in Defence Systems. Second, we are winning in our core markets and diversifying beyond them, both in geography and by products, that gives better quality of earnings. Third, we are scaling medium and large-caliber Ammo capacity successfully and our vertical integration projects are on track.
Four, Land Systems is growing strongly, it's providing it can deliver in demand integrated programs, just not the vehicles. Fifth, in Ammo+, U.S. market has recovered, we are investing to make sure capacity matches the demand. Finally, we are making strong moves into high-growth air defense and counter UAS market. We are very active in these areas today, and we intend to increase our role there. That brings me to the page number 21, where I would like to reaffirm the guidance as we've provided at the IPO for the revenue to reach EUR 7.4 billion-EUR 7.6 billion as of the 2026, with the operating EBIT margin range between 24%-25%. CapEx intensity 8.5% of the revenues.
Net working capital, as already mentioned, below 20% of the revenue, and the net leverage below 1.3x . All the midterm guidance is also reaffirmed that we will be growing mid-teens organic CAGR, with the margin to be up 26%-28% minimum, with the CapEx intensity 4%-5% in the midterm. That brings us to the end of our presentation, we are now happy to answer whatever questions you may have.
To ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one and one again. We will now take the first question. From the line of Ross Law from Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.
Good morning, Michal, Zdeněk , and Peter. Two questions, if I may. The first is on your ML ammo division. You've continued to invest in vertical integration here, most recently with the nitroglycerin site. How close are you now to being fully vertically integrated within this sub-segment? What more needs to be done? The second question is on the Ammo+ segment. We saw a very strong recovery in margin in the second quarter. How sustainable is this, and how should we think about the Ammo+ margin for the full year? Thank you.
Yeah. So I will start with the medium and large caliber ammo. Overall, we are more or less done. We have invested into all the necessary strategical components. As we said, by the end of 2027, we will have all the strategical components under one roof, so we will not be missing any of the strategical component, including propellants, different types, propellants, TNT, nitroglycerin, and other components which are needed for the short range and mainly long-range ammunition.
On the Ammo+ margin, let me answer that. How sustainable is that? In the second quarter, as I mentioned, the margin reached 11%, and we feel this is the sustainable level and it should even improve slightly throughout the year. I was mentioning on the last earnings call that we expect this year the EBIT margin to reach a double-digit, which I can affirm now. This is the trajectory we can see. The demand is there, and we don't see any signals that it should be otherwise.
Great. Thank you very much, both.
Thank you.
Thank you. We will now take the next question from the line of Chloé Lemarié from Jefferies. Please go ahead.
Yes, good morning, Michal, Zdeněk. Thank you for taking my question. I would start with a follow-up on Ross' question on the nitroglycerin site acquisition, actually. Does that create new cost-saving opportunities from your perspective from vertical integration of triple base propellants, or is it more so that you secure your production needs going forward? The second one, I wanted to ask about the own production indication on your medium large ammunition slide. Just wanted to understand why H1 went down to 500,000 versus the end of 2025, or if it's really the half your production, why wouldn't you be able to reach-- Thank you.
Answering to your question, the first part is the answer is both. It should first increase our vertical integration as such and secure our supply. The second, it's an integral part of our vertical integration strategy in terms of the cost savings and the ramping up of the margin. It should be both. The second one, the 500,000, I'm not sure where this is coming from. It's a production, but the capacities are 850,000, as we stated at Q1. It is expected to reach 840,000 pieces our own production this year, as I mentioned. The capacities are elsewhere. 500,000 is now currently being our own production, roughly plus minus.
Okay. Thank you so much.
Pleasure.
Thank you. We will now take the next question. From the line of Sebastian Growe from BNP Paribas. Please go ahead.
Every morning, it's Michal, Zdeněk, and Peter. Thanks for taking my questions. It's three overall. The first one would be on Land Systems. You mentioned that Land Systems already contributes half to the group order backlog, and now you've also launched the CSG Land Systems North America business. My question is if you could comment on the opportunity that you see there and which programs are you targeting and how should we think about product certification, et cetera? Maybe we can start there. Then I have two more.
Yeah. I will maybe comment on opportunities. As you know, U.S. defense market is the biggest defense market in the world. We can see that the next year budget should be around $1.3 trillion . We would like to definitely be there. Coming back to your question, in terms of the Land Systems, we don't need any special certification.
Our products are NATO certified. What we need is the localization on which we are working on through the partnership or through the possible acquisitions. We are currently running more than three programs in the Land Systems, which are worth billions of U.S. dollars. I think that's all what we can say now, because we are obviously in some kind of confidential mode there.
Okay, that is helpful. The other question is just a quick follow-up to the comments that you made before then also around the ammo business. It's actually two quick ones. The first is on the latest Ammo+ acquisition, if you could also help us with the agreed purchase price. Secondly, I don't want to count beans here, but quarter-on-quarter, it seemed that the ammo business margin was a little down from 32%, I think in the first quarter to now 30% or so in the second quarter. Is there anything to call out in terms of mix, et cetera? I think you raised the overall target for the large or long-range part for the full year. I was just curious to hear the exact sort of developments and quarterly.
Medium/Large caliber Ammo margins are 31%, it's pretty much stable above 30%. True is that's also one thing why we are confirming our guidance for the revenue. True is that the lead time, the longer range together with the Land Systems is somewhat longer. In terms of transferring from production to revenue, maybe a little bit longer than it used to be. The swing of the margin by one percentage point we see as a technicality rather than whatever else behind it material.
On the purchase price?
Purchase price are stable. We don't see any price pressure as I mentioned on our backlog as we speak now.
No, sorry. I meant for the asset acquired in Germany, the other one.
For the Gnaschwitz?
Exactly. Yeah.
I don't know if we can disclose that.
It's been several dozens of millions of euro.
Okay. Very lastly from me, just quickly on M&A, I think you had a bit of a commentary than made on the strategy on the last conference call. In the meantime, apparently we have seen some developments around KNDS and I was just curious if you might be willing to share what and how it might have impacted your discussions here.
We cannot comment it at this stage, but it's the same like we still monitor the situation, but there are no, let's say, current concrete actions.
Okay. Thank you both.
Thank you.
Thank you. We will now take the next question from the line of Atinc Ozkan from Wood & Co. Please go ahead.
Thank you for taking my questions. I have three actually. The first one is regarding Ukraine. Evidently, the share of Ukraine in your revenues has been declining. Given that now country has access to €90 billion of funding from EU, do you think there will be a reversal in this trend? That's the first one. The second question is regarding U.S. market opportunity. As you know there is the self-propelled howitzer modernization program where some of your competitors such as Elbit, BAE, and Hanwha are already pitching.
The prototype testing has already started. Do you think is it too late for you or do you see yourself as still lucky given your expertise in mobile howitzers? That's the second question. The third one is, given the recent trend in affordable mass and the continuous missile tender in U.S. and your Wisconsin plant investments, can you give us an updated guesstimate about future revenue contribution from propulsion systems under your Advanced Systems division? Thank you.
Okay. Let's start from the last question regarding the turbojet engines, then I will address the Ukraine and MTC.
The strategy with the turbojet engine, following what we've presented already during our previous earnings calls. The Wisconsin one should be an integral part of the overall capacities and backlog and pipeline and everything. If you are asking me what should be the contribution, that should be in a midterm, several hundreds millions of euro equivalent coming from that.
What is important to say that this Wisconsin facility will mainly supply to the U.S. producers of unmanned solutions and missiles. It's because of the localization and because of being closer to the customer. If it is okay, I will go to the next one. MTC, Mobile Tactical Cannon, just for your information, we are in with our system, our complete howitzer, and we are there also as a chassis supplier to our competitor. We have basically much higher probability that we will get at least the part of the business, if not the whole mobile tactical cannon, at least the chassis, which we can possibly supply as a chassis provider to our competitors.
Sorry, does that mean you'll be producing Tatra in U.S.?
There is such a probability. Yeah.
Thank you.
Regarding Ukraine, look, we can see some significant movements in Ukraine now. There are the new tenders coming out. We are participating in these tenders, so if we will be successful, if we win some of those, obviously, the possibility that we will get additional revenues from the Ukraine, it's true, but I don't think so that it will increase overall percentage of the group revenue.
I can confirm that because it looks like demand from Ukraine is still continuing and even increasing. The point is that we are diversifying and increasing elsewhere than Ukraine, particularly for the Land Systems, but not only. It will be gradual and decreasing in time.
If I may ask just one final one, given that I'm Turkish, I'm really curious about the JV with FNSS. When do you think you'll be starting producing the medium tanks?
Okay. The process already started, so we are preparing the facility, we are preparing all the necessary steps which needs to be done, but the production itself should start in Q1 next year.
Perfect. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. We will now take the next question from the line of Pavel Ryska from J&T Banka. Please go ahead.
Good morning to everybody. First, congratulations on the very strong set of results that you posted. I have a couple of questions. The first one, yet one more about Ukraine. Recently, there have been statements by senior military officials in Ukraine that the intensity of fight along the front line has diminished this year and that the war has changed in nature. Do you see this affecting the demand for your M&L products that are supplied to Ukraine? That's the first question. The second question, you just spoke with Atinc about the Karpat tank. Is there any concrete order that you have obtained for this product?
Look, first of all, for the Karpat tank, we have not received any order yet. We are in the negotiations with several European customers, and that's why we have created such a JV in order to serve to the NATO European customers, but there is no any signed and funded order yet. Regarding the Ukraine, we don't see any change. We see demand Still the same, still strong. What we can see is a shift from the short-range ammunition to long-range ammunition, mainly because of the longer distance of the kill zone. Yeah.
I see. Thank you. Maybe one last question. The facility in Wisconsin where you are going to start the production of the propulsions. I didn't understand from your recent announcement whether there is already a factory or a facility that you have or if it is being developed at the moment, if you are starting with that.
There is already the building. There is already the facility we are installing now, all the machinery, all the testing benches, and the basically necessary machinery to be able to produce propulsion systems there.
In a nutshell-
Okay. Thank you.
...the site already exists. We are just bringing the technology.
I see. Thank you very much.
Pleasure.
Thank you. We will now take the next question from the line of George McWhirter from Berenberg. Please go ahead.
Good morning. Thank you very much for the questions. I've got two, please. Firstly, on Ammo+. You highlighted that say 70% of expected H2 revenue for the group is under contract, with 30% still to be booked. Can you just comment on what the revenue under contract is in Ammo+ in H2, and is that in line above or below where you normally are at this point in the year? The second question is on material cost inflation in the business, and you talked a little bit about copper in Ammo+. Can you comment on how you expect material cost to trend in H2 versus Q2 across the relevant materials for you? Thank you.
Yeah. Okay. Let me start with the coverage of the second half revenues. You can see 70/30 split, but that's for the total group. 90%, as you can see also within the comments, 90% of Defence Systems revenues is already under the contracts, and the remainder is mostly the U.S. civilian market, which is NFC type. If I'm not mistaken, approximately EUR 500 million is a backlog coming from the Ammo+. That's the number you were asking for. The second one, the copper price.
The copper price has been mitigated through already two price increases we've done on the U.S. market. Since we are the biggest there, we are pretty much price maker as well as the vast majority of the volume makers. All the competitors followed, logically, because they are facing the same. Through the two increases of price, we mitigated almost fully the impact from the copper price. If there is any additional increase on the copper price, which is not expected from the analysis we can see for the year-end, we may be considering an additional increase of the price. The demand is not changing, so we feel confident about this.
Thank you very much.
Pleasure.
Thank you. We will now take the next question from the line of Petr Bartek from Erste Group. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. I would like to ask about the share of long-range ammunition in the large ammunition segment. Do you expect 50% for this year? Could you provide an estimate, what do you expect in the midterm, where the share could grow? Also, what is the margin in long-range ammunition versus the standard? Is it the same or slightly higher? What would be the midterm impact if it grows further? My second question would be regarding the new factory, which you are planning for nitroglycerin in Germany. If you can provide any details regarding timing, expected cost savings, et c. Thank you.
Okay. Starting from the first, the split between long-range and standard range. Going forward, we would like to reach a minimum split 70/30 long-range, standard range. That's the minimum. That's what we currently see as a split of demand. This is why I am confidently saying that. The second was the margin. Margin is better within the long range. Partly coming to your third question, we expect the improvement of these margins throughout the vertical integration. I was mentioning during the presentation that approximately 50% of cost of production is driven by the components and the energetics, whereby our nitrocellulose, nitroglycerin, bimodular charges production and all of it is the production of the energetics which are.
The highest cost there. Saving 50% of that should significantly increase the margin. Coming and connecting this to the guidance, 26%-28% in the midterm, that is a product change, so we will be significantly increasing the margin in medium and large caliber ammunition. But as you can see in the Land Systems, we are currently at the 17% of the EBIT margin, which is then diluting is bad. Throughout the product mix, we will be increasing the margin significantly in medium large ammo, more moderate on the group level because of the product mix.
Thank you.
The timing for the factory in Germany, is that something in line with Greece and-
The nitroglycerin? Yes. The nitroglycerin is expected by end of 2027, full production.
Thank you.
Pleasure.
Thank you. We will now take the next question from the line of David Perry from JPMorgan. Please go ahead.
Yes. Hi, Michal, Zdeněk, and Peter. Hope you are all well. A few questions, please. First two are on M/L Ammo. Can you just talk a little bit about the order pipeline, discussions you're having with customers and any contracts that we should keep an eye out for? Secondly, I think at the Q1 call, the slide said you expected 50% of 155 mm to be long range this year. Now you're saying 60%. I'm not sure if that's production or sales. Given the huge price difference, just wondering why you haven't raised the sales guidance given that mix shift.
The third one is just on the engines that you're developing for drones and missiles. You talk about, Michal, targeting several hundred million euro of sales, which was about, I think, also what you said at the IPO. I'm just wondering why it's not much, much higher than that, because it seems to me the demand would be almost infinite. Is there a production ramp issue or am I misunderstanding the potential? I think you've signed a deal with Ukraine at Eurosatory. If you just talk to that. Thank you.
Yeah. Hi. I will start with the last question regarding the turbojet engines. There is much higher demand. The issue is basically a ramp-up of the capacities and also the certification of the new platforms, because every time you would like to be used by the new armament or the new missile system or systems, you need to be certified, which should take some time. That's the one thing. The main issue is ramp up of the capacities. We can sell much, much more, but we do our best in order to serve our customers. I agree with you that there is additional future potential of growth on which we are working heavily. Regarding medium and large-caliber ammo, I think that Zdeněk can address.
Yeah. Hi, David. We are talking 60% of our own production versus 50% of the revenue. We need to count also the commissioning going on top of that as a part of revenue for this year, just calculation. You were asking also why we are not increasing our guidance. I was mentioning that during the call. Production of the long range and the Land Systems is slightly longer lead time.
Meaning, transforming the production to revenues in the second half, since we are increasing our own production of the long range plus the Land Systems may be postponed to the year 2027. We planned that carefully during the IPO and during our guidance, and we are pretty much still there. I was reaffirming for this year the guidance, and I feel really confident about that. Please remind me what was your first question about the ammo?
Yeah, the last question is just I haven't seen any sort of big orders for ammo from new customers. I just wondered what the pipeline was like and if you could just talk about any discussions you're having and potential big contracts that might be on the horizon.
Look, there are many contracts in the pipeline under the negotiations. You could see that just few weeks ago, Croatia joined the procurement of medium and large caliber ammo with Slovakia. There is this like a EUR 58 billion framework agreement, which is kind of like a European platform, which other countries can join. Croatia already joined, it is signed, and there are more than eight customers from Europe which are currently under the contract negotiation, either directly or they will join this Slovakian framework agreement. I think that soon you will see a few announcement about the large caliber ammo.
It's pretty much, David, copying the phase as it has been, for example, last year. The first quarter, first four, five months, we are announcing the new deal. The purchase are there, the orders are coming. There is a production period, I would call it, then in the second half there will be others, it's a normal course of our business as I can see it.
Okay. Well, look forward to that. Thanks a lot.
Pleasure.
Thank you.
Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star one and one on your telephone. We will now take our next question from Sriram Krishnan from Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead.
Hey, thank you so much for the opportunity. I just have couple of quick questions, if I may. The first one is actually on the recommissioning part of the M/L Ammo business. Pretty helpful that you provided that 30% of FY 2026 revenues on M/L Ammo could be from recommissioning. Just wondering how should we think beyond that. How quickly is the recommissioning revenues winding down? Should we expect this to wind down entirely by 2028, for instance? That's the first question. The second one, can you provide us an update on where we stand on the NATO certification for your small caliber business? Thank you.
Okay. I can just comment the certification for the small caliber business is from 80%-85% done. It means that 85% of the portfolio is certified because you have several types of small caliber ammo. 80%-85% is done. Some of the models or the types are missing, but it will be done within the weeks.
In terms of the differentiation between the revenues coming from the own production versus recommissioning, it's pretty much the same. You have to consider if you are recommissioning stuff for the long range, the lead time is almost the same. Okay.
Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.