Hello and welcome to the CSG Q1 2026 trading update conference call. Today's presentation will conclude with a Q&A session. For those joining by phone if you wish to ask a question during the session you will need to press star one one on your telephone keypad, you will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised if you need to withdraw your question, please press star one and one again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I will now hand you over to Peter Russell, CSG Head of Investor Relations, to open today's conference. Please go ahead, sir.
Good morning, everyone. It's a pleasure to welcome you to the call and our Q1 update. Today's speakers are Michal Strnad, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board, and Zdeněk Jurák, CFO. Michal will start with an overview of how CSG is currently positioned in the market, followed by the company's Q1 financial highlights. Zdeněk will provide a more detailed review of our quarterly performance. After the remarks, we'll open the line for questions. We ask that you take a moment to review the disclosures on slide two, which outline important information regarding forward-looking statements and the use of non-IFRS measures. With that, I'll hand over to Michal.
Good morning to all of you, and thank you for joining us today. I will turn to our Q1 shortly. Before that, I want to remind everyone of the strengths of the CSG businesses: our model, our strategy, and how we execute. In our commodity defense systems businesses, CSG enjoys scale and expertise in ammunition production. Our production network is a core asset. We operate production and assembly facilities across Slovakia, Spain, Serbia, Greece, and India. This network is robust and growing. We have a clear goal to our own production of large-caliber ammunition. We are delivering ahead of plan. Capacity on an annual basis was more than 800,000 rounds at the end of Q1. We are well on the way to 1.1 million rounds in the medium term. We are also seeing a mixed shift towards extended-range ammunition.
In 2026, we expect this to account for more than 50% of artillery ammunition sales. Zdeněk will speak about production in more detail shortly. Vertical integration and in-house production are central to our strategy. We are bringing more of the supply chain in-house: propellants, components, and subsystems. Take, for example, the build of bi-modular charges artillery plant in Slovakia. Or our new joint venture in Greece, where 155mm production is already underway. More recently, the acquisition of a stake in Hirtenberger Defence Systems to expand our capacity and product portfolio. Every one of these moves reduces input costs and strengthens our control over quality and delivery. This is how a serious defense manufacturer builds long-term competitive advantages. CSG is a trusted supplier to NATO governments. We have been winning contracts for years, and we continue to do so. Our credentials have been extensively vetted.
This includes by the U.S. government, which confirmed CSG as a trusted owner of U.S. defense assets. This trust was recognized with a $635 million contract to design and build the future artillery complex in Iowa for the U.S. Army. We are the only European defense group ever trusted with a project of this nature in the U.S. The pace and quality of CSG's recent deal activity reflects the group's status as a partner of choice in defense. In 2026, CSG has won significant businesses across both Europe and international markets. Recent contract reports include large-caliber ammunition, armored vehicles, and air defense systems. Land systems now represent 48% of our backlog, up from 40% at year-end. Our revenue is also increasingly diversified. Ukraine represented 21% of group revenue in Q1, down from 27% in 2025. We are delivering through a broader customer mix.
This includes a $2.5 billion air defense systems contract win in Southeast Asia. We are also leading with new technology. In advanced systems, we are scaling up production of turbojet engines for long-range UAVs, a market we are strongly positioned to serve. Our customer base, our contract pipeline, our regulatory track record, and our Euronext listed status all reflect a company that meets the highest standards of integrity and compliance. Finally, I want to be clear about the minority shareholder position in CSG Land Systems. As has been widely reported, an approximately 10% minority stake is held by a former executive. Any potential liability in connection with this matter sits outside of the CSG Group and eventually will be between me personally and the minority holder. There is no liability at the CSG level whatsoever.
CSG will not have any obligation to make payment or issue new equity, which would be connected to this case. There is no cash flow leakage, and 100% of cash flows remain assigned to CSG regardless, nor have any special rights been assigned at the group level to the minority holder under any scenario. Let's turn to the results. The headline figures demonstrate a strong performance across all key metrics. We delivered a revenue of EUR 1.5 billion, driven by strong momentum across our core defense systems businesses. This represents underlying year-over-year growth of 13.8%. Our main measure of profit operating EBIT was EUR 372 million. This resulted in a margin of 24.1%. This margin performance keeps us at the top of our European defense peer group. Our total backlog and pipeline under negotiation reached a record EUR 44 billion.
This provides exceptional revenue visibility and evidences the long-term structural demand we see in the market. The group remains highly capital efficient. Net leverage at the period end was 1.3x . We maintained strong cash conversion at 92%. CapEx intensity was 2%. We have remained disciplined in our capital allocation. As the year progresses, we will want to invest significantly in production capacity expansion and modernization to serve demand. Net working capital as a percentage of revenue was 31.7%. This reflects our strong build of inventory to support a record order backlog. We remain confident in our full-year guidance of below 20% and expect the rate to improve through the year as deliveries are completed and working capital is released. Looking at our revenue composition, defense systems drove close to 8% of the group revenue. This segment includes our medium and large ammunition and CSG Land Systems businesses.
These made up 68% and 11% of total revenue, respectively. Our other businesses segment, Ammo+, contributed 19%. Overall, this was a very pleasing set of results. Thanks to this strong start to the year, we remain confident in our full-year guidance. I'll pass you over to Zdeněk, who will take you through our market positioning and performance in more detail.
Thank you, Michal. Welcome, everybody, also from my side. Hello and thank you for participating on this call. Jumping straight after the key highlights to page seven and going to the more in-depth for the backlog and the pipeline. Order backlog increased again compared to December 2025 to EUR 17 billion, and pipeline increased at the same time to EUR 27 billion, as Michal mentioned, overall meaning EUR 44 billion of total backlog and a pipeline as of the first quarter 2026. Increase of the backlog is driven mainly by CSG Land Systems, keeping a continuous strong demand for M/L Ammunition. Pipeline increased to EUR 27 billion at the same time, including also first EUR 1 billion coming from the Slovakian framework EUR 58 billion contract. More from that contract is expected to come also in the coming periods.
Similar to revenue, CSG Land Systems is balancing going forward the medium and large-caliber ammunition despite the really continuous strong demand throughout the medium and large-caliber ammunition subsegment. On page eight, we are explaining our group performance bridge, where the contribution of the revenue as of the first quarter 2026 to expected year-end 2026 total revenues is expected to be approximately at the same level as last year, which means approximately 20%, and that is even with the weak contribution of the Ammo+ subsegment in the first quarter of 2026. Similar contribution, meaning 20% of the total yearly revenues, is also expected to be in the second quarter, and the higher is to come in the second half of the year. Operating EBIT margin consistent with the year-end 2025 at 24.1%, despite a weaker Q1 in Ammo+ and driven mainly by the defense systems business.
Ammo+ margin expected to recover as the market is recovering in the U.S., and Q1 margins in that subsegment have been driven mainly by the uncertainty around the tariffs in January, and then pretty much driven by our investments, which we made in February and March to address the rapid market recovery trend and investments to get back to 24/7 production due to high demand, especially after the conflict in Ukraine started. On page number nine, we are deep diving into the defense system division. Strong order intake from NATO members and diversification to Southeast Asia are the key highlights here, together with keeping superior margins on the market, both on medium and large-caliber ammunition as well as on the land system sides.
All the projects for vertical integration are running according to plans, and even better if we slip straight to the next slide, where I will show you our progress in terms of our production capacities, as has been also mentioned by Michal during the first part of this presentation. On page number 10, starting this page with a detail about the medium and large-caliber ammunition subsegment performance, where we have recorded a 22% year-on-year growth of revenue and keeping margin above 30%. Our 13 production sites have been further developed, and we have introduced an increase of our own production capacities through our efficiency programs and investments into automation. All of that ends up in capacities of our own production, so meaning excluding any recommissioning, amounting to more than 800,000 of the artillery and tank ammunition as of the end of Q1 2026.
More details you can find on the bottom right side, where we are expressing the capacities and the guidance where we should end up by end of 2028, as we've provided during the IPO process. Further capacity expansion projects are running, and total expected capacities in 2026, excluding recommissioning again, should allow us to produce more than 850,000 rounds of artillery and tank ammunition in 2026. At the same time, approximately 50% of the revenue from artillery ammunition should be coming from a long-range type of this ammunition. How we want to achieve the capacities to finally reach the mentioned own production of 850 rounds in 2026 is shown on the next slide, number 11. Slovakia, Serbia, Greece, Spain, and India, those are the currently running projects.
Next to nitrocellulose, which is mentioned under number four on the right side of the slide and which is running well and according to the plan, we want to be ready for the further expansion for long-range ammunition production, for which the bi-modular charges are one of the critical components. We've started projects which you can see as number one and which has been also mentioned by Michal in Slovakia, called ZVS Strážske. Setting up this joint venture in Slovakia, where the bi-modular charges will be produced in cooperation with Eurenco and for which German project will be sourced the nitrocellulose, is one of our key projects we are currently running. Other projects for expansion of our own production are focusing mainly to automation, modernization of the capacities, and keeping the scale production next to the vertical integration.
On the next slide, I would like to a little bit deep dive more into the capacities as such. On page number 12, I would like to show you how we operate and where we have the capacities in Slovakia. Through the three facilities and three different locations, we are obtaining around 500,000 rounds of our own annual production capacity of artillery and tank ammunition, with a still potential and our plans to be increased. Next to that, to obtain the mentioned 800,000 rounds per year of our own capacity, we have 200,000 in Greece and 100,000 in Spain as of Q1 2026. Both Greece and Spain are planned to further increase the capacities for our own production, especially of artillery and tank ammo, as well as the capacities which should be developed in India, which has been also mentioned throughout the projects we are running on the subdivisions.
On the next slide, moving from medium and large-caliber ammunition to the land systems. Year-on-year, significant increase of revenue confirming guided trend for our land system subdivision, with operating EBIT margin at the level of 15%. Steps which we've done recently, like partnership with PGZ or Rába, are giving us additional capacity and space for expansion, particularly in our existing facilities. EUR 20 billion of total backlog and pipeline for land systems gives us also a visibility and certainty over the revenue and margin in the longer periods.
On the next page, number 14, defense electronics and advanced system subdivisions, now presented together as products and R&D programs which are currently running, are very close, and we use both subdivisions to scale the new operations in turbojet engines and air defense products, applications, and software for that subsegment. 4% EBIT margin is a starting point, mostly for turbojet engines, where the production just started back in 2025 and now is further developing to the planned capacities and margins in terms as we've provided in the guidance.
As you can see on the bottom right side, backlog and pipeline for turbojet engines are copying the introduced production and capacities according to the plans and according to our guidance, where we've stated that approximately mid-hundreds of millions EUR should be coming in the mid-term as a contribution to the group revenues. Defense electronics as a prime contractor for EUR 2.5 billion defense systems, expecting to grow according to guidance which we've provided as well. On page number 15, coming back to the several times mentioned Ammo+, market started to recover in the second half of February.
We can see very high demand where we were comparing, and when we were comparing March 2026 to March 2025, we can see more than 50% increase of the orders in that particular month. We have invested in Q1 to increase and address that production back to 24/7 operational, and we expect to recover the Ammo+ subsegment revenue, both revenue and the margin, according to internally approved budgets for 2026. That should be coming back in terms of margin to the double-digit area. Supporting the business strategy to move to defense in this subsegment more, we can confirm that the NATO certification of the U.S. products in Europe is going according to the plan, expected to be done at the end of the second half, and starting quarter, we should be able to be participating in the tenders in European NATO members.
At the same time, The Kinetic Group, as a producer on the U.S. market, won a significant contract in the U.S. worth more than approximately $100 million with a key U.S. law enforcement. All the steps we've made should bring us back to the double-digit margins by end of 2026, as I mentioned, supported also by the two planned price increases during this year to address mainly the price increase of one of the critical components, which is copper. Since we are the market leader in the U.S. market maker, we feel very confident that the market will absorb the price increase without any impact to the current demand.
On page number 16, I would like to walk you through the net working capital. Net working capital swing is mainly driven by the own production capacity increase and the land system. To ensure enough critical components and material, we've invested into net working capital through either direct buy or safety stock, or through the advance payments given to source the capacities and to secure those within our suppliers, mainly in terms of the propellant explosives before we are fully vertically integrated, but also, for example, for the critical components in terms of the land systems applications. Comparing to last year, the total amount of investment into net working capital is lower, and I'm confident, according to production plans, which we can see, that we will end up below 20% level of the net working capital to revenue as of year-end 2026, according to the guidance.
Moving to page 17, where we are presenting a cash flow, which is very much connected to the net working capital as well. As you can see, in terms of the operating cash flow, we grew almost by EUR half billion year-on-year, despite net working capital requirements. Through the release of the cash from net working capital, which is expected by end of 2026, we are confident to meet the guidance in terms of the cash generation in 2026. At the same time and connected to our capital structure, we will be working further to optimize the cost of our capital structure in 2026. CapEx are expected to be covered from a free cash flow in 2026, supported by the strong cash flow position on the balance sheet. You may see the CapEx intensity relatively lower than expected and guided from the starting point.
Procurement lead times, construction milestones, and the commission schedules mean the majority of spend will crystallize in the second half of 2026. To sum up, all of the confidence about the free cash flow is supported not only by the strong performance and the visibility on the cash flow, but also by a very comfortable strong cash on balance sheet, which we are presented on page 18. Coming to that, the actual capital structure, strong cash position on the balance sheet as mentioned just on the previous page, net leverage lower than 1% as also expected for the year-end 2026, according to the guidance. We are, at the same time, continuously working on the optimization of the capital structure, focusing mainly to have an optimal split in the loans and the bonds, moving to the investment-grade structure, and further optimize the cost of the debts.
On page 19, I would like to summarize what you've just heard and what we were walking you through the presentation and highlight the key messages to be taken away. First one will be strong revenue and record backlog and the pipeline underpinned by a secure EBIT margin. Diversification not only to the new geographies, but also more balanced production of medium and large-caliber ammunition and the Land Systems, expected to be also in going forward and subsequent period. Successful increase of medium and large-caliber own production capacities, which shift from standard to long-range type. Vertical integration projects running according to plans. Last but not least, the help of the production in highly growth air defense and UAVs market.
Last page is page 20, where we would like to reaffirm our guidance for 2026 and the mid-term. The only change now you can see is the expected leverage to be below 1.3x. Openly saying here that this is with the buffer, and within the expected cash flow, the confidence about the cash flow going forward and excluding any M&A, it should be even closer to the 1x rather than below 1.3x. That is bringing us to the end of our presentation. Thank you very much for your attention, and we are happy to answer any of the questions you may have.
As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star 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 Sebastian Growe from BNP Paribas. Please go ahead.
Good morning, everybody. Thanks for taking my questions. I have three for me. The first one is on the minorities. I can sort of understand that you cannot disclose the status quo with regard to single minority owners in the various subsidiaries. However, I was hoping for greater clarification with regard to the absolute P&L impact that is related to those minorities. After you recorded EUR 180 million of minorities in FY 2025 on the P&L, can you give us an indication what you deem appropriate in the year 2026? Would it be fair to assume that this line item is then going to move in tandem with the operating profit growth of CSG in the years thereafter? That's the first question. I have two more.
Yes, I can address this question, and thanks for this. Well, if we come back to the 2025 results and if we do the pro forma, the minorities according to the new structure as set up within the IPO would be approximately EUR 120 million. I expect for 2026, the net of the minorities should end up in a P&L around EUR 150 million going forward. That is coming mostly from the joint ventures we have established, particularly in Slovakia and Greece. Going forward, this is expected to be it's not anything new, and this is according to our plan as we had done.
Okay, that is helpful. The next one is on working capital. In the bridge, it looks as if the former receivable of EUR 275 million that was related to the group structure optimization, that this has been cashed in. Can you just confirm that in quarter one, the cash flow benefited from the cash received in that very amount, i.e., the EUR 275 million?
Yes, I can confirm. In Q1, this EUR 275 million mentioned in the prospectus for IPO, coming from the carve-out of the non-core defense business, has been fully settled in cash.
Okay, perfect. The last one on the operations on Ammo+. You mentioned the return to a double-digit margin in the coming months. Following the uptick that you have seen in demand since February and the mentioned price action that you have taken, what is the expectation for the 2026 revenues in the segment? Might it turn out to be flat year-over-year? When you point to that double-digit margin, am I right to assume that this is an after-PPA amortization margin? Can you remind us of the PPAs that you would plan for in the year 2026?
Yes, this is after the PPA. The PPA adjustment has been done only in 2025. Now it's continuing to be according to IFRS. Whatever you can see on the balance sheet or on the subsegment coming from that. There will be no adjustment, simply said, in 2026. The expectation is to come back to the years which has been before 2025. I would assume that the recovery depends on where the price of the copper will be pretty much, but it is expected back in double-digit, which would be giving us somewhat more than one and a quarter billion of revenue coming from that.
Okay, sounds good. Thank you so much.
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. Thank you for taking my question. I have two, if I may. The first one is on the performance in M/L Ammunition. Within the 22% growth in Q1, could you maybe share how much was driven by own production and how recommissioning evolved year-on-year in revenues? The second one is a clarification from the question you just answered from Sebastian. In terms of the settlement in cash on the EUR 275 million, can you confirm that this is included in your free cash flow number, or does that fall below the line in the cash flow statement? Thank you.
Coming to the first question, the vast majority of the production in growth is from our own production. We expect also that the vast majority of the revenue in 2026 will be coming from our own production of the medium and large-caliber ammunition. Second point, in the cash flow, it has been rather reflected in the change of the net working capital than the cash coming from any settlements. It's a normal settlement of the receivable and payable between that. It's reflected in the free cash flow calculation.
Okay. Very clear. Thank you.
Thank you. We will now take the next question from the line of Michael Raab from Kepler Cheuvreux. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, everyone. Thanks for taking my question. I'd like to get back to the frequently debated issue of the minorities. Just to get a confirmation on that, is there any liability related to any other minority you intend to buy out on the balance sheet of CSG?
No.
Just for you to confirm that perhaps isn't? Okay. You said no. That's good. Just to confirm that I got something right, for the minority stake in the P&L, my understanding is, based on what you said, that you initially expected the minority stake to amount to EUR 120 million in the P&L, but you now rather calculate it's going to be EUR 150 million roundabout simply because the idea to buy out those minorities hasn't been realized yet, right? The minorities are still sitting there.
No.
Basically trading your plan, or is that wrong?
No, no. I would like to correct you a little bit, if I may. The EUR 120 million.
Yeah, please. Go ahead.
No, no. I'm sorry. EUR 120 million would have been pro forma after all the minorities, which went out pre-IPO, would be out as of the end of 2025. Now it is expected, since we are growing and since also business with our joint ventures is growing, we expect EUR 150 million in the P&L for 2026.
Okay. The increase in the expected amount is not related to the fact that so far.
Not at all.
There are still some minorities in there that you failed buying out as opposed to your original plans?
No, no.
Okay. Thank you.
Pleasure.
Thank you. We will now take the next question from the line of Pavel Ryska from J&T Banka. Please go ahead.
Good morning, everybody. First of all, congratulations on the very solid set of results in the first quarter. I have two questions. The first one regards the recovery on the Ammo+ level. I would like to ask about more color, where the recovery is coming from. Is it from the commercial market, or is it related to the war with Iran so that military is basically demanding more of small-caliber ammunition?
It's basically both. First one, as I mentioned, we increase and we are continuing to deliver one of the key over EUR 1 billion contract for small-caliber ammunition in defense. Second, we've signed and won the contract with the law enforcement in the U.S. Third, yes, obviously, the commercial market is recovering very much as well because of the uncertainty in the U.S. coming mostly from the Iran conflict.
Thank you. That is very helpful. My second question regards Tatra. There seems to be pretty high demand for your Tatra chassis across the market, and there have been media reports that there are some disagreements with the minority shareholder in Tatra over capacity expansion, CapEx, etc. Is this resolved, or do you expect a smooth increase in capacity of Tatra in the coming years?
Okay. I will start to address that question. There is no impact whatsoever. We continue to cooperate with Tatra. Tatra is our JV, so it's fully. The operational as it should be. About the minority agreement, I can refer to Michal's comment, the business and the growth and the capacities are according to the plan. They are growing according to guidance and according to expectations.
Yeah. Okay. Thank you very much.
Pleasure.
Thank you. We will now take the next question from the line of Sriram Krishnan from Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity. I've got a couple of questions, if I may, please. The first one is actually on the recommissioning part of your Ammo+ business. Would it be possible for you to give a bit more color on the outlook, especially in terms of the stability which you have in this business? Especially, we hear news that the Czech Ammunition Initiative for 2026 is still not fully funded. Any color around the outlook in that part of the business would be pretty helpful. The second one is a bit on the Hungary part. Under the new administration, we hear that some of the existing defense projects, including the funds coming from SAFE funds, are being reviewed. Is there any risk of any of CSG's projects coming the way? Thank you.
Addressing the recommissioning expectations and the capacity, as I said, the vast majority of the production is expected to be from our own production. If you look at the guidance and if you look at the composition of the medium and large-caliber ammunition, you may expect approximately or more than 400,000 rounds this year coming from recommissioning when comparing to more than 850 coming from our own production. This is where we stay now under the current backlog and pipeline and the production we can see. There is no whatsoever concern about any struggling with the sourcing in terms of the recommissioning, and it's not connected to Czech Ammunition Initiative only. We have the demand coming from all the NATO members. Clearly, as you can see, it's not the initiative or not the only business we are running.
In terms of the Hungary, we are confident in the industrial logic and the legal basis of the deal. I think it's not time to speculate at this point further because we have not received any information or signal.
Okay.
Thank you. Thank you. We will now take the next question from the line of David Perry from JP Morgan. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, Michal and Zdeněk. Hope you're both well. My congrats as well on the good numbers. A few questions, please. One's a small clarification. I think you guided very clearly just on the last question on the own production ammo. I think you said 850,000. Just to be clear, does that include medium caliber, or is that just the large caliber?
It's just the tank and artillery, so it's just the large.
Okay. Any color at all on medium caliber?
Well, medium caliber is expected to be delivered in several hundred thousand of pieces. I don't have the exact number in front of me, but it's roughly about 200,000 also.
Approximately. Yeah. That's increasing, is it?
It is. By 2028 in terms of the medium, our plan is to exceed 400,000 pieces per year. Yes. Coming back to the page number nine, if I'm not mistaken. 10. Sorry. Page number 10, bottom right side, where we are expressing where we should end up by end of 2028 in terms of the capacities.
Okay. Okay. I missed that. Thank you. You've given us I don't think you've given this to us before, but you mentioned the M/L Ammo margin being 32%. Was there anything unusual in Q1, or is that the kind of margin we should think about for the year?
Well, you should think about this also going forward. We were providing an information through the IPO process that we are slightly above three months of the relevant subsegments of our peers, which is pretty much exactly what we were talking about during the process and during the presentations. I believe going forward, this should be around this area, starting with a three.
Okay. Great. The last one was just your comment on leverage, that it could be 1x. Does that include expected outflows for M&A this year, or is that just on an organic basis?
Oh, it's excluding M&A. If we just simply do the math, we would be probably closer to the 1x. I am more prudent in this case and keeping some space and openly saying that.
All right. Thank you very much.
Pleasure.
Thank you. We will now take the next question from the line of Atınç Özkan from WOOD & Co. Please go ahead.
Thank you very much. I hope you can hear me clearly. Atınç from Wood & Company. I have three questions. The first one is regarding your recent joint venture with ASELSAN. When should we expect that to be active? Rheinmetall is experiencing a significant surge in short-range air defense revenues, I think with Iran war, that market will get even hotter. What are your expectations from a revenue generation perspective for this joint venture? That's my first question. The second one is the same question for your new JV in Azerbaijan. I think you are expecting EUR 200 million, can you provide some more granularity when we should expect that to start happening? The third one is last week, I visited the SAHA Expo Defence Fair.
You guys were present there, but I also had the chance to speak to your subcontractor, ARCA Defence. I do remember you had a EUR 2 billion subcontract with them in 2024. Is this relationship still intact? Thank you.
Yeah. I will start from the back. Regarding Arca Turkey, it was the framework contract for different kinds of components. It was not, I would say, used all of these two [talents], but the contract is still active, and as per the need, we give them order for the concrete components if we need. Regarding Azerbaijan, yeah.
I will take the Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijan, we are developing together with the Ministry of Defense there the air system solution. It is now being tested. If that is tested and going well, we expect approximately the first 100 pieces of these air defense applications coming as an order for the next three years, roughly around EUR 400 million.
That's the one part. The other part is that we have also set up the JV for the maintenance and the modernization of the platforms. That's what we have announced a few weeks ago. It's already operational. A few first, I would say, land system platforms are already in, so the work has started, and we expect first revenues this year. In terms of the ASELSAN, we are currently forming the, I would say, industrial base and the scope of work of these air defense systems. We expect first orders to come this year and the first revenues next year.
Can you elaborate on potential, let's say, size of those orders? Is it going to be small initially? Because I think counterdrone is getting more important for everyone, including Gulf countries, not only Europe.
Yes, you are right. Look, our expectations is that in the next year, revenues, it will be several hundreds of millions of euro.
Perfect. Much appreciated. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. We will now take the next question from the line of Sebastian Growe from BNP Paribas. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you very much for taking my follow-up question. It's on the U.S. artillery factory. You mentioned the $635 million contract to build that very plant in Iowa. Can you remind us of the strategic opportunity that you see in that market, both in artillery but also in regards to medium calibers, and how should one think of the cadence here? Would you first need to complete that very artillery plant before you might be eligible to seek other opportunities, if you can just kind of walk us through the potential in the U.S. in particular?
Look, we believe a lot in our expansion in the U.S. market. It's the biggest defense market in the world. This project for the artillery complex in Iowa is in the construction phase, so everything is as per the plan. On the top of it, we are discussing with the U.S. Army and with U.S. governments, several other significant potential contracts, not only in medium and large-caliber ammo but also in the land systems. It means tactical vehicles and other artillery systems.
Can you also give us a certain timeline, or is this kind of really up in the air as to when you might then also be successful in winning any contracts, or is it relatively visible that something will come up?
Some of them should be resolved Q3 this year and the other Q4 this year. Till the end of this year, we should have a clear visibility if we are going to execute such a contract.
Okay. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you. We will now take the next question from the line of Chloé Lemarié from Jefferies. Please go ahead.
Yes. Thank you for taking my question again. I have a couple on M&A, actually. On the comments on M&A and the leverage targets, should we read into this that your limit for firepower this year would be to go up to 1.5x net debt to EBITDA, or is this just a rough indication of what you could dedicate to M&A this year? The second one is on the discussions around taking a potential stake into KNDS. Could you maybe share if you had discussion with the existing shareholders, or is this something very preliminary at this stage? Thank you.
Okay. I will answer the first question, and then I will leave to Michal the second part. First question about the M&A. M&A is not counted in the net leverage, and I don't come with that. The goal is to be still at an investment-grade position. That's the first goal we are mentioning. I will be keeping the leverage at that position irrespective of the M&A. M&A is simply not counted into that calculation and the guidance.
In terms of the KNDS, look, we are here to talk about our strong quarterly performance, and it would not be appreciated to comment on media speculation. That being said, we have an active M&A program, and we evaluate suitable options. Our priority is transactions which reinforce our value chain or strengthen our long-term competitive positioning. Potentially, KNDS is definitely on the list.
Thank you. Thank you.
Pleasure.
Thank you. We will now take the next question from the line of David Perry from JP Morgan. Please go ahead.
Yes. Thanks. Just I thought of that as one more as well. Michal, there's lots and lots in the newspapers about some changes in the battlefield and the greater use of drones as opposed to ammunition. Perhaps it would be helpful for investors just to have a bit of comfort. Can you talk about the pipeline of order campaigns for ammunition? Which countries are you in active talks with? Are they framework agreements? Are they single agreements? Just anything we should be looking out for or could expect in terms of M/L ammo ordering would be helpful. Thank you.
Medium and Large-Caliber Ammo, we see still a very strong demand. We had negotiations with more than 10 countries in Europe for the concrete orders or for the framework contracts because we still can see, and it will continue like this, that the stockpiles are empty and the NATO European countries need to replace or refill their stock. We feel very confident, and I am sure that you will hear soon about a few new contracts for the European countries. Some of them will be directly, and some of them will be through this EUR 58 billion framework contract with Slovakia.
Okay. Addressing, David, yeah, addressing your point about the order intake, I can only comment and guide you so that you have a better visibility over that. I can tell you that book-to-bill as of Q1 2026 in first quarter has been more than 1.5x .
That was for the groups, isn't it? The one and a half?
Yes. The one and a half for the group.
Okay. Thank you both.
Yeah. With pleasure.
Thank you. We will now take the next question from the line of Sebastian Growe from BNP Paribas. Please go ahead.
Apologies for another follow-up. When flipping through the slides, I couldn't find the related minorities' impact on the P&L in the first quarter. Could you just be so kind to give us a number? That's all. Thank you.
Yes. I don't have it in front of me if we haven't got it. Let me follow up, and I will send this separately.
Okay. Thank you so much.
Thank you. There are no further questions at this time on the phone. I would like to hand over to Peter Russell for any webcast questions. My bad. There is one more question on the phone, and it is from the line of Pavel Ryska from J&T Banka. Please go ahead.
Thank you very much for the last follow-up questions. More general ones. The first one, what immediate implications or future implications do you see for your business coming from this new conflict in the Middle East, which is now taking longer than first anticipated? Second, Germany is now proving to be the biggest spender and has the biggest rise in defense spending coming up in the next years. Where do you see your potential to supply weapons or other systems to Germany, either directly or indirectly through another contractor? Thank you.
In terms of the Middle East conflict, we see the significant inquiries mainly for the ammunition and the air defense systems coming in. We can see the big movement in terms of the increases of the heads of Middle Eastern countries. That's the trend, what we definitely see. We have already signed a few contracts for the Middle Eastern countries in order to support their armies. That's the one. In terms of Germany, we definitely see that the German defense budget and the German army is pushing the quota. It will be one of the biggest defense budgets in Europe. We are already in Germany through our Walsrode Nitro Facility plant. We are planning there also some production of some other products from the portfolio, mainly connected to the ammunition components and the ammunition itself.
You are right that we have other strategic plans in terms of Germany, which we don't like to disclose now, but I am sure that you will hear soon.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Pleasure. If I may, just one comment coming back to the minority question. I have the exact number in front of me. Thanks for inviting. We will be showing this going forward. The minority now in P&L is EUR 32.5 million. Exactly according to the guidance I was provided, about EUR 150 million for this year plan. I hope it ends up with the person who was asking.
Thank you. I would now like to hand over to Peter Russell for webcast questions.
Thank you. Most of the questions have now been addressed in the conversation. Just a few additional points for clarity. A couple of questions from Petr Bartek from Erste Group Bank. The first is, were there any one-off, non-recurring OpEx in Q1 or any other financial costs that were one-off in nature? The second question concerns M/L Ammunition, just a follow-up to some of the conversation already. How should we think about conversion? M/L Ammunition pipeline into backlog over the course of the next few quarters, and what type of growth expectations should we consider?
Coming to the first question about the non-recurring or one-offs, there are none, not material at all. The answer would be no. There are no significant one-offs. Second point, the conversion. As I was guided, the book-to-bill in the first quarter has been 1.5x respect to the group level for medium and large ammunition pipeline. Going back, I have been answering in a sense that I expect that the 20% approximate of the revenues contribution Q1 to the expected year in 2026 is also expected for the second quarter. You may expect book-to-bill ratio to be approximately at the same level.
That's great. Thank you very much, Zdeněk. I think for now, that's all the time that we have for questions. The team hopes to look forward to continuing the discussion in our scheduled calls, and those will start very shortly. We thank you for your time. Back to the operator.
Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.