Welcome to Exosens 2025 full-year results presentation. For the first part of the conference call, the participants will be in listen-only mode. During the questions and answer session, participants are able to ask questions by dialing pound key five on their telephone keypad. I will hand the conference over to Laurent Sfaxi, Head of Investor Relations, to begin today's call.
Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. I'm Laurent Sfaxi, Head of Investor Relations at Exosens, and I'm joined today by Jérôme Cerisier, CEO, and Quynh-Boi Demey, CFO, who will present Exosens full-year performance and discuss our 2026 and new midterm outlook. This presentation will be followed by a Q&A session, during which we will be happy to take your questions. I will now hand over to Jérôme.
Thank you, Laurent. In the second year following our IPO, we delivered a strong performance, exceeding our guidance across all metrics. First, growth. Our revenues reached EUR 468 million in 2025, up 22.1% compared with the previous year, outperforming our high teens growth guidance. Second, profitability. Adjusted EBITDA amounted to EUR 151.6 million, representing a 26.6% increase, ahead of our expectations of low twenties EBITDA growth. Our EBITDA margin reached a record high at 32.4%. Third, cash generation. We generated EUR 57.3 million in free cash flow over the period, achieving a 73.6 million percent of cash conversion, fully in line with our 70%-75% guidance range. This strong performance enabled us to maintain a low leverage ratio of 1.3 times the adjusted EBITDA. In 2025, we continued to sustain growth in the defense and surveillance market.
We continued to invest in capacity expansion to preserve our leadership positions and also to invest into R&D to remain at the edge of the technology. Altogether, this position puts us strongly to sustain our growth in 2026 and over the midterm, and we'll be happy to go into more details now. We have in this midterm, beyond the ambition to reach EUR 1 billion revenue. Our end markets are still different, which represents now 75% of our sales. Life sciences, 10%, industrial control, 11%, and nuclear, 4%. Defense and surveillance is our largest market, is driven by the return of high-density conflicts, the growing need for advanced tactical capabilities, be it in night vision, but also in advanced products, in new technologies requiring mass effects.
We benefit from short acquisition cycles, allowing us to have a fast ramp-up and rapid deployment with significant operational impact on the field. Industrial control, second, is in this market, our sense, our sensors create the data required to power artificial intelligence-driven industrial production. We contribute to enhanced product quality control, to faster automation, and to robotics. Life sciences, is supported by increasing demand for advanced detection and imaging solutions for drug research, drug discovery. Nuclear is driven by global decarbonization trend and renewed focus on nuclear energy. The market is also supported since, as we speak, by rising needs driven by fast artificial intelligence development requiring more energy. Overall, we are positioned in niche markets characterized by a high technological barrier to entry. Exosens is fully into the defense cycle.
This defense cycle is fueled over the long term by geopolitical backdrop and rising tensions. We are seeing a proliferation of geopolitical tensions across multiple regions, from Eastern Europe, of course, in the Middle East to Asia-Pacific, alongside with terrorism risks and broader security threats that have not disappeared. This environment is directly translating into higher spending in defense globally, with a long-term view and long-term visibility for defense-related demand, and Exosens is part of this part of this movement. This changing environment drives a profound transformation of global defense. First, the nature of warfare is changing, evolving towards high density, but also higher attrition conflicts. There is more consumables and things that needs to be in mass consumed on the field.
There is an increase in drone and drone, counter drone, and sensor-based, let's say, activities on the field, with a greater emphasis on human-machine teaming and digitally augmented soldiers, augmented warfare, augmented assets. At the same time, as a consequence, the defense industry itself is reshaping, requiring high volume, scalability, and technology at the same time, simultaneously. Development cycles are accelerating, Exosens is uniquely positioned by combining technology, scale, and adaptability in an evolving environment. In this defense paradigm, defense and surveillance represent about 75% of the group's total revenue. Be it in night vision, in portable electronics, in surveillance, in platform imaging, or in drones and counter drones. We still have a large acumen on in Europe, with 64% of our revenues, and especially in Germany, which represent 25% of our total revenue in 2025.
Perhaps, let me now dig a little bit more into our two segments. In amplification, we had several several successes this year. First, we secured the largest ever image intensifier tube contract with OCCAR, exceeding EUR 500 million of revenues in image intensifier tubes. Including represented by a supply of over 200,000 16mm tubes to be integrated into night vision goggles for the German Armed Forces and for the Belgian Armed Forces. More broadly, the demand remains strong across Europe, with additional contracts in countries such as France, Spain, also out with Northern Europe and Eastern Europe. The demand remains also strong in other parts of the world, in Asia and, and, and of course, in the US, where in the years to come, the market is expected to expand.
Second, we remain at the forefront of innovation with the launch of the 5G, which we launched last September, and which is already seeing some nice commercial successes. This is a breakthrough technology, the 5G has seen rapid market adoption with three early adopters: Theon, Thales, ACTinBlack, and illustrated also by a major order for 7,000 units from ACTinBlack to equip European special forces over the next few years. Finally, we strengthened our portfolio through the acquisition of NVLS, expanding though, thus, our offering in night vision, manportable devices and integrated solutions. At the same time, also to be mentioned, we completed the divestment of microwave amplifiers, in line with our strategy to focus on higher-value activities. Overall, the amplification segment demonstrates strong execution, sustained demand, and continuous technological leadership.
The night vision market, let me go quickly, quickly over it. Just mentioning here, that Exosens is well positioned to capture market growth in Europe, in the Middle East, in Asia, and gaining traction in the US with the announced decision to produce in the country. While night combat is becoming a necessity, equipment levels remain well below the one soldier, one goggle, the one-to-one level, and that creates massive equipment needs ahead of us. Facing growth, Exosens follows a strategy to expand capacity, allowing us to invest in additional capacity where it makes sense, step by step and while demand strengthens. Since 2020, we have more than doubled our output through successive expansions.
In 2025, as a reminder, last year, we announced EUR 37 million investment to expand production in both Europe and the U.S., targeting a total 40% increase by 2027 compared to 2024. This plan is designed to further strengthen our global footprint, enabling us to meet global growing demand in Europe, in Asia, and also in the U.S. Looking ahead, in response to accelerating global demand, we will continue to actively assess demand, assess the opportunity to increase further our capacity in steps, in staggered steps, to capture any additional revenue growth that we foresee. In the U.S., specifically, our plans are progressing as we wanted them to. The factory implementation is well underway. Key equipment has been ordered. The initial personal number have been completed, ensuring, let's say, a smooth operation for the current stage well.
By 2027, we expect that our facility will represent 10%-15% of the total, more importantly, it is a facility that is ready to scale further for further capacity expansions as the success on the market or the demand would require. From there, from the US, we will have an ITAR-controlled production, positioning ourselves and Exosens to serve both the single largest market in the world, but also internationally, the rest of our customers with both ITAR and ITAR-free products. We there are ready and will be ready to serve the DND customers. Let me now turn to the key highlights of our detection and imaging segment. First, we continue to expand our customer base in defense and surveillance, working well with leading and mainly high-end OEMs, particularly in drone-based applications.
We are also seeing a solid momentum of in our commercial market, with new wins in high-performance mass spectrometry, electron microscopy, semiconductor inspection, driven by our design and approach, where we co-develop with the customers the very specific component that they require for their high-end specific applications. Second, innovation remains at the core of our strategy. We launched several cutting-edge products, particularly for defense, for surveillance, for homeland security applications. We launched the MicroCube XP, an ultra compact thermal core optimized for drones, for platforms. We launched the Airborne Nano, a compact hyperspectral stabilized camera for drone integration for ground surveillance and observation, both in environmental control, but also in general surveillance.
Finally, we completed in 2025, two Bolt-on acquisitions, Noxant, enhancing our capabilities in cooled infrared cameras, and specifically for surveillance applications, and Phasics, expanding our expertise in wavefront sensing technology. Overall, D&I combines accelerating commercial momentum across defense and surveillance, continued innovation, disciplined strategic expansion of our portfolio. To say a little bit more, perhaps, on the defense part of the detection imaging segment, which represent about 10% of our total revenue in 2025. This is the doubling, by the way, compared to 2024, where it represented around 5%. Digital imaging is becoming increasingly important in mission-critical applications in identity, warfare. The armies require enhanced situational awareness, real-time threat detection, camouflage, de-camouflage, tracking, and all of that is well served by high-end optronics equipment that we provide.
Our portfolio covers three main areas. First, the platforms, where we provide visible, infrared, UV sensors and cameras, including solutions for missile warning systems. We market, which we see growing at about 8%, on a medium-term per year. Second, drone and counter-drone applications. As battlefields become increasingly drone and sensor-based, demand for high-performance visible and infrared imaging solutions continues to accelerate, and this market we see with a medium-term growth up to 17% CAGR over the next few years. Third, surveillance, where we deliver advanced visible infrared systems for monitoring, detection, and protection missions, where we see this market growing at 10% over the next few years into it. Overall, digital imaging is becoming increasingly strategic and a strategic pillar within our defense and surveillance activities.
A good combination with amplification, which is more ground-based and soldier-based, land forces-based, which positions overall at the core of next-generation multi-domain operations, using optronics as the key sensors and multi-sensor source of information on the battlefield. Let me now turn to D&I commercial markets, starting with industrial markets. That represent about 11% of our 2025 revenue. We have the artificial intelligence-enabled vision that is now percolating in the industries, in the factories, is creating a new paradigm for industrial markets. This drives increasing demand for real-time value visual inspection, for advanced imaging, for predictive monitoring capabilities. In machine vision and process monitoring, imaging systems are becoming more critical for real-time quality control and predictive maintenance. In semiconductor inspection, the increasing chip complexity, the rise of 3D architectures, demands higher high precision, lower wavelengths, advanced imaging systems.
I n electrical inspection, the advanced artificial intelligence growth and electrification are putting pressure on the existing power grids, boosting the demand for more energy, but also boosting the demand for having state-of-the-art, well-maintained power grids as any other critical infrastructure. This is where we provide critical cameras. Overall, imaging is becoming a structural growth driver across all the industrial markets. In life sciences, which represent about 10% of our revenue, we also have different markets. Mass spectrometry. Global inventory adjustments that we saw in 2025, and that drove a temporary slowdown in demand, seem to be behind us, and we continue to see now a structural shift toward higher performance systems, together with higher level growth. Electron microscopy remains under pressure due to partially due to academic funding in the issue that is constrained.
But the private sector demand growing, supported by increased R&D spending, low-carbon materials, new discoveries, batteries, fuel cell manufacturing, semiconductors testing. Overall, structural demand for higher performance technology, the most analysis tools, in fact, is there to support long-term growth prospect in our, in, in our products. Nuclear, our fourth pillar. It represents about 4% of our revenue. T he rising demand for carbon-free e- energy, fueled by the rapid expansion of AI-driven data centers, but more generally, by the electrifications of many usages, is driving unprecedented power needs, and nuclear energy seems more and more seen as a reliable, scalable, low-carbon solution. We hold positions across all segments: larger reactors, small modular reactors, research reactors. We have a strong market recognition, a unique radiation detection technology.
As an example, in SMR, we are actively engaged with leading players to hold technology leadership in high-temperature fission chambers, a critical component for certain new generation reactors designs. This concludes my remarks for on our business performance and the overall, let's say, view of our business in different sense of areas, in industrial markets, industrial control, in life sciences, in nuclear. I will now hand over to you, Quynh-Boi, who will discuss our financial results.
Thank you, Jérôme. As a quick pre-preliminary comments before we dive into the numbers. As of 31 December 2025, we completed the sale of our Microwave Amplifier business in the U.S. Under IFRS 5, this activity is now reported as discontinued operations, so you will see its results and cash flow presented on a single line, separate from continuing operations for both 2024 and 2025. You will not find the EUR 394 that we reported last year. We have EUR 383 now because we removed the Microwave Amplifier that was sold. Looking back at 2025 performance, we delivered both strong growth and margin expansion. First, on growth. We grew 22.1% on a recorded basis and a 12.7% on a like-for-like basis. Still, a very solid underlying momentum.
Just a quick reminder on the scope effects to understand the like-for-like bridge. To be comparable with 2024, we need to exclude five months of Centronic that we acquired in July of last year, of 2024, and four months of LR Tech that we acquired in September 2024. On top of that, we also need to exclude the 2025 acquisitions, Noxant in February, NVLS in July, and Phasics in October, to present a clean like-for-like view versus last year. What does this growth tell us? First, it confirms our ability to ramp up capacity and capture opportunities in a fast-growing defense market, as just, Jérôme just outlined. In amplification, this translated into roughly EUR 50 million of additional revenue. Second, it demonstrates our disciplined execution for our M&A strategy.
We closed three acquisitions in 2025, contributing to EUR 33 million of additional revenue in detection and imaging, where we focused our external growth efforts. On profitability, we achieved 24% growth in adjusted gross margin, reaching now a 50% gross margin. This reflects on the one hand, higher volumes, and on the other hand, margin expansion, which I will detail in the next slides. Let me focus now on the performance by division, starting with amplification. Amplification mainly addresses the defense market. The growth this year was largely organic, as NVLS was only consolidated from July. We delivered 18% growth overall, including an almost 15% organic growth, which is primarily volume-driven. What is particularly strong here is that while ramping up volume significantly, we also improved gross margin by 187 basis points, reaching 50.5% gross margin.
Most of this improvement comes from better yields. The positive price mix effect helped offset the dilutive impact from NVLS. This really demonstrates our operational excellence. We have been able to scale production significantly over the past few years while maintaining quality and improving efficiency. Turning to detection and imaging. D&I addresses industrial and commercial markets for about two-thirds of the business, while defense now represents roughly one-third. We delivered a 28% growth, including the contribution from our acquisitions, and the like for like basis growth was 5%, which marks an improvement compared to H1, where we were at -2.5%. As a reminder from our half-year goal, with the new U.S. administration, we saw a slowdown in U.S. scientific research investments, and uncertainty around tariffs also delayed purchasing decisions from some of our customers.
We continue to face softness in life sciences, scientific research, and environmental markets, and on top of that, we still face also uncertainty from tariffs. However, this is being offset by growing demand for imaging and protection systems in defense applications. As Jérôme outlined earlier, cameras and drones, long-range surveillance systems to detect large-scale drone attacks and missile warning systems installed on aircraft and armored vehicles. The stronger momentum in defense explains the acceleration we saw in the second half, with H2 growth reaching +11.3%. D&I's gross margin came in at 48.3%, which is broadly stable compared to the 48.6% in 2024. The slight dilution mainly reflects the impact of acquisitions. We delivered basically class EBITDA margin of 32.4% and EBIT margin of 27.3%, which are record high for us.
That reflects our strong positioning in the market with a high level of technology and industrial know-how. While we delivered growth and margin expansion, we also controlled our cost structure, benefiting from scale effects. This resulted in a 115 basis point improvement in EBITDA margin and 172 basis point in EBIT margin. Let me briefly walk you through our net profit. Bottom line, we delivered a EUR 42.7 million in net profit. This includes a EUR 27.5 million net loss from the sale of our Microwave Amplifier assets. This loss is largely non-cash and triggered the activation of around EUR 6 million of deferred tax assets in the U.S. Strategically, this transaction allows us to redeploy capital towards activities with stronger growth, higher margins, and better synergies within the group.
If we exclude this impact, net profit from continuing operations reached EUR 72 million, more than double last year's EUR 34 million. There are three key drivers behind this improvement. First, we grew our operating profit, but what we also had is last year we had EUR 40 million of one-off IPO-related consulting fees. Second, following the IPO, we refinanced and restructured our debt, significantly reducing our financing costs. Third, the higher tax charge simply reflects stronger performance. Our cash tax rate was about at 18% as we continue to benefit from tax loss carryforwards in France, which are available until the end of 2026. This reflects a structurally stronger financial profile and a solid operational momentum. Let's go now to free cash flow, slide 36.
We generated EUR 57.3 million in free cash flow, which is consistent with the level we achieved in 2024. While EBITDA increased, the positive impact was partially offset by higher working capital needs, which is expected given our 20% growth in activity. A large part of this increase is tied to inventory built in response to sustained demand. Efficient inventory management allow us to reduce our in-inventory as days of sales by three days. Importantly, we maintain tight control over CapEx even as we scale operations. As a result, we achieved a cash conversion ratio of 73.6%, which is stable versus last year, and fully in line with our guidance of 70%-75%. Finally, let's turn to our leverage, as shown on the slide.
Thanks to strong free cash flow and disciplined CapEx, net debt remains well controlled, keeping leverage at a comfortable 1.3x our EBITDA, preserving financial flexibility. Given our strong financial performance and robust cash generation, the board of directors decided at its meeting on 20 February, to propose a cash dividend of EUR 0.3 per share for the 2025 fiscal year. This represents a payout ratio of 22%, which is fully in line with our dividend policy of 20%-25%, reflecting our commitment to returning value to shareholders while maintaining financial flexibility. I'd like to briefly touch on sustainability, which is fully embedded in how we manage and grow the group.
It's not a parallel agenda, it's integrated into strategy, risk management, and operational discipline. Our roadmap is built around four pillars: sustainable partnerships, social responsibility, environmental sustainability, and governance with purpose. On climate, we set our 2030 and 2050 decarbonization targets aligned with Science Based Targets initiative, covering Scope 1, 2, and materials of 3 emissions. We aim for a 42% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 by 2030, and 90% across all scopes by 2050, using operational levers like energy efficiency, heat decarbonization, and renewable electricity. Action plan with at site level are already integrated into investment and CapEx planning. On the social and governance side, we strengthen our HR policy, health and safety, diversity and inclusion programs, and expanded compliance and anti-corruption processes.
These efforts were recognized with the EcoVadis Gold Medal that places us in the top 5% globally. Sustainability is fully embedded at board and executive level, with KPIs linked to executive compensation, both on short-term and long-term incentive plans. In short, for us, sustainability means resilience, control, and disciplined execution, which is fully in line with our financial strategy. Now, on M&A. What we said at the time of the IPO is that our strategy combines both solid organic growth and targeted bolt-on acquisitions. Our ambition is to become the natural consolidation platform in electro-optics. We remain very disciplined in how we approach M&A. First, we look for high-value technological assets that complement our portfolio. When developing a technology internally would be too slow or too risky, acquisition allows us to accelerate while reducing execution risk.
Second, targets must operate within our four core verticals: defense and surveillance, life sciences, industrial control, and nuclear, and expand our addressable market while strengthening our competitive positioning. Third, we prioritize companies that have already reached industrial scale, with proven customer references and leadership in their niche markets. That said, we remain open to earlier-stage players when the technology is emerging and strategically critical for the future. What do we bring to these targets? We bring a strong commercial platform to expand market reach, operational excellence in manufacturing and supply chain, and a powerful technology base with deep R&D expertise and a robust patent portfolio. This result is. The result of this is accelerated growth, and a more diversified and resilient business model. Our D&I segment, for example, has grown from EUR 82.5 million pre-IPO to EUR 150 million today.
Beyond growth, these acquisitions support margin enhancement and stronger cash generation through synergies and operational leverage, as you can see in the next slide. Noxant, for example, which we, yeah, which we acquired in 2025, is a very good example of what we aim to do with M&A, with technology as a key decision criterion. It gives us double market expansion, both in defense and surveillance and in scientific and industrial markets, and it increased our addressable market by around EUR 500 million. Noxant's revenue grew 52% versus 2024, benefiting from very strong tailwinds, particularly in long-range ground surveillance. The momentum is clearly there. What's important is that we were able to accelerate production capacity expansion, thanks to Exosens operational expertise and capital support.
That's exactly where we add value, helping high-potential technologies scale faster and more efficiently. This concludes my remarks, and I will hand over to Jérôme, who will discuss our medium-term focus.
Okay, thank you, Quynh-Boi . Just briefly, perhaps on our markets. We are positioned on different markets compared when we look at the different segments or businesses we're serving. Importantly, these markets for the midterm are seen to grow for light amplification and a portable 20 from 10%-12% for industrial control, high sensitivity transformation, more in the high teens range. Importantly, I wanted to underline that over the last acquisitions and the last business development initiatives we've taken, our addressable market has grown, which results in market share that, okay, for amplification remain at the as the number one position with the 80% market share, as a very high market share.
For the other ones, our position as well on growing markets, in market where we are expanding our addressable market. I think it's important to mention that acquisitions do allow us to expand market, or addressable markets for the future. This market, this market growth, will be, have been embedded into our outlook and, which, Quynh-Boi is now going to share.
On the back of our very strong 2025 results, we are upgrading our 2024-2026 guidance, which we initially provided in early January 2025. Clearly, the trajectory of the group today is stronger than what we had anticipated at the time of the IPO. For 2026, we now expect revenue in the range of EUR 520 million-EUR 540 million. Adjusted EBITDA between EUR 168 million and EUR 178 million. This implies a 2024/2026 EBITDA CAGR of 18%-22%, which is above the high teens growth we indicated at the beginning of 2025. On CapEx, our industrial CapEx rate will be around 9% in the period, reflecting the additional capacity expansion that we announced in October 2025 to meet higher global demand. In addition, we will continue to capitalize approximately 3% of our sales to sustain our innovation and R&D efforts.
Looking beyond 2026, over the midterm, we aim to grow sales organically on average, up to the mid-teens. We expect adjusted EBITDA to grow above 15% per year on average, implying a gradual and disciplined improvement in the EBITDA margin. We plan to normalize industrial CapEx at around 5% of sales, while maintaining R&D capitalization at roughly 3%. Overall, we are entering the next phase with sustained growth, improving profitability, and a disciplined capital allocation framework. Since the IPO, we have built a very solid financial structure, which puts us in a strong position to fund both our organic growth and continued investment in our industrial assets and R&D innovation. Today, with a leverage ratio of 1.3 times our EBITDA, we have significant financial flexibility.
This gives us firepower to accelerate growth through targeted value-creating M&A across our four vertical markets. As always, we remain disciplined and technology-focused in our approach. We have a clear ambition to reach EUR 1 billion in revenue over the midterm. To support that trajectory, we could temporarily increase our leverage ratio to around 2 times adjusted EBITDA during the period. Finally, in line with our capital allocation framework, we intend to return between 20%-25% of net income to our shareholders.
Thank you, Quynh-Boi. Overall, we combine growth ambition with financial discipline, with a balanced capital allocation. This concludes our presentation, and we are now happy to take your questions.
Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to ask a question, please dial pound key five on your telephone keypad to enter the queue. If you wish to withdraw your question, please dial pound key six on your telephone keypad. The next question comes from Aurélien Sivignon from Oddo BHF. Please go ahead.
Good morning. Thanks for, for taking my question. A couple on my side. First, how should we think about growth by division in 2026? I mean, do you expect amplification to again outgrow the group? Or do you expect a more balanced profile given the stronger end performance in detection and imaging?
Usually, we don't guide by segment. Having said that, you know that our limitation today is capacity, and the investment that we announced in 2025, in January and in October, will not have immediate effects in 2026. It will be rather at the end of 2026. And as you also saw during this year, second half was much better than the first half, with 11% growth in D&I in the second, second semester. What we expect is that indeed, D&I will continue to grow at a higher pace than what we have seen in the previous years.
Okay, thank you. On the medium-term plan, I was wondering whether your, your new supply growth target of 15, or let's say up to 15% growth, can be achieved within the existing capacity expansion plan? I mean, the plus 40% increase by next year, or whether further investment will be required. Just to confirm, would you consider 2030 as a, as a fair medium-term horizon for this plan?
Our medium-term, our medium-term growth perspective in D&I is not affected by capacity. In amplification, we have plans today, as you know, to grow and to, to, to increase capacity that will be fully in place in 2027. We do not exclude to increase further our capacity in 2027, depending on market demand.
Okay, thank you. last one on M&A. Can you share more detail on the size of the assets you are looking for, you are mentioning? I mean, if I understood correctly, you, you could exceed, sorry, 2 times the leverage threshold, but what would be the acceptable, hopefully that you, you would consider? Thank you.
Indeed, what we have done so far is smaller size targets, roughly between EUR 10 million and EUR 20 million of revenue. This is what we closed in the last acquisitions. What we are looking for today is acquisition of larger size. Typically could be around EUR 50 million revenue or above. Knowing that we have a low leverage ratio of 1.3 times our EBITDA, we have the full financial flexibility to fund such large acquisitions with debt.
Okay, thank you very much. I go back in the queue. Thank you.
The next question comes from Aleksander Peterc from Bernstein. Please go ahead.
Yes, good morning, and thank you for taking my questions, and congratulations for the strong results and beating the guidance again. The first one, we just on the phasing of your medium-term targets. When you give us the CAGR for the next, let's say, five years, would you expect growth to be stronger at the beginning of the period and then fade? Or would you see a peak in revenue and EBITDA growth at a given point, given your CapEx phasing? That would be my first question. The second, after the microwave disposal, is your lineup of businesses now satisfactory, or do you see any other areas that may need attention and could be disposed of? Are you happy with your perimeter, so to say?
The third one, I'm just wondering what kind of opportunity would make you crank your leverage up to 2 times or even slightly above. Would this be a single large acquisition, or would you see a string of acquisitions in short succession? While we talk about that, could you update us on your pipeline of M&A opportunities at the moment in terms of number and size of targets? Thank you very much.
Okay. In terms of the phasing of growth, obviously, we do not have exactly the same dynamics between our segments. D&I is seeing for its defense portfolio, a strong growth coming from drone counter drones, but also missile warning systems. That is there and in line with the different budget goals. The industrial markets obey different dynamics, which we will see continuing as growing together with the general economy, as the general economy growing, and with it is expanding, let's say, on a regular basis over the next few years. Amplification is more driven by capacity, and there, while we are still questioning ourselves, as we do all the time, whether we should increase more or we can increase more.
Obviously, we have already achieved a huge increase in capacity, and we do not foresee in the future, the same level of growth that we had two, three years ago, of 30%-35% a year. All in all, we think it's a balanced growth that we are, that we are seeing, but the capacity while the capacity increases will, will kick in, we will probably, come on a, on a more normalized level in that part of our business.
Microwave amplifier restructuring. There is not a single business that it was at the level of microwave amplifier, so all our remaining business are profitable. We will constantly review our portfolio to make sure we allocate capital on businesses that have the highest growth prospects and profitability prospects.
On M&A, in fact, as we already stated, in fact, we are constantly looking at different types of companies. We have a portfolio, smaller ones, larger ones. We first drive it by technology, so we are very interested in developing business, enlarging our technological portfolio first. Second, enlarging our market in our four verticals, in our accessible or addressable markets in our verticals. Third, looking at companies that generate synergies with the group. We will continue that strategy that encompasses, in fact, a larger, let's say, a span of companies, smaller size, but also larger size. They can be of any type, as long as these criteria and very strict criteria are met. Thank you very much.
As a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please dial pound key five on your telephone keypad to enter the queue. The next question comes from David Perry from J.P. Morgan . Please go ahead.
Yes. Hi, Jerome, Quynh-Boi and Laurent, congrats on a great year. A few questions. Sorry if I missed it. Can you just clarify what your definition of midterm is, please? Apologies if you did say it, the line isn't so great. Secondly, I'd be interested to know what % of detection and imaging sales now or in 2025 were actually to defense, and how do you see that evolving? Because it feels like the D&I story has really changed quite a bit, maybe since the IPO, with a lot more defense in it. Just curious, on the German contract for image intensifier tubes, I mean, it's absolutely huge for a 3-year delivery program. It's quite a, a significant piece of the sort of expected sales of the thought in amplification.
Does that, does that limit your opportunities to sell to other customers, or should we think of it more as a positive that you could do better overall? Thank you.
Concerning, concerning our, our midterm outlook, I think at time of the IPO in 2024, we guided until 2027. 2027 is now much closer. Obviously, the world has changed, we thought it was time to change our perspective for midterm. In line with this, in line with these changes. We do not define midterm precisely, obviously in 2024, we were guiding, we were guiding only until 2027. You were mainly telling us that you, you were expecting us to upgrade it, we decided to do it.
On D&I.
Sorry, sorry, can I just follow up? I mean, a lot of your competitors or peers, say, the Germans, they define the midterm as 2030. I mean, could we assume that, or is that, is that too much?
I, I think, as, as I stated, in 2024, we guided, we guided until 2027, though, though we didn't define what midterm, midterm was meaning exactly, we could ensure that we show certain, a certain consistency with our previous communications.
Okay. All right, that, that's clear. Thank you.
D&I accounted for one third of our defense accounted for one third of D&I business, and contrary to amplification, we have no capacity issues in this segment. If the market is booming, then we will be able to meet market demand.
Thanks, that's very clear. Defense being one-third of D&I is a, to me, is a big change in the story of a few years ago. I mean, do you, do you see that, given all those opportunities you talked about in your slides, surveillance and drones, missile warning, I mean, do you see defense going to 50% of D&I?
No.
No, we don't believe so. You remember that we were hit in the previous year with a slowdown in machine vision, with China slowdown, also with tariff uncertainty and research budget funding cuts. This is temporary. We know that the underlying market dynamics are still there, and at one point in time, they will recover.
All right. Thanks a lot.
Okay. Concerning your last questions on German contracts, the large German contract, we were very happy we could secure with OCCAR, and actually, OCCAR secured it with you, and we, we are the only provider of 16 millimeter tubes for them. They will represent about 35% around-ish, let's say, of our revenues on the horizon. That does not really limit the opportunities we have to deliver any other type of businesses. Of course, the overall opportunities are limited by capacity, but we can serve customers simultaneously. Importantly, also, with the emergence of 5G and the continuation of a growing demand on 5G and new technology, we expect that this will allow us to develop more opportunities.
We are developing these opportunities, today, for example, with, with Theon, that is already a customer of the 5G. So we, we, we expect that, this 5G will take more importance in the future as part of our portfolio, while we are ramping up with the learning curve. Thank you.
The next question comes from Aleksander Peterc from Bernstein. Please go ahead.
Yes. Hi, apologies. Jumping back into the queue of questions with a small detail on the growth margin in amplification in Q4. It seems that it dipped from over 50% in previous quarters to a low to mid-40s. Is that the effect of 5G, or is there anything going on there? Should we expect the same into the beginning of 2026, at least? Thank you.
No, it's the impact of NVLS, the acquisition that was fully loaded in Q4.
Okay, that's very clear. Thank you very much. None of that effect coming into 2026, then?
No.
Thank you.
As a last reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please dial pound key five on your telephone keypad now. The next question comes from Sriram Krishnan from Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead. Sriram Krishnan, your line is now unmuted. Please go ahead.
Can you hear me now?
Yes.
Yes.
Oh, great. Brilliant. Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity. I had a question with regards to the US Army BiNOD program. Can you give us a bit more color on what, what is the size of this contract, which is being currently bid for? What's the timeline? Who are you competing with, in this sense? Have you already tied up with someone like a Theon? Can you give us a bit more color around that entire program? That's the first one, and probably a, a very related one with, with regard to the CapEx. Now, we know that you are spending a lot more on the US part of the business as well.
If you actually win a part of this buyer program, how much CapEx would more be required to address that kind of a demand going forward? Thank you.
The US Army BiNOD program is ongoing, as you stated it. It is not, it's in the process, and we are participating to this, to this process. We expect that the decision, the final decision will be taken in the course of the year. We also expect that there will be more than one selected parties in, in the end. It is this is a program that is about 42,000 binoculars, I think. It will be an IDIQ, and you, as you know, you start these type of programs, being w ell, knowing what the contract is about, but then every year is different, or can be, let's say, can be different. We expect that this program will be a sizable program for the coming years. However, the process will not be reached.
The end of those, let's say, of the decision process, in our view, will not be reached before, I would say midyear, somewhere midyear. The rest of your question was concerning CapEx in the U.S. We set up the minimal viable size for a factory in the U.S., with a capacity of 10%-15% of the total. It is a factory that is a new factory that is scalable. We are already there, when time comes and when business is developing, not only because of BiNOD, but also, also because of BiNOD, but not only because of BiNOD. If that ever comes, we are ready to invest more. If we need to increase our capacity in the US, it can be scaled up.
Now, I think in the past, you saw the type of investment we had to make to increase our capacity by a certain percentage. As a matter of fact, the big step was indeed to decide to set up something in the US. That was a big step. The following stages will be more similar to what we've been doing in any, any other factory, especially in Europe.
Sorry, if, the line wasn't great, pardon for that one. Did you say 42,000 binoculars or 42,000 tubes?
Binoculars.
Okay.
I said you, I said binoculars.
The next question comes from Valentin- Paul Jehan from Stifel. Please go ahead.
Good morning all. Do you hear me well?
Yes.
Perfect. Thank you for taking my questions. Sorry if I missed one of the answers, but the quality of the line was, wasn't very good. I have the three following questions, please. The first, can you give us more details regarding the growth in amplification in Q4? It is only 2% organically achieved due to the fact that you have been limited in term of capacity, or must you delayed deliveries into Q1 2026? The second question is around the growth margin in amplification, still in Q4. Can you elaborate a little bit on why it is only 45%, while it was 51% in Q4 last year? While you did divested the loss-making microwave amplification activity, it should have benefit from a positive product mix effect.
What was the headwinds here? Third, in term of long-term strategy, do you still want to develop the non-defense activities faster than defense activities, thanks to M&A, to build a more balanced two-leg business model between defense and civil markets? I understand that it is no longer the priority, given the current momentum in the defense sector. I am right? Can you elaborate, please, on, on, on this also? Thank you.
Growth and amplification, the 2% organic growth in Q4. As you know, we had reached our maximum capacity already at the end of 2024. As you remember, Q1 of 2025 was not showing growth versus Q4 of last year because we had already reached our limited capacity. This was expected. The growth that we had in 2025 versus 2024 is due to the fact that we still had a ramp-up in 2024, so Q1 of 2024 was lower than Q4 of 2024. We also increased our volumes in 2025, thanks to yield improvement and thanks to operational processes improvement, but not coming from investment in capacity. The benefit of the effects of the investment capacity will happen in 2026, in the second half.
On top of that, you know that we also deliver equipment based on, mostly based on point in time, revenue recognition. When a shipment is not complete, we cannot ship it. It might happen as well that in Q4, we had produced equipment that we could not ship because of our Incoterms. Gross margin and amplification in Q4, the main reason for the decrease is the fact that all, almost all of NVLS sales was in Q4, so being dilutive to the rest of the group. This is not coming from the divestment impact of microwave amplifiers, because we applied IFRS 5, which means that MA was already restated from our 2024 gross margin. The long-term strategy, D&I on, on defense or non-defense, this is not how we look at M&A.
The first criteria to look at M&A is technologies, and as you can see in the previous examples of deals that we closed, most of the time, these technologies are of dual use, so they address both, amplification or defense markets or industrial and commercial markets. What we aim for is really technology and to build a resilient model.
Very clear. Thank you.
There are no more questions at this time, so I hand the conference back to the speakers for any closing comments.
Thank you again for joining us today. Should you have any further questions, feel free to reach out to us. In the meantime, I wish you a very pleasant day. Thank you.
The conference is now over. You may now disconnect.