Rheinmetall CEO says 2022 had a record year

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Rheinmetall CEO says 2022 had a record year

DUESSELDORF Reuters - German arms maker Rheinmetall had a record year in 2022 and is approaching an order backlog of 30 billion euros, CEO Armin Papperger told Reuters in an interview.

In 2022 we had a very good year, a record year, he said, and that the fourth quarter would even beat good third quarter results.

The CEO of the company, which sells a wide range of defence products but is probably most famous for providing the 120 mm gun of the Leopard 2 tank, said that they were approaching an order backlog of 30 billion euro, and that they expect to see an order backlog of 40 billion euros next year.

Papperger expects to see at least 15% to 20% growth in Rheinmetall's defence division over the next few years, with the civilian business likely to account for only 20% of sales in 2025.

On Tuesday, Papperger had nudged up the group's mid-term sales outlook in anticipation of a windfall from higher defence spending due to the war in Ukraine.

Rheinmetall expects sales to grow to 11 billion -- 12 billion euros - $13 billion in the year 2025, he told German magazine Stern.

The projection is higher than the 10 billion - 11 billion euro range Rheinmetall gave during its capital markets day in November. The company expects to make 6.5 billion euros in sales in the year 2022.

Rheinmetall is seen as a good candidate to move up to Germany's main stock index DAX.