Kongsberg reports 50% rise in Q3 revenue and record NOK 174bn order backlog

Kongsberg Gruppen booked NOK 23.3bn of new orders in the third quarter of 2026, more than double the NOK 9.5bn of a year earlier, the Norwegian defence group reported on 29 October 2026. That gave a book-to-bill ratio of 2.06 and lifted the order backlog by NOK 16.7bn during the quarter to NOK 174.2bn, against NOK 118.6bn a year earlier, a level the company described as a record. Revenue grew 50% year on year to NOK 11.33bn and EBIT rose 66% to NOK 1.86bn, for an EBIT margin of 16.4%, against 14.8% a year earlier.

Defence Systems sales rose 58% to NOK 5.38bn on air defence and weapon stations, the company said, and the division's EBIT more than doubled to NOK 1.11bn, helped in part by positive non-recurring effects as project risk fell. Missiles & Aerostructures revenue climbed 87% to NOK 4.0bn with a first full quarter of Zone 5 Technologies, the US missile maker bought in June, but its margin slipped to 11.6% from 16.5%, mainly because of the Zone 5 production ramp-up, according to Kongsberg. Discovery grew revenue 11% to NOK 1.97bn, while its EBIT fell 10% to NOK 288m on relocation costs; excluding them, the company put the margin at 17.5%, against 14.6% reported.

Belgium placed the biggest order of the quarter, a NASAMS contract that the quarterly report lists at NOK 9.8bn and, in the chief executive's letter, at about NOK 10bn; the results release rounds it to NOK 10bn. The report also lists NASAMS for the Netherlands (NOK 1.5bn), remote weapon stations for Canada (NOK 1.1bn), JSM missiles for the US Air Force (US$100m) and an NSM framework deal with the US Marine Corps worth up to US$404m.

Kongsberg gives no numeric guidance for 2026. Its board wrote in the quarterly report that NOK 12bn of the backlog is scheduled for fourth-quarter 2026 delivery, and repeated the group's ambitions of NOK 100bn of revenue in 2029 and NOK 150bn in 2033. It added that a period of higher investment, flagged at the 10 June 2026 Capital Markets Day, is expected to last through 2027-2028.

Kongsberg shares traded at NOK 344.50 at 12:30 CET on 29 October 2026, up 10.4% from the previous close of NOK 312.10, according to a delayed Yahoo Finance quote checked at 12:49 CET. Trading in Oslo was still open at that time, so the price may change before the session ends. A Nordea analyst told Finansavisen that order intake was 35% above Bloomberg consensus and called the strong orders the main reason for the share gain. EBIT also beat the NOK 1.73bn expected in analyst estimates gathered by the company, the paper reported.