Since the start of the war in Ukraine, the company moved quickly to meet Europe’s growing need for military spending.
The German defense contractor Rheinmetall, Europe’s largest producer of munitions, said on Wednesday that it was positioned to profit from the region’s willingness to increase military spending as President Trump shifts the United States away from its support of Europe.
Defying the malaise that has plagued the German economy for the past two years, Rheinmetall has reported record growth since the start of the war in Ukraine, building new factories in just months, leading digitization efforts and creating thousands of jobs.
“An era of rearmament has begun,” Armin Papperger, the chief executive of Rheinmetall, said Wednesday on an earnings call with analysts. “It brings us growth prospects for the coming years that we have never experienced before.”
The company, which is in Düsseldorf, Germany, reported that its defense business grew 30 percent last year, contributing to sales that reached 9.8 billion euros, or $10.6 billion. Rheinmetall is projecting sales in 2025 will grow as much as 40 percent, driven by a pledge from European leaders to increase military spending, after the Trump administration made clear that defending Europe was no longer a priority.
Rheinmetall’s stock has soared more than 1,000 percent since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Shareholders, roughly half of whom are based in the United States or Britain, will receive a dividend of €8.10 per share for 2024, compared with €5.70 the year before, the company said.
The company is a key supplier of arms to Ukraine and is building plants there and in countries like Lithuania, Hungary and Romania to satisfy rising demand for its arms and ammunition. In addition to the standard 155-millimeter munitions used by NATO members, Rheinmetall makes battlefield equipment, from armored trucks and drones to the Leopard 2 tank’s 120-millimeter gun.