Exosens Posts Strong First Quarter on Surging Night-Vision Demand

Night-vision demand kept Exosens growing at a brisk pace, with first-quarter revenue rising 19.7% to €122.6 million, or €20.2 million more than a year earlier, as European and U.S. defense buyers continued to prioritize battlefield sensing, surveillance and digital imaging. The Mérignac, France-based company said adjusted gross margin also improved, climbing 20.1% to €63.5 million for a 51.8% margin rate.

The strongest momentum came from the parts of Exosens’ business most exposed to modern military procurement. Amplification revenue, which includes night-vision products, increased 11.4% in the quarter. Digital imaging and imaging-related revenue rose 44.5% on a reported basis and 16.6% like-for-like, showing that demand extended beyond traditional image intensifiers into newer optronic uses. Exosens said the quarter was fully on track to deliver its 2026 guidance, a sign that the company views the surge as durable rather than a short-lived burst.

That durability matters because Exosens sits in a niche that has become strategically important as geopolitical tensions sharpen. Night-vision systems are now central to battlefield awareness, border security and surveillance, and the company said demand was being supported by NATO and Tier-1 allied forces. In Europe, ongoing equipment programs for the German and Belgian armed forces under the OCCAR framework continued to feed orders, underscoring how rearmament cycles are moving through the supply chain to specialized industrial suppliers.

The company’s U.S. business added another layer of demand. On March 2, Photonis Defense, Exosens’ U.S. subsidiary, won a firm-fixed-price IDIQ contract from the U.S. Army Contracting Command for the BiNOD program, with a maximum value of US$352.6 million. Exosens said momentum was also building among prime defense contractors and autonomous-systems developers, especially for drone and counter-drone applications, where low-light imaging and target detection are becoming more valuable.

Exosens has already begun expanding to meet the order flow. In February, it said it had committed €20 million to increase production capacity in Europe and the United States, and it is targeting a 40% capacity increase by 2027, with initial benefits expected in the second half of 2026. The company’s full-year 2025 revenue rose 22.1% to €468.2 million, with defense and surveillance accounting for 75% of sales, a reminder that the latest quarter built on an already strong base rather than a standing start.