German submarine manufacturer TKMS announced a record-breaking $22 billion backlog of orders on Wednesday. They also raised their 2026 sales forecast, citing a surge in demand for warships during a period of increasing geopolitical tensions.

TKMS, like many of its peers has seen a rise in the demand for shares in defense companies triggered both by the conflict in Ukraine and U.S. pressure to increase Europe's military capabilities.

This boost was one of the primary reasons why Thyssenkrupp spun off TKMS in 2011. It allowed it to 'compete more effectively at?global submarine tenders worth multi-billions of euros, especially in India and Canada.

Oliver Burkhard, CEO of the company, said: "In light of current geopolitical development our customers continue to demonstrate a high level demand for advanced maritime capability."

As the only fully integrated supplier of maritime systems in Europe, we're ideally positioned to meet all the demands in our industry.

The sales are expected to increase by 2%-?5% in 2026. This is a significant improvement from the previous range of minus 1 to?2%. This compares to an average forecast by LSEG of banks and brokers of 2.9%.

The group confirmed that it still targets an operating margin greater than 6% for this year. ($1 = 0.8393 euros)

(source: Reuters)