Thanks to increased defense spending by the United States, Israeli defense company Elbit Systems reported a 4 percent increase in net profit during the third quarter.
The firm’s growth has been exemplified by rising sales in North America and Asia, in addition to its purchase of U.S.-based Universal Avionics Systems Corp.
CEO Bezhalel Machlis said the increased spending has created opportunities along the U.S.-Mexican border through both commercial and defense-aviation and ground-force systems.
Elbit’s revenue climbed to $895.2 million from $800.7 million.
The company announced a dividend of 44 cents per share during the third quarter, unchanged from the previous quarter.
The firm’s order backlog rose to $8.1 billion at September’s end compared to $7.6 billion the previous year.
“Geographically, the U.S. is leading in the growth,” said chief financial officer Joseph Gaspar. “Some of that relates to the acquisition [of Universal Avionics Systems], most of that is organic.”
Regarding the backlog, Gaspar said: “That is the best indicator of what can happen at the top line. We saw a similar situation a year ago when our backlog grew significantly.”
