Thales reported solid quarterly orders and sales on Tuesday, buoyed by its defense activities as global geopolitical tensions fueled demand, and reaffirmed its annual targets, saying it expected growth to stabilize in the second half.

The French aerospace, defense and security equipment supplier said its order intake for the January-March period jumped 46% to 5.037 billion euros, including a third tranche of Rafale fighter jets for Indonesia and an air surveillance system for an unidentified Middle Eastern country.

In the first quarter, Thales sales rose by 7.9% on an organic basis to 4.421 billion euros, benefiting from a favorable basis of comparison in its defense and security activities, which were up by more than 13%.

Group CFO Pascal Bouchiat told journalists that growth would "undoubtedly normalize" in the second half.

According to a consensus compiled by Thales, analysts were anticipating average orders of 3.65 billion euros and sales of 4.357 billion euros in the first quarter.

Thales confirmed its annual targets, forecasting organic sales growth of between 4% and 6% to reach a range of 19.7 billion to 20.1 billion euros.

(Tim Hepher; Jean Terzian, edited by Blandine Hénault)