By Anna Peverieri
(Reuters) -French drone maker Parrot reported a rise in its first-quarter revenue on Thursday, propelled by a surge in European and global defence budgets.
The company, which makes lightweight drones and mapping software, reported a 17% rise in its quarterly revenue to 18.4 million euros ($20.6 million).
Its shares rose close to 9% by 0900 GMT, bringing their year-to-date gains to 157%.
The sales increase was supported by a strong performance at Parrot’s professional micro-drones division, which generates 57% of its revenue.
Sales in this segment grew 13% from a year earlier, buoyed by strong demand in several international markets, including North America, Britain and Japan.
Parrot exited the consumer drone market in 2021 and has since then been designing and selling small drones and mapping software for corporate and government clients.
Its client base includes the U.S. Army, the British Royal Airforce, the French Armed Forces and the Japanese Ground Self-Defence Force.
Parrot said in March it planned on capitalising on rising defence budgets in its key markets, echoing remarks by French underwater drones maker Exail and supplier of night-vision systems to NATO, Exosens.
A Parrot spokesperson told Reuters that its new compact reconnaissance micro-drones were garnering interest from defence customers partly because of their rapid production timelines, as opposed to traditional military hardware.
“If you’re making a tank or a military plane, it takes years to plan and build,” the spokesperson said.
“But if you’re making a micro-drone built with components similar to those in a smartphone, which are widely available, combined with Parrot’s software – we can deliver quickly. That’s why more defence organizations have turned to us.”
Such flexibility has drawn interest from military innovation agencies, including the U.S. Defense Innovation Unit, he said. “They came to us before 2020 and said they were seeking to gain access to new micro-drones technology much faster.”
Russia’s war in Ukraine has made evident the importance of aerial drones, prompting also Taiwan to launch a drone programme aimed at countering China’s massive drone arsenal.
($1 = 0.8937 euros)
(Reporting by Anna Peverieri; Editing by Christopher Cushing, Mrigank Dhaniwala and Milla Nissi-Prussak)
