AEVEX raises its 2026 revenue forecast to as much as $840 million after buying BlackSea

AEVEX raised its 2026 revenue forecast on Wednesday to between $820 million and $840 million, from $700 million to $720 million in August, in its first results since it bought drone boat maker BlackSea Technologies, a deal that closed on 8 September.

Revenue in the third quarter was $189.7 million, up 56.5% from $121.2 million a year before. Revenue linked to Ukraine dropped to $52.5 million in the quarter, from $167.7 million in the first quarter, while core revenue, as AEVEX calls it, grew to $137.2 million from $49.0 million.

The company lost $16.8 million in the quarter, compared with a profit of $9.9 million a year earlier, mainly because of a $41.7 million increase in its income tax provision and higher overheads. Chief executive Roger Wells said demand and the BlackSea deal gave AEVEX the confidence to raise its outlook.

Its new Maritime Systems segment had $14.4 million in revenue in the quarter. In August AEVEX agreed to pay as much as $650 million for BlackSea, which builds uncrewed surface and underwater vessels at a plant in Baltimore that AEVEX says can make about 40 surface vessels a month. The forecast assumes Congress will not rely on long stopgap budgets.