What happened? Rheinmetall (RHM) is scheduled to report Q3 2025 earnings on 6 November 2025. Today''s group pre-close call with HIR served to discuss the latest statements made since the Q2 release on 7 August. Net net, HIR conveyed a balanced message with earlier articulated headwinds (Murcia plant incident, delayed truck deliveries and order pipeline (skewed to Q4 mainly) suggesting a soft Q3 for all relevant KPIs, which is, however, - as in Q2 - mitigated by the fact that FY25 guidance has not been changed. We also expect a meaningful upgrade of 2027/30 targets at the CMD (18 Nov.), reflecting faster defence spending in Europe, led by Germany as per the disclosed 2025-29 federal budget plans. The comment below should be read as our interpretation of the discussion rather than specific company commentary. BNPP Exane View: Demand - our order intake forecast of EUR1.5bn compares to BBG''s almost EUR7bn: Key takes: -Defence: while the 2025 budget in Germany was approved last month, the comments on behalf of RHM and suppliers suggest that a real pick-up in demand is expected for Q4, while Q3 has not seen a significant inflection yet -Power Systems (PS): with macro-growth anaemic and structural challenges continuing, we expect another light quarter Execution - BNPPE at EUR337m for adj. EBITA vs. consensus'' EUR377m: Key takes: -Sales: on the Q2 call, mgmt. provided a cautious Q3 message as 1) recouping the Q2 sales delay of EUR0.2bn related to the incident at the Murcia plant is unlikely before Q4 as RHM continues to be waiting for the approval to restart the sieving of the powder (CEO: ''for the whole year we see no impact because we believe 100% that we get the permission in this time frame September, October''), and 2) back-end loaded truck deliveries as the German customer was unable to take over all trucks in Q3. As such we expect Q3 sales growth to trail well behind the full-year target of 35-40%. -adj. EBITA: Cons. has settled at EUR377m (down...