French aerospace and defense company Thales SA said it expects organic sales growth and EBIT for full year 2018 to be at the high end of its guidance ranges due to strong performance in the first nine months of the year.

The company reported sales of €3.42 billion in the third quarter of 2018, up 9.7% from €3.12 billion in the same quarter of last year. Organic sales growth was 9.9%.

Order intake increased 10% year over year to €3.14 billion from €2.84 billion in the year-ago quarter.

For the nine months ended Sept. 30, the company reported sales of €10.87 billion, up 6.2% from €10.24 billion in the same period of last year. Organic sales growth was 7.9% during the period, driven by strong momentum in the company's transport and defense and security segments.

For full year 2018, Thales now expects organic sales growth from a year ago to be at the top end of the 4% to 5% range, and EBIT is projected to be at the higher end of the €1.62 billion to €1.66 billion range.

The company said order intake is expected to be around €15.5 billion for 2018 as an acceleration of commercial momentum in the defense businesses is expected to offset the slowdown in the telecom satellite market.

Thales separately said its proposed acquisition of Dutch digital security company Gemalto NV has received regulatory clearance from the Competition Commission in South Africa. The deal has now received seven out of the 14 required regulatory clearances and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2019, after all clearances have been obtained.