ITM Power Directors Add Shares via 'Buy as You Earn' as Stock Drops From May Highs

ITM Power directors Simon Bourne and Dennis Schulz acquire shares via employee plan amid 50% drop from May high, maintaining alignment with shareholders.

ITM Power's top executives have increased their holdings through the company's employee share plan, a move that comes as the electrolyser maker's stock trades more than 50% below its spring peak. Executive Directors Simon Bourne and Dennis Schulz each acquired 134 partnership shares on 15 July 2026 at a price of 1.1231 British pounds, with the company matching each purchase with an equal number of matching shares. The transactions, disclosed through a regulatory filing, leave each director with an additional 268 ordinary shares from this single monthly round.

The purchases are executed under ITM Power's "Buy as You Earn" (BAYE) scheme, an automatic programme open to all staff that allows monthly investments of up to £150, with the company matching the contribution pound for pound. Because the plan runs on a fixed schedule rather than at management's discretion, the timing should not be read as a deliberate vote of confidence in the stock at its current level. Yet the fact that both directors continue to participate while the share price languishes keeps their personal financial interests tightly aligned with those of ordinary shareholders.

The stock closed Friday at €1.22, down 0.65% on the day and 15.53% over the past month. From the 52-week high of €2.58 reached on 29 May, the shares have now lost more than half their value. That dramatic correction follows an extraordinary rally that still leaves the stock up 69.18% year-to-date. The 14-day relative strength index sits at 36.9, edging into oversold territory, while 30-day annualised volatility remains above 100% — a measure of the intense trading swings that have characterised recent sessions.

Operationally, the company is sending a quieter but tangible signal of continued activity. A job advertisement posted for its Sheffield manufacturing site seeks a Quality Technical Inspector on a full-time, fixed-term contract until 15 September 2026. The role involves quality control, documentation and fault analysis, and requires an engineering qualification along with knowledge of measurement technology and ERP systems. While far from a sales announcement, the vacancy suggests production at the UK facility has not ground to a halt amid the broader sector's doubts about hydrogen-project profitability.

Separately, the European H2MED pipeline between Barcelona and Marseille has entered its FEED (front-end engineering design) phase, a development noted in ITM Power's trading environment but not directly linked to any contract with the company. For now, it remains a sector-level milestone rather than a catalyst for the stock.

Analyst opinions on ITM Power remain sharply divided. Berenberg has raised its price target from 110 to 200 British pence and, together with an upgrade from Morgan Stanley, points to growing conviction in the hydrogen space. Other assessments peg fair value at just £1.20, well below the more optimistic Berenberg target. That wide gap reflects persistent uncertainty about the pace at which the company's growth plans will translate into concrete financial results.

Mechanical price models, based on historical patterns rather than fundamental analysis, project further downside: a decline toward roughly 95 pence by September, followed by a modest recovery toward year-end. Such algorithmically generated forecasts should be treated with caution, but they underscore the expectation that the stock's elevated volatility — currently above 100% on a 30-day basis — is unlikely to subside quickly.

With no new order announcements or financial disclosures on the immediate horizon, investors are left to weigh the contrast between the company's operational persistence — insider buying, a Sheffield job ad, and an oversold technical reading — and a market that has so far shown little appetite to arrest the slide from May's highs.