ITM Power's Week of Two Stories: A £40M Government Boost and a 22% Share Price Slump

ITM Power shares slide over a fifth in a week as institutional selling outweighs retail buying, even after a £40M investment from Great British Energy and a Scottish hydrogen project.

The shares of British hydrogen specialist ITM Power have been on a rollercoaster, and the past seven days have been particularly jarring. Despite the company locking down a £40 million cash injection from state-owned Great British Energy and forging a new partnership for a Scottish green hydrogen project, the stock has surrendered more than a fifth of its value since last Thursday, falling to €1.92. That represents a daily loss of 5.76% and a seven-day decline of 21.77%.

The conflicting signals are stark. On the one hand, Great British Energy has become an anchor shareholder with a 10.4% stake, earmarking the funds for an automated manufacturing line in Sheffield that will produce the next-generation Chronos electrolyser stack — a platform expected to be 40% cheaper to manufacture and 10% more efficient. On the other, the broader European market is weighing heavily. New data from German industry association BDEW shows that nearly 12 GW of planned electrolyser capacity in Germany has yet to reach a final investment decision, directly hitting ITM Power's traditional NEPTUNE V and POSEIDON modules, even as the company shifts focus to Chronos.

Adding to the confusion, retail investors appear eager to buy the dip. ITM Power was among the ten most actively traded stocks on Interactive Investor's platform during Thursday morning's session, with 63% of trades coded as buys. Yet the price kept sliding — a classic sign that larger sell orders from institutional or strategic investors are overpowering the enthusiasm of smaller buyers. The discrepancy underscores that conviction remains uneven.

The technical landscape tells a similar tale of momentum fading. After hitting a 52-week high of €2.58 on May 29 — still fresh in investors' minds — the stock now sits 25.72% below that peak. The relative strength index has settled at a neutral 50.4, while the annualized 30-day volatility of 104.47% confirms that regulatory and funding headlines can whip the price around violently. Still, the equity remains well above key moving averages: 24.14% above the 50-day line of €1.54 and 94.68% above the 200-day level.

The partnership that triggered the recent trading surge is the Cromarty project in the Scottish Highlands, developed jointly with Protium Green Solutions. The initial phase calls for 15 MW of electrolysis capacity, capable of producing around seven tonnes of green hydrogen daily. The final investment decision is pencilled in for December 2026. For now, the project's structure is flexible — ITM Power's subsidiary Hydropulse and direct purchases of electrolysis equipment by Protium are both on the table.

Despite the weekly rout, the stock has delivered substantial returns over longer horizons. Year-to-date, ITM Power has gained 163.96%, and the 12-month return stands at 122.55%. One measure puts the yearly gain at roughly 172%, reflecting the deep recovery from the February low of €0.65 — a level that now represents a near-tripling of value.

The next big catalyst is imminent: the UK's Competition and Markets Authority is due to rule in June on a £46.5 million state grant for the Sheffield expansion. A green light could quickly shift sentiment. Beyond that, the market will be watching for concrete project milestones, clarity on UK hydrogen financing, and fresh electrolyser orders. Until then, ITM Power remains a high-attention, high-volatility name where a strong narrative alone is not enough to hold the line.