Record Orders Can’t Steady OHB’s Whipsawing Shares as AGM Deadlines Loom

Space-tech group OHB sees orders surge 45% to €3.35B, but thin liquidity drives extreme volatility. AGM on June 8 will vote on €0.60 dividend and stock option plan.

OHB SE is riding a fundamental high and a trading low all at once. The space and technology group’s order book has swelled to €3.35 billion, a 45% jump from the previous year, yet its shares are lurching through daily swings of more than 40 euros on wafer-thin liquidity. With a virtual annual general meeting set for 8 June and a flurry of deadlines expiring this week, the stock is at the mercy of every order that hits the book.

At 10:09 a.m. on the day of writing, OHB shares traded at €432.50 on Goyax, a 5.62% gain, but the volume told a quieter story: just 2,420 shares changed hands, worth about €1.05 million. The bid-ask spread stood at €3.50, or 0.82%, with only 15 shares on each side. Such shallow depth means even a modest buy or sell can send the stock reeling. Earlier in the session the price had vaulted to €449.00 from an opening of €409.00, before dipping to €405.00. The previous day was even more dramatic: OHB opened at €462.00, hit €467.00, then collapsed to €405.50 before closing at €409.50.

The volatility is not confined to a single exchange. On 1 June, Xetra trading saw OHB drop 7.01% to €411.50, carving a daily range from €456.50 down to €407.00 on volume of 10,630 shares. That same day marked the deadline for shareholders to register for the AGM. On the secondary market Tradegate, the stock was quoted at €408.00 early on 2 June, oscillating between €406.00 and €409.00. The 52-week band of €64.00 to €688.00 underscores just how far the pendulum can swing.

Behind the price noise, OHB’s most recent quarterly report paints a picture of expansion. Total output rose to €279.3 million from €242.4 million a year earlier. Adjusted EBITDA reached €27.3 million and adjusted EBIT came in at €16.8 million, while unadjusted EBITDA was €25.7 million and unadjusted EBIT €15.2 million. The segment breakdown of the order book shows SPACE SYSTEMS accounting for €2.683 billion, ACCESS TO SPACE €362 million, and DIGITAL €309 million.

The AGM on 8 June, to be held virtually via the HV portal, will vote on a dividend proposal of €0.60 per share for the 19,152,920 eligible shares, distributing €11.49 million of the €16.71 million balance sheet profit. If approved, the payout is due on 11 June. Also on the agenda is a stock option programme that would create conditional capital of up to €576,447, granting up to 576,447 subscription rights. Of those, as many as 374,690 options could go to selected board members and executives of affiliated companies, with up to 201,757 reserved for employees.

Shareholder deadlines are piling up. While registration closed on 1 June, electronic statements on agenda items can still be submitted until midnight today. Proxy votes by letter or e?mail must be received by 18:00 MESZ on 7 June. The agenda includes binding votes on the appropriation of profit — essentially the dividend — and the discharge of management and supervisory board, plus an advisory vote on the remuneration report.

Until the AGM passes, the stock is likely to remain a thin?trading battleground where any larger order can trigger a 7% swing. The record backlog provides a solid foundation, but with so few shares on the bid and offer, OHB’s day?to?day price action is being written by the order book, not the balance sheet.