ITM Power's Order Book Is Getting Healthier — Its Customers Just Won't Sign

ITM Power has spent the past year making its contracts more lucrative. Getting industrial buyers to actually commit to them is proving a far slower business.

The British electrolyser maker closed Monday at €1.05, down 3.6%, valuing the company at €751.76 million. A day later the shares slid a further 6.0% to €1.03, with reports on the move citing no specific catalyst. The stock now trades below its 50-day average of €1.19.

A Balance Sheet Built for Waiting

What separates ITM Power from a sector still waiting for its order cycle to turn is cash. The company finished its fiscal year with £215.6 million on hand, up from £207 million a year earlier — a cushion assembled with state help.

Great British Energy injected £40 million of equity, and a £46.5 million government grant followed. Both are earmarked for a one-gigawatt manufacturing line dedicated to the company's Chronos electrolysers. That gives management room to sit out the lull caused by hesitant large-scale ordering across Europe's hydrogen economy.

Record Revenue, Smaller Losses

Preliminary figures for FY26 showed revenue of £43.6 million, a 68% jump year on year and a company record. The adjusted EBITDA loss narrowed 39% to £20.2 million, while the pre-tax loss fell to £24.8 million.

The more telling number sits in the backlog. Total orders stood at £144 million, and the share of profitable contracts climbed to 83% from 60% a year earlier — evidence that ITM is being pickier about what it signs, not merely busier.

Lingen Fires Up, Refinery Deal Takes Shape

Hardware is moving even where paperwork is not. At the German site in Lingen, the first 100-megawatt electrolyser for RWE has entered operation, with a second 100-megawatt block slated for completion in the current fiscal year.

Roughly a week ago, subsidiary Hydropulse agreed headline terms with a European oil refinery for a 150-megawatt plant built on ITM's Alpha platform, structured as a ten-year contract. The partners are now running a joint FEED study covering technical and commercial detail, with a final investment decision targeted for 2027 and regular green hydrogen production planned for 2029.

That timeline — framework now, binding contract years out, output further still — captures the sector's central problem in miniature.

Guidance Hinges on Customer Sign-Offs

For the year to April 2027, ITM Power expects revenue of £50 million to £60 million and an adjusted EBITDA loss of £17 million to £20 million, with year-end cash of £170 million to £180 million.

Hitting those targets depends on industrial customers carrying their projects through to construction. Until regulatory frameworks on the buyer side firm up, demand for large electrolysers remains the binding constraint on growth — and the gap between a signed memorandum and a final investment decision is where the sector's promises currently live.