ITM Power: A Government Stake, a Director's Bet, and the £46.5m Grant That Could Unlock a Gigawatt Factory
Published on 07/07/2026 at 06:40 | Redaktion boerse-global.de
When a government is both your largest shareholder and the regulator holding up a crucial grant, the tension is hard to miss. That is the predicament facing ITM Power, the Sheffield-based electrolyser maker. Great British Energy, the state-owned clean-energy vehicle, already owns 10.4% of the company. But it is another arm of the state — the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) — that must sign off on a £46.5m grant from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) before the company can press ahead with its next-generation "Chronos" manufacturing line.
The market’s impatience is showing. ITM Power shares ended Monday at roughly €1.48, a 10.6% weekly decline and 13% below a month ago. From the 52-week high of €2.58 touched at the end of May, the stock has fallen almost 43%. The annualised volatility of nearly 113% underscores the frayed nerves. Yet one seasoned director is betting against the gloom. Sir Warren East, the former Rolls-Royce chief who now serves as a non-executive director at ITM, bought 172,000 shares on 29 June — a transaction disclosed on 1 July. Analysts view the purchase as a vote of confidence at a time when the company is dependent on bureaucratic steps rather than its own commercial momentum.
The £86.5m funding package is split into two parts: £40m of fresh equity from Great British Energy and a £46.5m grant from DESNZ. The CMA gave a preliminary positive assessment in late May, but the formal review deadline passed at the end of June without the grant funding agreement being signed. The final administrative sign-off is all that stands between ITM and the green light for Chronos — a fully automated, 1-gigawatt production line for PEM electrolyser stacks. Chronos promises a 10% improvement in energy efficiency and a 40% reduction in manufacturing costs versus the current Trident platform. Commercial operations are slated for 2028, with 400 new industrial jobs planned in South Yorkshire.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying ITM Power?
Operationally, the company is making strides that give the insiders reason to buy. In the first half of its 2026 financial year, ITM reported a record revenue of £18m. The full-year forecast was raised to as much as £43m. The order book stands at £152m, of which 71% is already classified as profitable — evidence that the factory in Sheffield is steadily becoming more efficient. Partnerships with Rheinmetall and DB Systemtechnik are opening up transport-sector markets, while a collaboration with Protium Green Solutions targets industrial production sites in Scotland.
Beyond project deals, ITM is shifting its business model. Subsidiary Hydropulse is designed to build and operate its own electrolyser plants, turning the company from a pure equipment vendor into an energy service provider with long-term off-take agreements. The transformation is still nascent, but it aims to generate recurring revenue — a key argument for investors who look beyond the current operating losses.
The analyst community remains divided. Berenberg recently raised its target price to the equivalent of €2.37, praising the focus on mass production. Goldman Sachs, however, maintains a sell rating, pointing to the capital-intensive nature of the industry and persistent red ink. The next major catalysts are clear: the formal signing of the grant funding agreement and the final investment decision for Chronos. Until those boxes are ticked, ITM Power's stock is likely to remain hostage to a single signature in London.
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