OHB’s Market Gyrations: Strong Earnings and a Ramses Contract Clash With a Stalled Billion-Euro Placement

OHB SE finds itself in an unusual spot. The German space specialist just posted a 45% jump in its order backlog to €3.354 billion and secured a critical contract for Europe’s asteroid defence mission. Yet its shares have been whipsawed by a blocked capital raise that the market had priced in, exposing the risks of a stock that trades on a wafer-thin free float.

First-quarter results released in late May confirmed the operational momentum. Total performance rose 15% to €279.3 million, with revenue hitting €270.9 million. Adjusted EBITDA climbed 37% to €27.3 million, and net profit nearly tripled to €9.9 million. The biggest talking point was the order book: Space Systems accounted for €2.683 billion, with Access to Space contributing €362 million and Digital another €309 million. Management is targeting total performance of €1.4 billion for 2026, rising to €1.7 billion in 2027 and beyond €2.0 billion in 2028, with an EBITDA margin goal of 11%.

On the mission front, the Ramses project took a concrete step forward. At the SmallSat Europe conference in Amsterdam on May 26, OHB Italia signed a contract with Munich-based HPS GmbH to supply the Medium Gain Antenna for the spacecraft. The antenna will relay data and images as the probe approaches the asteroid Apophis, which is set to make a close flyby of Earth on April 13, 2029 at a distance of 32,000 kilometres. The Ramses mission, launched in April 2028, is a joint ESA-JAXA effort. The European agency awarded OHB Italia the construction contract in February 2026, valued at €81.2 million, bringing the total programme volume to around €150 million when including a preliminary contract from 2024. HPS described OHB Italia as the prime contractor, and the deal marks the transition from design into hardware engineering.

That positive news helped steady the stock after a dramatic sell-off. On May 27, the shares crashed intraday by nearly 16% on reports that a planned US$1 billion equity placement had been shelved. According to market sources, investment firm KKR, which owns about 29% of OHB, had been preparing to sell roughly 20% of its stake, while the founding Fuchs family would retain control of 65% of voting rights. The placement was intended to beef up the free float to about 20% and raise fresh capital for pre-financing large constellation projects and expanding manufacturing capacity. But the deal did not proceed, leaving the financing gap wide open. The shares later recovered some ground on the Ramses announcement, rising 7.6% to €482, but the overall week ended with the stock at €440 after a volatile cycle.

Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying OHB SE?

The extreme moves are amplified by OHB’s exceptionally tight liquidity. Only 5.68% of the 19.15 million outstanding shares are in free float. At one point on May 27, the sell-off was triggered by just 800 shares changing hands, sending the price from a high of €573 to a low of €441.50. That placed real strain on a company with a market capitalisation of over €10 billion. Year to date, the stock has still gained 273%, with a three-month advance of 107% and a one-month rise of 63%.

All eyes now turn to the annual general meeting on June 8, 2026. Shareholders will vote on a €0.60 per share dividend, approve the 2025 financial statements, and grant discharge to the board. A stock option programme for up to 576,447 shares, targeting executives and key staff, is also on the agenda. But the primary focus will be management’s plan to address the capital shortfall. The stalled placement has left a gaping hole in the funding strategy, and investors expect concrete answers on how OHB intends to finance its ambitious growth pipeline.

Hot on the heels of the AGM comes the ILA Berlin air show, running from June 10 to 14 at Berlin Brandenburg Airport. The European Space Agency will be present with a Space Pavilion themed “Space4Future”, focusing on autonomy and resilience, exploration and discovery, and planet and climate. Those areas align closely with OHB’s core satellite and planetary defence programmes, and the event is expected to boost the sector’s visibility. The company’s second-quarter results are scheduled for release on August 6.

OHB SE at a turning point? This analysis reveals what investors need to know now.

For now, OHB presents a conflicting picture: a record order book, a high-profile mission moving into hardware phase, and a growth trajectory that requires substantial funding. The solution to the financing puzzle will determine whether the stock’s longer-term trajectory matches its short-term operational sparkle.

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