ITM Power's Two-Sided Equation: Insider Conviction Meets a Market Focused on Metals and Merger Risk
Published on 09/01/2026 at 13:42 | Editorial boerse-global.de
Hydrogen electrolyser makers rarely enjoy a quiet news cycle, and ITM Power’s recent stretch has been no exception. The London-listed group has spent the past weeks stacking up operational milestones and fresh votes of confidence from its own leadership, yet the share price tells a more complicated story — one increasingly shaped by forces outside the company's control.
The most immediate pressure arrived this week when the stock shed 4.8 percent to €1.19 on Tuesday, the first trading session after the UK summer bank holiday. Two factors collided to drag the shares lower: record highs in copper and silver prices, and the completion of a major acquisition in the hydrogen space. Both cut close to home for ITM Power. Electrolysers are metal-intensive products, and the company's domestic market now hosts a deeper-pocketed rival.
That rival is Ballard Power Systems, which has closed its £275 million takeover of UK hydrogen specialist GeoPura. The consideration comprises £82.5 million in cash plus roughly 49.6 million Ballard shares, creating a vertically integrated competitor spanning both hydrogen production and stationary power supply on British soil — terrain where ITM Power has long operated.
A Board That Keeps Buying
Against that backdrop, the signals from ITM Power's executive suite have been notably consistent. Chief executive Dennis Schulz and chief technology officer Simon Bourne both acquired additional shares in August through the company's "Buy as You Earn" payroll scheme, receiving matching allocations in the process. The programme is a standing component of compensation rather than a one-off event, but the regularity of participation from the top two executives carries its own message.
The purchases land at a moment when the company is juggling multiple large projects simultaneously. Early August brought a landmark moment in Germany: ITM Power, working with RWE and Evonik, moved the first green hydrogen through a roughly 120-kilometre pipeline from its Lingen electrolyser plant to the Chemiepark in Marl — described by the company as one of Europe's first functioning hydrogen value chains. The share price barely stirred, a sign the market had already priced in the achievement.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying ITM Power?
The project pipeline beyond that remains broad. With Linde Engineering, ITM Power is supplying two 100-megawatt units to RWE under the GET H2 Nukleus project. In the UK, the company is working with Protium Green Solutions on the Cromarty project, backed by the government's HAR1 funding programme. A memorandum of understanding with Deutsche Bahn covers integrating electrolyser technology at rail sites, while the Giga PtX partnership with Rheinmetall targets a Europe-wide network of decentralised plants producing synthetic fuels.
Guidance Raised, Yet the Chart Sags
The operational numbers support the insider optimism. In the first half of the financial year, which closed at the end of October 2025, ITM Power posted record revenue of £18 million, split between £15.5 million in equipment sales and £2.5 million from engineering studies, spare parts and servicing. In February, the company lifted its full-year revenue guidance to a range of £40 million to £43 million — an increase of roughly 11 percent at the midpoint from the previous £35 million to £40 million band.
Analysts have taken note. Berenberg raised its price target in late August from 110 to 200 pence, citing the growth potential of the Giga PtX venture with Rheinmetall. Morgan Stanley also moved to a more positive stance on the stock around the same time.
Yet the market's focus has drifted elsewhere. The shares now sit below the €1.20 mark, notably under their 50-day moving average of €1.29, pointing to a soft patch in the near term. The stock remains sharply higher on the year — around 72 percent above its January level at the recent €1.25 price — but it has retreated considerably from its spring interim high, underscoring that operational progress has yet to translate into sustained upward momentum.
The Metal Factor
The raw materials squeeze adds a layer of pressure that no amount of project wins can immediately offset. Copper and silver have both struck record highs, raising input costs for the stacks and electrical systems that sit at the heart of ITM Power's products. For a manufacturer already navigating margin constraints, the timing is awkward — the cost pressure operates independently of the company's own execution.
What Comes Next
Warren East, a non-executive director, filed a share purchase notification under the Director/PDMR disclosure rules in late August. Insider buying of this sort is frequently read as a confidence signal, even if it rarely halts short-term price moves on its own.
Investors will get a chance to hear directly from management at the Commerzbank & ODDO BHF Corporate Conference 2026, where ITM Power is scheduled to appear. The raised guidance and progress on Giga PtX are likely to feature prominently in discussions with institutional investors — an opportunity to counter the selling pressure of recent sessions.
The repeated purchases by Schulz and Bourne do not, by themselves, justify a buy decision. They do, however, add a data point to an increasingly constructive picture: a growing order book, raised guidance and the first industrial proof of the technology across the full value chain. Whether that translates into durable share-price gains will depend on whether the headline projects with RWE, Rheinmetall and Deutsche Bahn convert into firm orders in the quarters ahead.
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