OHB (ETR:OHB) confirmed its 2026 guidance after reporting higher operating performance and profitability for the first nine months of the year, as major satellite contracts expanded its order book and management outlined plans for faster growth from 2028.
The European space company reported total operating performance of €947 million and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of €100 million for the nine months ended September 30. The adjusted EBITDA margin was 10.5%.
Chief Financial Officer Tim Tecklenburg said the nine-month operating performance represented about 68% of the company’s €1.4 billion full-year guidance, compared with a little over 60% at the same point in previous years. He said planned deliveries, including some shifted from the third quarter, supported the outlook for the final three months of 2026.
“We are on the growth path,” Tecklenburg said, while confirming the guidance during the earnings call.
Satellite contracts support order book
OHB reported order intake of €1.8 billion through the end of September. Executive Board Member for Corporate and Business Development Markus Moeller said that figure had risen to €2.4 billion for 2026 to date as customers placed further orders.
The company’s backlog stood just below €3.9 billion at the end of the third quarter. Tecklenburg said that figure included the IRIS² contract but did not include a subsequently signed €554 million contract for the Sentinel-3 Next Generation Topography Mission.
Under the approximately €1 billion IRIS² contract, OHB will build 18 medium-Earth-orbit satellite platforms. A company representative described it as the largest individual contract in OHB’s history and said at least the first satellite would be integrated in Bremen.
The Sentinel contract covers one Earth observation satellite and includes an option for a second. OHB said the mission will support applications including climate monitoring.
Moeller said the company continued to track a €20 billion qualified pipeline, roughly half of it related to defense. OHB’s ambition is to secure €5.5 billion of cumulative orders across 2026 and 2027, followed by approximately €7 billion in 2028 and 2029. Those figures are ambitions, not confirmed orders.
Moeller also said a base case for the German military’s SATCOMBw 4 program was included in the order ambition, with potential upside depending on negotiations. He declined to provide a specific value, citing the military nature of the program.
Access to Space grows as launch demand rises
Tecklenburg said all three of OHB’s segments grew profitably during the nine-month period. Access to Space grew 31% year over year, helped by the ramp-up of Ariane production, demand from U.S. launch vehicle providers and component sales to defense companies.
The CFO said OHB had spent €25 million on capital expenditures during the period, about half of it in Access to Space as the company expanded manufacturing capacity.
OHB’s Rocket Factory Augsburg, or RFA, has delayed its first launch to 2027 after a tank problem in August. A company representative said the issue had been understood and repaired, with further testing planned. The first launch was expected early next year, although the representative cautioned against a precise timetable.
OHB is planning three RFA launches in 2027, though the representative said the total could be two. The company has signed a €187 million agreement with the European Space Agency for RFA and appointed Alexander Dahm as its new chief executive.
RFA has firm bookings from the German Space Agency and national customers, the representative said, but is not yet pursuing commercial bookings broadly because it wants to complete the product and launch first.
Cash milestones and longer-term outlook
Tecklenburg said growing net contract assets had affected free cash flow and that cash generation was typically concentrated in the fourth quarter. Asked whether OHB still aimed to finish the year cash-positive or on a positive adjusted free cash flow basis, he said the ambition remained and that the company was working to meet payment milestones.
For 2027, Tecklenburg declined to provide a growth forecast, saying OHB would continue growing before a further acceleration from 2028. He pointed to IRIS² and potential military contracts alongside the existing institutional business. The company expects to provide its 2027 outlook before publishing full-year results in March.
Management reiterated a midterm ambition for more than €4 billion in total operating performance and a 13% margin. Tecklenburg said OHB would consider whether to provide cash conversion guidance for 2027.
About OHB (ETR:OHB)
OHB SE operates as a space and technology company in Germany, rest of Europe, and internationally. The company operates through three segments, Space Systems, Aerospace, and Digital segments. The Space Systems segment focuses on developing and executing space projects. This segment primarily develops and manufactures low-orbiting and geostationary small satellites for navigation, research, communications, and earth and weather observation and reconnaissance, including scientific payloads; undertakes projects for the assembly and outfitting of the International Space Station; and prepares studies and models for exploring solar system, such as the moon, asteroids, and Mars.
