OHB SE Releases Its 2023 Nine-Month Interim Report

The OHB Group (ISIN: DE0005936124, Prime Standard) reported total revenue of EUR 737.0 million for the first nine months of the year, an increase of 6% compared to the same period last year (previous year: EUR 694.5 million). Operating profit (EBITDA) decreased from EUR 68.0 million in the prior year to EUR 64.1 million. The operating EBITDA margin for the reporting period was 8.7%, compared to 9.8% in the comparable prior-year period. EBIT decreased to EUR 36.9 million in the first nine months of the current fiscal year, compared to EUR 41.4 million in the prior year. The corresponding EBIT margin decreased to 5.0%, compared to 6.0% in the prior-year period. These figures do not include adjustments for negative one-time effects related to the KKR transaction and other charges.

The Group’s firm order backlog stood at EUR 1,742 million after nine months of the 2023 fiscal year, compared with EUR 1,859 million in the prior year. Of this amount, EUR 1,465 million is attributable to the SPACE SYSTEMS segment, EUR 136 million to the AEROSPACE segment, and EUR 141 million to the DIGITAL segment. As of September 30, 2023, the OHB Group’s total assets stood at EUR 1,107.6 million, approximately 2% above the level as of December 31, 2022 (EUR 1,080.7 million). The increase in equity from EUR 293.5 million to EUR 301.2 million resulted in an equity ratio of 27.2% as of September 30, 2023, unchanged from the year-end figure of December 31, 2022.

The extended acceptance period for KKR’s voluntary public tender offer for all outstanding shares of OHB SE ended on November 3, 2023. A total of 3,592,391 shares were tendered under this offer, which, including the shares acquired by KKR on the market, represents approximately 21.5% of all OHB shares and approximately 77.5% of all shares not held by the Fuchs family or by OHB as treasury shares. The Management Board of OHB SE views this result as very positive. Upon completion of the planned capital increase and the tender offer, KKR and the Fuchs family will collectively hold approximately 94% of all shares.

In the SPACE SYSTEMS segment, significant progress was made on several major satellite projects in the past quarter; among other things, the Heinrich Hertz communications satellite was successfully launched and put into operation. Important decisions regarding activities in the AEROSPACE segment were recently made during the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Space Summit 2023 in Seville: Additional funding is to be allocated both for production in the Ariane 6 program and for certain players in the launch vehicle sector. In the DIGITAL segment, we are capitalizing on the growing demand for always-on connectivity—particularly in the area of vehicle-based applications—through an investment in the startup UNIO Enterprise GmbH.

The Executive Board expects the OHB Group’s consolidated total revenue for the 2023 fiscal year to amount to EUR 1,176 million, with the operating profit metrics EBITDA and EBIT projected to reach EUR 109 million and EUR 70 million, respectively. At this time, the Management Board assumes that the financial and asset position will continue to develop favorably and confirms the guidance regarding total revenue for the current fiscal year. There are currently uncertainties regarding the achievement of the forecast full-year figures for the key performance indicators EBITDA and EBIT. Various factors (delayed order intake, inflation-driven cost increases, as well as transaction costs and other one-time effects) that have negatively impacted profitability will likely result in the company falling short of its guidance for the EBITDA and EBIT metrics for the current fiscal year.

Key Performance Indicators at a Glance