A director reaching into his own pocket usually draws more attention than a line item in an annual report. At ITM Power, non-executive director John Howarth did exactly that on Tuesday, buying 23,072 ordinary shares at £0.867 apiece — a purchase, not an award under any remuneration scheme, disclosed to the market on Wednesday. Yet the trade lands against a set of full-year figures published just two days earlier, and those numbers tell a more layered story than any single insider transaction can.
Revenue Is Racing. Profitability Is Still Catching Up.
For the 2026 financial year, ITM Power booked revenue of £43.6 million, a jump of 68%. The top line is clearly moving in the right direction. What it does not do, on its own, is carry the company into positive adjusted operating territory — and that gap is the central challenge investors are being asked to
Adjusted EBITDA came in at a loss of £20.2 million. That is a marked improvement on the prior-year comparative of £33.0 million, but it remains a loss. Higher sales paired with a smaller shortfall describes progress, not a completed turnaround. Revenue growth and loss containment are two separate tests, and the company has so far passed only one of them outright.
What the Order Book Actually Says
At year-end, ITM Power’s contracted backlog stood at £144.0 million. Management states that 83% of that total is profitable. That figure offers a useful read on the economic quality of the deals already signed, but it is not a statement about the profitability of the business as a whole.
The distinction matters. A profitable contract and a positive group result are not the same thing, and the share of profitable agreements cannot be converted into a specific earnings margin. For valuation purposes, the size of the backlog counts for less than what it ultimately contributes to the bottom line.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying ITM Power?
Cash told a separate story at the close of the year: £215.6 million in liquidity. That balance belongs alongside revenue and the loss in any assessment of ITM Power’s financial starting position, though it answers a different question. Available funds do not substitute for operating profitability.
Guidance Points to a Smaller Loss, Not a Profit
Management’s outlook for the 2027 financial year pairs revenue of £50–60 million with an adjusted EBITDA loss of £17–20 million. The forecast therefore describes further improvement — more sales, a narrower shortfall — rather than a crossing into positive adjusted earnings.
Cash guidance for the same period is £170–180 million. Like the earnings projection, this is an expectation rather than an achieved figure, and it adds a second dimension to the outlook: how the company’s financial resources are expected to evolve while it works toward break-even.
Reading the Insider Buy in Context
Howarth’s purchase is a personal investment decision, and its informational value is bounded. It does not signal an imminent operational improvement, nor does it point to any particular share price trajectory. What it does is place a board member’s own capital alongside a phase of operational progress — one that has not yet reached the profit zone.
The next confirmed date on the corporate calendar is the annual general meeting, scheduled for 30 October 2026 at 11:00 in Sheffield. Until then, the framework for judging the equity rests on the interplay between backlog quality, earnings development and liquidity. The annual accounts supply the hard figures; the guidance sets a clear benchmark of more revenue accompanied by a smaller loss. Only the actual course of business will show whether ITM Power meets it.
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