Germany's OHB seeks to hire to underpin growth ambitions in defence

By Paolo Laudani

(Reuters) -German aerospace group OHB said on Thursday it is on a hiring spree to support its growth ambitions in the defence sector.

"These are good times. We're growing. We're hiring people," CEO Marco Fuchs told analysts in a call after the release of quarterly results.

The satellite maker's home country Germany this year approved a fiscal plan that largely removes defence investment from limits on state borrowing.

"We have lots of meetings internally to see where we can find people...how we can expand teams. And I'm sure what I'm saying is true for everybody in the German and European space industry", Fuchs added.

Markus Moeller, executive board member responsible for business development and strategy, said the company currently has one third of its customers in the military, a share that is set to rise thanks to the dual use of its earth observation technologies.

OHB, a partner for European Space Agency (ESA) projects, forecast 2025 sales to come in at 1.2 billion euros ($1.36 billion), up from 1 billion last year and broadly in line with an LSEG poll of analysts.

It also posted a 13% gain in first-quarter revenues.

($1 = 0.8846 euros)

(Reporting by Paolo Laudani in GdanskEditing by Ludwig Burger)