PARIS — Satellite and rocket hardware builder OHB AG of Germany reported March 14 a 14 percent increase in revenue in 2012, to 632.7 million euros ($835 million), with operating earnings also up 14 percent and backlog reaching a record 1.64 billion euros.
Bremen-based OHB, which is prime contractor for Europe’s Galileo constellation of positioning, navigation and timing satellites and co-prime for the Meteosat Third Generation weather satellite system, said revenue in 2013 should increase by at least 10 percent.
OHB Chief Executive Marco R. Fuchs said 2014 is shaping up to provide further growth in revenue and in pretax profit given the current size of the firm backlog, which as of Dec. 31 was up 57 percent from where it stood a year earlier.
OHB is the third major satellite system prime contractor in Europe, with the other two being Astrium Satellites and Thales Alenia Space. With firm German government backing, the company is debuting a new line of telecommunications satellite platforms based on the Small Geo work done for the 20-nation European Space Agency.
OHB is also prime contractor for the German military’s five-satellite SAR-Lupe radar reconnaissance system.
