Engineering giant predicts profits rise due to improved performance
In it half-year results issued yesterday, the company, which has its civil aerospace and marine divisions in Derby, reported a slight increases in pre-tax profits, sales and its order book.
Overall profits went up by four per cent to £465 million compared to the same period last year and sales went up from £5.14 billion to £5.42 billion.
The firm's order book also remained strong at £58.4 billion, slightly up on the final six months of 2009 when it stood at £58.3 billion.
The solid figures come despite Rolls-Royce investing millions in new products and factories.
The company is investing in its civil aerospace division at Sinfin, which employs about 10,000 people.
It has made improvements to its engine test beds and has submitted plans to expand training facilities for apprentices.
In the first six months of this year, the division's order book increased by £300 million to £47.3 billion.
Staff at Derby have been boosted by progress made on two key engine programmes – the Trent 1000 and the Trent XWB.
The Trent 1000 powers the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which is now in the middle of its flight testing programme.
Earlier this month, the Dreamliner appeared at Farnborough Air Show, where Rolls-Royce secured more than a £1 billion of new orders.
The aircraft, which is due to go into full production later this year, also made a spectacular fly-past over Derby.
This year, the Trent XWB, which will eventually power the Airbus A350 XWB, ran for the first time in one of Rolls-Royce's test beds at Derby.
Rolls-Royce's marine division, which employs about 2,000 people in Raynesway, performed strongly, despite some cancelled orders.
The division grew its profits from £110 million to £170 million as it reported a recovery in demand.
Chief executive Sir John Rose said: "Rolls-Royce delivered a robust performance, despite the continuing uncertainty in the global economy.
"We continue to make progress with our development programmes and new facility construction.
"These investments are designed to underpin the growth embedded in our order book and achieve productivity improvements."
Sir John said the firm now expected full-year profits to be slightly up on the £915 million made last year.
Though the firm relies on its aerospace division, he singled out the marine division as a key driving force in the firm's improving performance.
He said: "We now expect underlying profit for the full year to be modestly higher than 2009, mainly due to good cost control and a strong trading performance from our marine business."
In the past, Rolls-Royce has kept costs under close control.
This included shedding about 500 jobs in Derby, the majority of which were by voluntary redundancy.
Steve Wright, works convenor for the Unite union at Rolls-Royce, said: "We're always pleased when the company is doing well. But, from a trade union point of view, the 41 compulsory redundancies that were made last year by the company are still fresh in the memory.
"We are about the enter one of the busiest periods for some time with the progress that is being made on the Trent 1000 and the XWB.
"My hope is that we have enough people to deliver these orders.
"The workforce have proved in the past that they are up to it, I also hope the management are up to it, too."
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