Member Article

Rolls Royce celebrate record order levels

Rolls Royce is celebrating after receiving a record 1,100 orders for an innovative new engine which could reduce jet emissions by up to 16%.

The Trent XWB is still being tested by the manufacturers, who believe that it is the most efficient jet engine ever. It is now set to come into service in 2014.

Despite the wait it is already set to be the fastest selling Trent engine ever, after 34 customers placed orders for the product, including one worth hundreds of millions from Cathay Pacific, who have chosen to opt for a more powerful version.

Following the news that the firm’s order book had risen 4% to £60.1 billion, shares in Rolls’ Royce jumped by 5%.

Rolls Royce’s better than expected 7% increase in group underlying profits to £637 million of the six months to June was driven by their civil aviation division.

In recent months the division has had strong demand for fuel efficient engines from emerging markets. It has also benefited from growth of plane manufacturers Boeing and Airbus, who have also been forced to increase output following an order backlog.

Within the division itself, revenues rose by 17% to £3 billion over the first six months of 2012, along with underlying profits which were up 24% to £310 million.

The marine division saw orders increased by 44%, thanks to a £1 billion deal with the Ministry of Defence to build reactor cores to a new fleet of nuclear powered submarines.

By contrast, the defence aerospace division saw an 8% fall in orders as military budgets around the world come under increasing pressure.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .