Increase in profits for Scottish Rolls-Royce aerospace workers

The return of international air travel and Russia’s war against Ukraine meant that the aerospace and defense sectors contributed to the robust half-year results.

The company booked 240 large engine orders in the six-month period, up from 96 a year earlier.

The civil aerospace division posted an operating profit of £405m compared to a loss of £79m a year earlier.

READ MORE: Rolls-Royce pledges jobs in Scotland as demand for flights surges

It’s also good news for around 600 aerospace workers at Inchinnan in Renfrewshire, who make turbine blades and wings, and who were among those who faced cuts as the company eventually laid off 9,000 workers across its operations in recent years .

“Rolls-Royce appears to be waking up from the clouds,” said Edison Group director Andy Chambers, “with very strong half-year results showing underlying sales growing 31% to £6.9bn, five times higher at £673m.

“With the first performance-enhancing results of the transformation program, all three divisions have made positive contributions.”

READ MORE: New tenants move into former Rolls-Royce factory

He said the “healthy profit” and strong order intake reflected the recovery in the large jet engine market and strong growth in business aviation.

Defense also saw strong growth, with underlying operating profit up 33% “reflecting improved demand and a more favorable supply profile.”

The company saw a significant improvement in engine flight hours from its commercial aerospace operations, up 36% in the first half and reaching 83% of 2019 levels.

Profitability drove the company’s shares higher that day, reaching levels not seen since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

READ MORE: Rolls-Royce returns to profitability

Tufan Erginbilgic, Rolls-Royce CEO, launched another transformation program earlier in the year, which included senior management changes.

He said the plan “is off to a good start, with progress already evident in our strong initial results and increased full-year 2023 guidance.”

However, he said there was “more work to be done” under the program and it had also conducted a strategic review with the aim of announcing the results later this year.

He said: “There is still much more work to be done to perform better and transform Rolls-Royce into a high-performing, competitive, resilient and growing company.”

“We will announce the outcome of our strategy review along with the mid-term targets for the group in November.”