Transformation at Rolls-Royce brings underlying profits up to £1.6bn

Published by

Daniel Face

Rolls-Royce Holdings plc has recorded an underlying operating profit of £1.6 billion for 2023 – up from £0.9 billion the previous year.

Growth has been driven by commercial optimisation and cost efficiency savings across the group.

Rolls-Royce also posted a record free cash flow of £1.3 billion, while net debt almost halved and now sits at £2 billion.

Highlights from the past year have included a 15-year peak in large engine orders, driven particularly by Air India and Turkish Airlines.

Hear the latest insights from property experts on The Business Magazine’s new podcast

The group has seen growing demand for submarines, too, as well as power generation solutions in the rapidly expanding data centre market.

CEO Tufan Erginbilgic said: “Our transformation has delivered a record performance in 2023.

“This step change has been achieved across all our divisions, despite a volatile environment with geopolitical uncertainty, supply chain challenges and inflationary pressures.

“We’re managing the business differently and our significant performance improvement in the year reflects the hard work and focused actions of all our teams. We’re also continuing to invest to drive future sustainable growth.

“Our strong delivery in 2023 gives us confidence in our 2024 guidance and is a significant step towards our mid-term targets.

“We’re unlocking our full potential as a high-performing, competitive, resilient and growing Rolls-Royce.”

Daniel Face

Born and raised in Berkshire, Dan fell into journalism after completing his bachelor’s degree in English at UCL. Writing for The Business Magazine and local Biz News sites has given him the opportunity to chat with all manner of small business owners and share their success stories with a wider audience. Outside of work, Dan enjoys live music, board games and quiz shows, and is making a slow but persistent effort to learn Spanish.