Aero enginemaker Rolls-Royce posted a 21% rise in full-year profit, and said it expects to deliver further growth in 2012, helped by its record order book.
Rolls, the world's second-largest maker of aircraft engines behind US group General Electric, today reported an underlying pretax profit of £1.16 billion on revenue up 4% at £11.3 billion for the year to the end of December 2011.
It is the first time Rolls-Royce has reported an annual profit in excess of £1 billion. The result was helped by the positive impact of its acquisition of German engine maker Tognum and the £950 million sale of its stake in International Aero Engines.
The company, which also builds and tests propulsion systems for nuclear submarines for the UK navy, increased the full-year dividend by 9% to 17.5 pence per share.
Rolls said its order book grew 5% to a record £62.2 billion, helped by significant orders from Singapore Airlines, Norwegian Airlines and Emirates Airlines, and said it was confident on its prospects for the year ahead.
"For 2012 we expect good growth in both underlying revenue and underlying profit with cash flow around breakeven as we continue to invest in future growth," Rolls-Royce chief executive John Rishton said.
"Our order book gives us good visibility of future revenues and demonstrates the confidence our customers have in us."
Shares in the company, which have risen a quarter in the last year, closed at 785 pence on last night, valuing the group at around £14.7 billion.
