Rolls-Royce has reaffirmed its full year guidance on November 7, 2024, stating that demand for its civil aerospace business “remains strong”.
The trading update said its guidance from August 2024, is in line with its expectations and current trading. The guidance had forecast an underlying profit between £2.1bn and £2.3bn, as well as a free cash flow of between £2.1bn and £2.2bn.
“Our transformation of Rolls-Royce into a high-performing, competitive, resilient and growing business continues with pace and intensity,” said Rolls-Royce Holdings CEO Tufan Erginbilgic. “Continued good performance year to date gives us further confidence in the delivery of our 2024 guidance despite a supply chain environment which remains challenging. We are also making good progress towards our mid-term targets, with a front-end loaded delivery of profit and cash flow improvements.”
The company said the supply chain “remains challenged" but that it is working to support original equipment (OE) and aftermarket volumes. “We have concentrated our efforts on 15 suppliers, where our interventions have driven performance improvements,” it read in its trading update.
Rolls-Royce said large engine flying hours in the first 10 months of the year, through October 31, 2024, grew by around 18% over the same period last year, as well as doubling over 2019 levels. Full year expectations for large engine flying hours is expected to be 100-110% over 2019, as well as 500-550 OE deliveries, and 1,300-1,400 shops visits.
In addition, the company is continuing to target Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification of the improved HPT blade for the Trent 1000 TEN - a high-bypass turbofan engine, competing with the GEnx engine to power the 787 Dreamliner - in the coming months. The company said the improved HPT blade will more than double the time on wing of the engine and is a part of its £1bn time on wing investment programme.
“There is more we still need and want to do, as we expand the earnings and cash potential of Rolls-Royce,” added Erginbilgic.
Rolls-Royce said it is also continuing to increase MRO capacity for major shop visits by 2030 to support future aftermarket growth. The company also completed its flying test bed campaign for its newest Pearl engine: the Pearl 10X, which was selected to exclusively power Dassault's Falcon 10X that is expected to enter into service in 2027.
Recent engine orders include 60 Trent 7000 engines by Cathay Pacific and an order by EL AL Airlines for Trent 1000 engines. The latter ordered three 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft as a firm order with options for six more.