Despite issuing an unchanged guidance from its November statement regarding the ongoing issues with its Trent 100 engines, Rolls-Royce said that the roll-out of technical fixes was ‘progressing well”, as its announced a £852m loss for 2019, mainly due to the £1.4bn charge in regard to cracks in the Trent engine blades.
In its 2019 results statement it said that the roll-out of technical fixes for the Trent 100 was, “progressing well [with] further actions underway to reduce customer disruption. Design progress [is] on track for the improved Trent 1000 TEN high pressure turbine (HPT) blade, [with]the last major issue to resolve; certification of this component still expected in the first half of 2021,” the firm said in a statement.
As result of charges related to the Trent 100 Rolls-Royce reported a loss, despite underlying operating profits rising by 25%. The firm declined to include the impact of the coronavirus outbreak in its 2020 due to uncertainty over its impact and said its expected profit growth of 15% for the next 12 months.
“There are macro risks to navigate in 2020, notably the outbreak of COVID-19,” East said in a statement accompanying its Q2 2019 results. “ The situation is still evolving, and as such our guidance for 2020 excludes any material impact. We are monitoring developments, taking mitigating actions, and will update the market as appropriate”
East described the first half of 2020 as “ challenging” but said that Rolls-Royce had picked up steam in H2 by delivering 25% growth in full year underlying operating profit – excluding the Trent engine charge. He pointed to the strong performance of the company’s Civil Aerospace unit which recorded 510 widebody engine deliveries.
“We made further progress on the Trent 1000; cash costs are in line with guidance. We remain on target to reduce aircraft on ground to single digits by the end of Q2 2020,” he said. ”We continued to invest significantly in R&D and took important steps towards becoming a leader in low carbon technologies. We grew our electrical capabilities with the acquisitions of Siemens’ eAircraft business and a majority stake in Qinous, as well as developing new in-house hybrid-electric solutions.”
