REUTERS

The Rolls Royce engine of a 787 Dreamliner is pictured as the aircraft sits on the tarmac at Boeing Commercial Airplanes manufacturing facilities at Paine Field, Everett, Washington during the jetliner's certification event on August 26, 2011.

British enginemaker Rolls-Royce met forecasts with a 21 percent rise in full-year profit, boosted by continued demand from airlines for more fuel-efficient planes, and said it expected further progress in 2012.

“We had a good year in terms of civil aerospace and we are positive on it looking ahead given the airlines' capacity growth and their need to reduce the fuel bill,” chief executive John Rishton told reporters on Thursday.

Rolls, the world's second-largest maker of aircraft engines behind US group General Electric, reported underlying 2011 pretax profit of 1.16 billion pounds ($1.83 billion), compared with a forecast for 1.15 billion.

The company, whose website says a Rolls-Royce powered aircraft takes off or lands every 2.5 seconds, said revenue rose 4 percent to 11.3 billion pounds.

The full-year dividend was lifted 9 percent to 17.5 pence.

The result was helped by its acquisition of German enginemaker Tognum last year and the 950 million pound sale of its stake in International Aero Engines.

“Overall, a solid result in our view, with the prospect of continued long-term growth underpinned by the order book, growing aftermarket sales and contribution from Tognum,” Investec analyst Andrew Gollan said.

Rishton said a new joint venture with rival Pratt & Whitney to develop the next generation of engines for the mid-sized narrowbody market would be officially formed this year.

Analysts forecast that 20,000 narrowbody planes will be produced in the next 20 years.

Of the 16.3 billion pounds of new orders Rolls received in 2011, around 11 billion came from civil aerospace orders. Revenue at its defence business rose, though sales at its energy and marine units fell slightly.

Rolls said its order book grew 5 percent to a record 62.2 billion pounds, helped by significant orders from Emirates Airlines, Norwegian Airlines and Singapore Airlines.

“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,” Rishton said. “Our order book gives us good visibility of future revenues.”

Rolls shares, which had risen a quarter in value in the past year, were down 1 percent at 775 pence by 10:35 SA time, valuing the group at around 14.7 billion pounds. - Reuters