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Rolls-Royce has raised its profit forecast and plans to pay a dividend for the first time since the pandemic as chief executive Tufan Erginbilgiç’s efforts to restore the UK engineering group’s fortunes pay off.
Shareholders in the FTSE 100 company, whose engines power civil aircraft, submarines and military jets, last received a payout in 2020, before the pandemic.
Announcing its first-half results on Thursday, Rolls-Royce said it would resume payouts in its results for the full year.
The company, which is in the middle of a revamp under Erginbilgiç, increased its forecast underlying operating profit to between £2.1bn and £2.3bn for this year.
It is targeting free cash flow of between £2.1bn and £2.2bn, higher than its previous guidance of £1.7bn to £1.9bn.
Revenues in the first six months of the year rose to £8.1bn, up from £6.9bn in the same period the previous year. Underlying operating profit surged to £1.15bn from £673mn the previous year.