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RR. Rolls-royce Holdings Plc

415.50
9.80 (2.42%)
Last Updated: 12:51:31
Delayed by 15 minutes
Rolls-royce Investors - RR.

Rolls-royce Investors - RR.

Share Name Share Symbol Market Stock Type
Rolls-royce Holdings Plc RR. London Ordinary Share
  Price Change Price Change % Share Price Last Trade
9.80 2.42% 415.50 12:51:31
Open Price Low Price High Price Close Price Previous Close
411.70 409.20 415.70 405.70
more quote information »
Industry Sector
AEROSPACE & DEFENCE

Top Investor Posts

Top Posts
Posted at 25/4/2024 08:18 by foreverbull
Https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/aerospace-driving-the-profit-engine-gsxv6gxdpAerospace driving Rolls-Royce's profit engineLauren AlmeidaApril 03 2024, 12.01amRolls-Royce, once a laggard in most DIY investor portfolios, is now ranking around the top of brokers' most popular stocks. It was just over a year ago that new chief executive Tufan Erginbilgic started at the business, claiming it had been "grossly mismanaged" for years. Since he took charge, the shares have almost quadrupled in value - but can it last?But the shares have roared back in the past 12 months, thanks in no small part to the success of Erginbilgic's turnaround plan, which doubled profit margins in just one year and led the company to record cash inflows.Erginbilgic, a former BP executive who joined the company after the almost eight-year tenure of Warren East, has laid out a vision for 2027: operating profits of up to £2.8 billion, profit margins as high as 15 per cent and annual net cash inflows as high as £3.1 billion.Much of this hinges on its civil aerospace division, which primarily makes engines for the Airbus A350 and Boeing 787. One reason why margins here were historically weak is that the company cut prices aggressively on new engines in a bid to win market share. Now management is prioritising the bottom line, with margins up from 3 per cent in 2022 to 12 per cent in 2023. There is still some catch up ahead given that rivals such as Safran and General Electric make margins that are closer to 20 per cent in this area, though they specialise in higher margin business for narrow body planes.A rebound in passenger flights has also been a big boost for Rolls, and there could still be more here to gain given that long haul routes and Chinese international traffic still have some way to recover. The company thinks long-haul flying this year could be a tenth higher than pre-pandemic levels.The market often overlooks Rolls' small new markets business - but there is much here that looks promising too, not least its development of small modular reactors. Rolls has the potential to lead the way in small nuclear power plants in the UK, where the national target is to produce 25 per cent of electricity from nuclear by 2050, up from around 15 per cent currently. Rolls-Royce has already received £210 million of government grants for its projects.Long-term holders of Rolls may miss the dividend, which was last paid in 2019. While there are no formal plans to reinstate it, this looks possible given net debt dropped from £3.3 billion to £2 billion in its last financial year, and two credit agencies now rate its debt as investment grade. Analysts at Jefferies reckon shareholder payouts could materialise as early as its half year results in August.Rolls' turnaround has impressed the city, and its rally last year means the stock is back in line with peers. But the company must prove to investors that it can maintain the balancing act of reducing costs, rising prices and not harming operations. The shares trade at a forward price to earnings multiple of 26, compared with Safran at 30. For now, Erginbilgic's success appears to have created a halo effect around the shares and, while Rolls has made impressive progress over the past year, its rising price leaves less and less room for error.Advice HoldWhy Looks fairly priced after significant improvements in profits and margins
Posted at 17/3/2024 22:41 by trovax
HTTPS://www.rolls-royce.com/~/media/Files/R/Rolls-Royce/documents/investors/rolls-royce-investor-presentation-march-2024.pdf
Posted at 20/2/2024 09:23 by cevodniya
Nobbygnome, Sheedy isn't short at 3.10.
He never shorts.
Him and his aliases are simply trolls who inhabit the same threads an attempt to influence naive investors or inexperienced investors with what yhey perceive to be some sort of experience analysis.
It's simply a game they play on RR, SYME, Metro Bank, Skin Bio, BT, ITM and a few others.
Daily rhetoric using a few of his aliases is his bedsit entertainment.
Seriously, what are the percentile chances on a social media forum of 10 or 12 individuals all spouting the same rhetorical syntax on the same threads?
It's statistically impossible.
The syntax is the same as an individual morse key operator who can easily be identified regardless of the call sign used .
That's Sheedy and all his aliases.
He's just a very delusional individual and needs serious psychological help.
Posted at 18/2/2024 07:14 by freddie01
Rolls-Royce eyes £1.4bn profit as turnaround continues. But could the long lost dividend return?


Rolls-Royce investors will get a clear picture of the company’s turnaround under new chief Tufan Erginbilgiç when the engineering giant reports its full-year results on Thursday.

Analysts are forecasting an underlying operating profit of between £1bn and £1.4bn after Erginbilgiç raised expectations in July.

There is also growing speculation that Rolls-Royce could return to the dividend list after a four-year post-pandemic absence.

Investors have been impressed by the new boss’s no-nonsense cost-cutting approach, as he looks to trim debts and improve profits, and both metrics will be in the spotlight next week.

Increased demand for its jet engines and a boom in military spending globally have also been key to its success over the last year.

Shares topped the FTSE 100 last year and it was the only stock in the UK’s headline index to have more than doubled over the past 12 months.

But the City will need clarity that 2023’s remarkable turnaround will continue into 2024. Analysts are looking for hefty increases in both underlying operating profit and free cash flow, to £1.7bn and £1.6bn.

By 2027, Rolls-Royce is aiming for £2.5bn to £2.8bn in underlying profit and free cash flow of £2.8bn to £3.1bn.

“Rolls-Royce has gone from being a ‘burning platform,’ to use the words of chief executive Tufan Erginbilgiç, to the hottest stock in the FTSE 100,” Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said.

“That gain is partly attributable to the no-nonsense self-help programme launched by Erginbilgiç since his arrival in January 2023, partly to the rebound in international travel and air traffic after the end of lockdowns, partly to the return to favour of defence-related companies and partly down to investors’ enthusiasm for the medium-term financial targets for 2027 laid down by the new boss at a meeting last November.”

On Thursday’s results, he added: “Investors will also look for further reductions in net debt, helped by that free cash flow but also the planned £1bn to £1.5bn disposal programme, and be on the look-out for any updates on both Rolls-Royce’s plans for its small modular nuclear reactors and the XWB97 jet engine, which attracted criticism from Emirates when the airline explained why it had not bought any Airbus A350-1000 aircraft.”
Posted at 16/2/2024 21:47 by thanatos abyss
The stock market is being driven not by fundamentals, but by investor emotion and the fear of missing out — and a recession could send the S&P 500 plunging by as much as 30%.

That's according to Paul Dietrich, the chief investment strategist of B. Riley Wealth Management, who's warned before of a recession and a bear market that could strike the economy this year.

Stocks have continued to soar so far in 2024, with the S&P 500 recently surpassing the 5,000 mark for the first time ever. But investing in this kind of stock market is always a "mistake," Dietrich warned, as it's mostly being fueled by investor hype.

"So many investors get caught up in the excitement, momentum, and enthusiasm of a stock market that is running like the Kentucky Derby," Dietrich said in a note last week. "It is that irrational Fear Of Missing Out, or 'FOMO,' that fuels this behavior."

A closer look beneath the surface shows that not all is well in the "wonderland" economy, Dietrich added.

Unemployment remains near a historic low, but has steadily ticked higher over the past year as more firms dole out pink slips. Layoffs and firings rose slightly to 1.6 million in December, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Consumer spending has remained strong on paper, but there are signs that Americans are simply funding their purchases with credit card debt to fight rising inflation. Household debt now stands at a record $17.5 trillion, according to Federal Reserve data.

"Similarly in 2000 and 2008, a large percentage of consumers hit their credit limits and consumer spending dropped dramatically. This cannot end well," Dietrich warned.

On Thursday, retail sales logged their steepest drop in almost a year, signaling the resilience of the consumer may finally be waning.

And while inflation has cooled dramatically from its highs, inflation actually hasn't been an issue in recessions spanning the last 25 years, Dietrich noted. That means the economy — and the stock market — isn't necessarily in the clear.

"While inflation can exacerbate the pain of a recession, the stock market can still drop by half in a recession — even if there is no inflation," he warned, noting that the S&P 500 dropped an average 36% at the onset of a recession.

"Even in a mild recession, investors holding the S&P 500 index should expect to lose over a third of their retirement investments in stocks," he warned.

Other bears on Wall Street have warned of a coming recession that could derail the bull market in stocks. The odds of a recession striking in 2024 are 85%, according to one economic model, the highest odds recorded since the Great Financial Crisis in 2008.
Posted at 01/1/2024 08:30 by foreverbull
Https://www.ft.com/content/2cffd498-5cbc-454c-8b00-2f610feb3600Investors cheer sharp shift in fortunes at Rolls-RoyceNew CEO Tufan Erginbilgic has stressed turnaround has been company-led but some see environment helpingAn UltraFan Demonstrator on test at Rolls-RoyceThe next generation UltraFan demonstrator engine aims to be 25% more efficient than the group's first Trent engines © Rolls-RoyceInvestors in Rolls-Royce, who in recent years have had little reason to celebrate, are in a cheery mood at the start of the new year.Rising 224 per cent in 2023 to 299.7p, the FTSE 100 engineer's shares have recorded their best annual performance since the company was privatised in 1987, heading the list of top gainers in the Stoxx 600 of Europe's largest listed companies in 2023.The sharp shift in the company's fortunes on the stock market has coincided with the arrival of chief executive Tufan Erginbilgic, the oil industry veteran who took the controls at Rolls-Royce in January 2023 with a mandate to improve performance and drive down costs. He has been brutally - and publicly - frank on Rolls-Royce's shortcomings, shaking up senior management, announcing job cuts and setting ambitious financial targets. Many investors and analysts have bought into the turnaround story, including longtime bear David Perry of JPMorgan, who in December issued an "overweight" rating on the stock for the first time since October 2014."I have never seen a CEO have such a positive impact in such a short period of time," said Perry."Recovering market conditions have helped, but much of this recovery was expected 12 months ago. So we think most of the improvement in Rolls-Royce's 2023 performance and its?.?.?.?upgraded financial targets is down to initiatives implemented by Erginbilgic and his team," he added.Despite the enthusiasm among many towards the new CEO, others are keen to stress that while he can take credit for bringing in greater cost discipline, he has been fortunate with timing - notably the dramatic rebound in global travel as well as the rise in defence spending by governments.The company makes most of its money from long-term service agreements on its passenger jet engines, and the recovery in international air travel, notably in the Asia-Pacific region, has brought more cash flowing in. "He has a following wind from increased flying, strong defence [spending] and the strong US dollar; and little in the way of new product spend," said one former industry executive. It would be hard to tell what impact his actions were already having, they added. Rolls-Royce is no newcomer to restructurings. The 117-year-old company's recent history is marked by successive turnaround plans launched by different chief executives.The group is best known for building and maintaining large engines for passenger jets but it also makes turbines for fighter aeroplanes and reactors that power nuclear submarines. It also produces diesel and gas engines for ships and power generation. Despite its longstanding position as Britain's pre-eminent engineer, Rolls-Royce's operating margins have historically underperformed those of larger peers such as America's General Electric. More recently, its pursuit of trying to win market share from rival engine makers saw it sometimes sacrifice profitability and price. It was also particularly badly hit by the pandemic due to its focus on building engines for widebody aircraft that fly long-haul, a segment of the market that suffered from the decline in international flying. When Erginbilgic took over from his predecessor Warren East, he joined with a reputation as a formidable operator. Key priorities were to reduce the losses when the company makes and sells an engine, as well as to ensure that costs taken out during the restructuring did not creep back in once volumes returned as the industry recovered. © Anna Gordon/FTHe has acted quickly to put his stamp on the organisation; almost half of Rolls-Royce's senior executives, including former chief financial officer Panos Kakoullis, have changed positions or left as part of the restructuring and his move to centralise core functions such as human resources and purchasing. Erginbilgic has been eager to stress a company-led turnaround rather than on that depends on the market."It is our actions that are driving the performance. It is not the environment," he said at the company's capital markets day in November where he announced new midterm targets for operating profits of up to £2.8bn by about 2027, four times the amount it reported in 2022. The targets, "actually mean a step change in performance", Erginbilgic said, noting the company had already upgraded its 2023 guidance at the time of its half-year results in August."Those numbers in terms of cash and operating profit will be our best on record, while engine flying hours are still at around 86 per cent," he said. The group is aiming to increase operating margins to 13-15 per cent as part of the midterm plan. In its core civil aerospace business, it expects to achieve operating margins of 15-17 per cent, up from 2.5 per cent in 2022, a move that would bring it closer to rivals such as GE.Nick Cunningham, analyst at Agency Partners, said the "underlying volume increase in engine flight hours and the underlying revenue increase from long-term service agreements is not a surprise", noting that "China reopened at the beginning of [2023]".He nevertheless credits Erginbilgic with laying the foundations for better future performance. "A lot of what he is doing in terms of trying to improve the contract structure and the financial discipline - managing working capital, not writing new, bad contracts - those things pay off over time," said Cunningham.Graeme Forster, portfolio manager at Orbis, which bought into Rolls-Royce shares about seven years ago, argues that some credit is also due to Rolls-Royce's "no-nonsense" chair, Anita Frew. Frew, who appointed Erginbilgic, has also overhauled the board since she herself started in October 2021.Warren East, Erginbilgic's predecessor, who ensured the company survived Covid and launched his own restructuring programme, including 9,000 job losses to save £1.3bn in costs, also deserves credit, according to Forster. Company insiders say that in the short term at least, the outlook is good. With the latest commitment by Turkish Airlines to purchase more than 200 Airbus aircraft, including A350s which are powered by Rolls-Royce engines, 2023 will be the best year for Rolls-Royce in terms of new orders for 15 years.A key mark of success will be when Rolls-Royce is upgraded to investment grade by all of the rating agencies. S&P Global upgraded it to BB+ in December. Some analysts believe a further shift higher could happen relatively soon, which could pave the way for the company to start paying a dividend again. The engineer's balance sheet will also benefit from not having to spend heavily on a new engine development in the medium-term. But one big strategic question still looms over Rolls-Royce: how does it re-enter the lucrative market for the engines powering narrow-body commercial airliners.The company left that segment more than a decade ago when it pulled out of a joint venture with Pratt & Whitney of the US.Erginbilgic has made much of the fact that the company could use new engine technologies from its UltraFan programme to work with another supplier. The next generation UltraFan demonstrator engine aims to be 25 per cent more efficient than the group's first Trent engines.Whether he stays the course for this to happen - Erginbilgic is 64 years old - or whether it will be a challenge for a successor, remains to be seen.For now, the focus will be on ensuring Rolls-Royce delivers on those new targets, including improving the earnings margins on its long-term service agreements with airline customers.To get there, the company will not only need to charge higher prices and reduce its own costs, but also improve the durability or "time on wing" of its aircraft engines so they fly for longer before coming in for maintenance.Rolls-Royce's R&D engineers are now "focused on improving time on wing", said JPMorgan's Perry. "They will need to deliver the promised improvements?.?.?.?if Rolls-Royce is to achieve its targets."
Posted at 30/12/2023 16:52 by freddie01
The Rolls-Royce share price topped the FTSE 100 this year as investors cheered the new chief’s plan, but will the rally continue in 2024?



Rolls-Royce has been the talk of the City this year as new boss Tufan Erginbilgiç seems to have engineered a remarkable turnaround in the company’s fortunes.

Soaring demand for its jet engines amid a boom in travel, coupled with increasing military spending globally have been key to its success. What’s more, investors are now well behind Erginbilgiç’s no-nonsense cost-cutting approach as he looks to trim debts and improve profits.

The stats speak for themselves. Since the former BP exec joined on 1 January, the stock has risen over 200 per cent. Over the past few weeks, the Rolls-Royce share price has surged a further 22 per cent.

Reasons for optimism
Investors are questioning whether expectations are too high. We do not think so.”

Goldman Sach’s assessment of the stock after reinstating their buy rating leaves little doubt of the optimism surrounding Rolls-Royce.

Travel demand has not yet reached pre-pandemic levels and airlines are placing order after order for new aircraft.

Meanwhile, global military spend is unlikely to die down any time soon amid resurgent conflict in the Middle East and the ongoing war in Ukraine. High barriers to entry mean fewer smaller competitors are sniffing around in the sector and Rolls-Royce has an enviable multi-billion order book, giving it a “good deal of future visibility” on revenues, according to Hargreaves Lansdown analysts.

Brokers at JP Morgan recently lifted Rolls-Royce’s stock to overweight from neutral, raising its target price from 235p to 400p.

Much of the hype around the stock’s performance has been driven by an extended period of failure before Erginbilgiç entered the stage. Rolls-Royce struggled for years under previous leadership, climaxing in a brush with bankruptcy over the pandemic.

To be fair, former boss Warren East had been dealt a bad hand. He had to deal with the fallout of claims the multinational had dished out bribes to secure contracts internationally, while the FTSE-100 firm had to rely on an emergency £7bn refinancing and asset fire sale to get through pandemic lockdowns. The company survived the pandemic, but only just.

Despite East’s efforts, in widely reported comments in January, Erginbilgiç said the company had been “grossly mismanaged” under previous leadership. That appears to have closed the book on one of the darkest eras in the company’s 116-year history.

Will it last?
Analysts have forecast earnings per share of 12.1p for 2024, higher than 2023 forecasts of 9.4p and Rolls-Royce has repeatedly upped its guidance in recent months.

Erginbilgiç has pledged to deliver £2.8bn in operating profit in the medium term, with a focus on bumping up margins in the group’s civil aerospace business. Full-year operating profit for 2024 is now expected to come in at between £1.2bn and £1.4bn, up from £652m in 2022.

But despite bullish forecasts, there are some potential headwinds on the horizon. Fears the travel market could dip in 2024 as pent-up demand, referring to consumers’ post-Covid desire to holiday, dries up, are not unfounded.

Coupled with higher energy bills and household costs, consumers may tighten their coffers, reducing airline’s spending power for big aircraft orders.

Debt also remains a key barrier. Hargreaves Lansdown analysts say Rolls has made “good headway” in pushing it lower, “but last we heard the group was still sporting a negative equity position – meaning liabilities outweigh assets – so we’re sceptical about seeing any kind of dividend this year.”

“Longer term, if cash flows keep improving then there could be scope to put dividends back on the table, but as always there are no guarantees,” they added.

And investors await the outcome of the UK government’s competition to build small nuclear reactors in the country. Rolls has spearheaded a British consortium designing small modular reactors (SMRs) for years and has been granted more than £200m in subsidies to develop the project.

But many in the sector were surprised when ministers opened the competition worldwide, with foreign rivals including Hitachi, General Electric and Holtec now pitted against the British manufacturer.

Great British Nuclear will announce which of them will receive government support by the spring of next year, with the contracts officially awarded in the summer.
Posted at 28/12/2023 12:34 by pyglet
Courtesy of Pro Active investors: Proactive Investors - Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC (LON:RR) has been the talk of the town this year.Since Tufan Erginbilgic took the helm early on in January, things could not have gone better for the FTSE 100-listed manufacturer, with the new boss's large-scale turnaround plan working wonders in reigniting enthusiasm for the stock.Indeed, Rolls-Royce is honing in on share price gains of 200% for the year.What's more, general consensus is that Rolls-Royce will keep it up in 2024, with the manufacturer having been showered in upgrades by brokers over the past month.Flying boomThe latest bout of optimism for Erginbilgic's firm came from Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) in mid-December, as analysts bumped Rolls-Royce's share price targets from 400p to 420p.Anticipating the resumption of dividend payments next year, analysts from the bank said 2024 should finally see long-haul flying hours return to pre-pandemic levels.Such a rebound would provide further fuel for Rolls-Royce, given the amount received from airlines running its engines is based on how long these are flown for.Rolls-Royce engine flying times for 2023 are expected to sit at just 87% of 2019 levels, for reference.Such positive sentiment towards Rolls-Royce is widely shared, with rating agency Fitch having raised its long term credit status from BBB to BB+ in early December on similar anticipations."Rolls-Royce's established prime contractor status for wide-body engine manufactur[ing] means it will continue to benefit from the recovery of wide-body aircraft production," Fitch said.Naturally then, such an uptick in fortunes for the long-haul sector can only spell good news for Rolls-Royce.Operational reformHowever, it isn't just external factors which have analysts rooting for Rolls-Royce.Internal improvements in Rolls-Royce's civil aerospace wing have also prompted excitement.Rolls-Royce itself has guided towards a £250 million boost to full-year profit from more favourable contract terms with those operating its engines.This would come as a direct result of the company taking a harder line negotiating deals with customers and, alongside a score of other operational improvements, has led Rolls-Royce to target as much as £1.4 billion and £1 billion in pre-tax earnings and free cash flow respectively for this full year.These operational improvements led Citi analysts to join the chorus of brokers singing Rolls-Royce's praises in December.Analysts from the bank hiked their target for the manufacturer's share price to 431p, pointing to savings from job cuts announced by Rolls-Royce in October.Increasing numbers of engine overhauls, growing airline fleets and the resultant uptick in spending on service agreements all offer Rolls-Royce a sustainable source of cash over the long-term, the bank said.A buy rating from Deutsche Bank (ETR:DBKGn) echoed the optimism surrounding Rolls-Royce, but also shone a light on the reality of the sector the business is in.DefenceIndeed, it's not just Rolls-Royce's exposure to the aviation industry which analysts are anticipating will power gains next year.Rolls-Royce, of course, is a major player in the defence landscape, developing the likes of power units for jets and nuclear submarines alike.Given the now near-two year large-scale war in Ukraine and recent outbreak of conflict between Israel and Hamas in the middle east, JP Morgan analysts said defence spending could well continue on an upward trajectory for "five to ten years"."It is hard to escape the view that geopolitical tensions are [that] high that Europe is now seeing a reverse of the around 30 years of stability," the bank said.Undeniably, Rolls-Royce stands to gain from any uptick in defence spending, with Fitch also pointing to such prospects in its own upgrade.For Deutsche, this constituted a share price target upgrade from 310p to 400p.Own ambitious targetsOf course, something had to have prompted such a flurry of upgrades for Rolls-Royce in December.Despite clear improvement throughout the year, the final piece in the puzzle was needed for onlookers to really believe Erginbilgic had enforced fundamental charge after the engine maker was struck down by the grounding of flights during the pandemic.This came in late November, as Rolls-Royce unveiled a host of ambitious medium-term targets during its capital markets day.Under these, Rolls-Royce will target operating profit of between £2.5 and £2.8 billion and free cash flow of at least £2.8 billion by 2027.Some £1 billion to £1.5 billion is expected to come through disposals, which will be made "at the right time and at the right price," according to the company.Rolls-Royce is "at a pivotal point in its history", Erganbilgic said at the time, adding such aims of quadrupling profits were both "compelling and achievable".Indeed, steady share price gains over the year shows that investors agree that the targets are compelling.What remains in question now is whether such targets are ultimately achievable.
Posted at 08/12/2023 10:35 by vlad the impaler
"Notably the institutional shorters have no notifiable short interests at this time in RR.

but in October private investors were 650,000,000 shares short in RR."

You don't seem to read the stock loan market well

Since it struck 290, I have institutional investors down as an increase short to 1.8% on RR

It may be under radar, but it can't escape maths I'm afraid

As for PI investors ..

Now you are being naive. When did their buys or shorts ever matter
Posted at 23/10/2023 07:35 by vikingwarrier
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Rolls-Royce facing £350m class action lawsuit from investors

Shareholders to seek compensation following 2017 bribery scandal
By Luke Barr 22 October 2023 • 8:00am

Rolls-Royce, the FTSE 100 engineering giant, is facing a potential legal claim from investors worth at least £350m after a bribery and corruption scandal wiped millions of pounds from the company’s value.

City lawyers are working with a group of investors seeking compensation from Rolls-Royce after the bribery allegations rocked the aircraft engine maker in 2017.

Shareholders are to claim that the company made misrepresentations to the market about the bribery scandal.

Rolls-Royce previously agreed to a £497m settlement with the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in a bid to draw a line under the wrongdoing.

The SFO’s agreement with Rolls-Royce in 2017 covered “12 counts of conspiracy to corrupt, false accounting and failure to prevent bribery” across its aerospace and energy divisions.

It said the conduct spanned three decades and took place in countries including Indonesia, Thailand, India, Russia, Nigeria, China and Malaysia.

As part of its four-year inquiry into Rolls-Royce, investigators at the SFO examined claims that Rolls paid millions of pounds in bribes - or used middlemen to pay them - to win civil and military deals.

Allegations included Rolls paying a $20m (£13m) bribe in return for persuading Indonesia’s flag carrier, Garuda, to buy 700 engines.

ROLLS-ROYCE SHARE PRICE
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The chart has 1 X axis displaying Time. Data ranges from 2022-12-07 00:00:00 to 2023-10-20 00:00:00.
The chart has 1 Y axis displaying P. Data ranges from 87.33 to 227.4.
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It is understood Rolls has drafted in Slaughter and May to fend off the potential litigation, using the same set of lawyers that worked on the SFO agreement.

The company said it will “robustly defend” any class action, and stressed that it has not received any formal claim.

Proceedings are yet to be launched but it is understood allegations could be made against Rolls’ former chief executive John Rishton, as well as former board members including Michael Terrett, Sir Simon Robertson and Colin Smith.

Rolls was also found by the SFO to have falsified documents to conceal commissions in India and paid off an official working for Gazprom, Russia’s state-owned energy giant, to win a contract.

Under the terms of the so-called Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA), which at the time was the largest-ever fine of its kind in the UK, Rolls was able to account for its “conduct without suffering the full consequences of a criminal conviction”.

The company previously said it “apologised unreservedly” for the corruption, which also sparked investigations by regulators in Brazil and the United States.

Rolls warned in its last annual report that the DPA, which is a voluntary arrangement to avoid potentially tougher legal penalties, could spark potential claims “from current and former investors”.

Sir Brian Leveson, who oversaw the SFO investigation, said in 2017 that Rolls would have to “suffer the undeniably adverse publicity” from its DPA.

David Green, a former SFO director, said at the time that it allowed “Rolls-Royce to draw a line under conduct spanning seven countries, three decades and three sectors of its business”.

In Sir Brian Leveson’s 2017 judgment, he said Rolls’ conduct had “involved very senior” employees.

There has been a significant overhaul of the business in recent years, after the pandemic halted long-haul overseas travel, forcing Rolls to cut thousands of jobs and raise billions of pounds to survive.

Just last week the company announced it will cut up to 2,500 jobs in an effort to slash costs.

The move was announced by new chief executive Tufan Erginbilgic, who took over at the start of the year and said soon after that the company was a “burning platform”.

The engineer posted profits of £524m for the first half of the year, compared to a £111m loss for the same period in 2022.

The company also managed to slash its debt by £500m to £2.8bn.

A Rolls spokesman said: “Rolls-Royce today is a fundamentally different business. Rolls-Royce has zero tolerance for business misconduct. We have transformed our internal ethics and compliance procedures, that is why in January last year the Serious Fraud Office filed a notice releasing us from the UK Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA).”

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