Rolls-Royce on a strong performance and a ‘regrettable’ failure

Sir John said: "An uncontained disc release occurred on a Trent 900 engine on board a Qantas operated Airbus A380 in November 2010. This regrettable incident attracted widespread attention. Uncontained disc failures happen with a frequency of about once a year on the world's large civil aircraft fleet. "However this was the first time an event of this nature had occurred on a large civil Rolls-Royce engine since 1994. "The safety of our products is our highest priority, and each time a serious incident happens, Rolls-Royce and the aviation industry learn lessons. These are embedded in the rigorous certification requirements, safety procedures and standards of regulation which make flying an extraordinarily safe form of transport. In line with this regime, Rolls-Royce worked closely with the regulators, Airbus and our customers to put in place an effective inspection programme, to identify root cause and to achieve a rapid return of the Trent 900 fleet to normal operation." Addressing Rolls-Royce's performance for the year, Sir John said the group had delivered a strong performance in 2010 with record revenues and profits. He went on: "It is a measure of progress that the Civil, Defence and Marine businesses now each generate underlying profits of more than three hundred million pounds." Of his forthcoming retirement, he said: "At the end of March I will retire as chief executive of Rolls-Royce after 15 years. It has been an extraordinary privilege to work with so many outstanding people and to contribute to the development of a business that has been at the forefront of engineering and technology for over 100 years. John Rishton will take over from me as Chief Executive. I wish him and all the team at Rolls-Royce continued success." Highlights of the company's year included a strong order book of £59.2bn (2009 £58.3bn), £12.3bn of which was booked in 2010; revenues increased to £11.1bn (2009 £10.4bn); a 4% increase in underlying pre-tax profit to £955m (2009 £915m). Rolls said it had continued to invest for the long-term, spending more than £4bn since 2007 in facilities, plant, IT, training and product development. It continued to make good progress in the UK on a new nuclear manufacturing facility for both naval and civil nuclear capability and is supporting the development of six advanced manufacturing research centres, four of which will be based in the UK, to improve manufacturing performance across the supply chain.