Quarterly News Update from Rolls-Royce
1 April 2005
QUARTERLY NEWS UPDATE FROM ROLLS-ROYCE:
FIRST QUARTER REVIEW, 2005
Rolls-Royce continued to make good progress in the first quarter of 2005,
passing several strategic milestones. We celebrated the 10th anniversary of the
first entry into service of our successful family of Trent engines shortly
after Airbus unveiled its first A380 `super-jumbo', powered by four Rolls-Royce
Trent 900 engines. The Trent 900 is the biggest engine yet produced by
Rolls-Royce and its operating cost per passenger will be broadly equivalent to
that of a modern family car.
This quarter also saw Etihad Airways, the national airline of Abu Dhabi, select
two types of Trent for the latest phase of its fleet expansion. It ordered four
Airbus A380s powered by the Trent 900, as well as 12 additional A330s that will
be powered by Trent 700s.
We are a 20 per cent shareholder in the AirTanker consortium, which was awarded
Preferred Bidder Status for the Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft PFI programme
by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in February. The value to Rolls-Royce of this
prospective contract is estimated at approximately £700 million. Assuming a
successful outcome, we will manufacture Trent 700 engines to power a fleet of
Airbus A330-220 tanker aircraft, as well as providing servicing over the
proposed 27-year duration of the contract.
Iain Conn, an executive director of BP plc, was appointed to the Board as a
non-executive director.
Other business highlights during the quarter:
Civil aerospace
* Thai Airways International placed follow-on orders for two versions of the
Trent engine on Airbus and Boeing wide-body jets. It selected the Trent 800
for six Boeing 777-200ER twinjets, and added two of the latest generation
A340s, which are powered solely by Trent 500s.
* ANA (All Nippon Airways) and Rolls-Royce signed contracts for the purchase
of Trent 1000 engines which will power the airline's fleet of 50 Boeing 787
Dreamliners.
* Rolls-Royce and Cathay Pacific Airways signed additional long-term service
contracts worth a total of US$770 million for two versions of the Trent
engine in the Cathay Pacific fleet. The support packages, managed by
Rolls-Royce under the banner of TotalCare, cover the Trent 800 engines on
17 Boeing 777s, of which 15 aircraft have been delivered to date, and the
Trent 500s which power Cathay Pacific's three ultra-long-range A340-600s.
* Sumitomo Precision Products was chosen to supply the heat management system
for the Trent 1000, being developed for the Boeing 787. The announcement
expands Japanese involvement in the programme, which already includes
Kawasaki and Mitsubishi as risk and revenue sharing partners.
* Embraer delivered its 900th AE 3007-powered regional jet. The ERJ 145 was
handed over to Luxair during a ceremony at Embraer's headquarters in
Brazil.
* The Rolls-Royce e-business portal, aero-manager, celebrated the
registration of its 500th customer - ExecuJet Middle East. Last year saw
aero-manager increase its customer base from 300 to 500 organisations and
handle $200 million worth of spares sales. The service has evolved into a
"one-stop shop" offering on-line information in areas such as interactive
manuals, service bulletins and engine management.
* Rolls-Royce delivered its 500th AE 3007C series engine to Cessna, for its
Citation X, the world's fastest business jet, during a ceremony on February
8 at Cessna's assembly plant in Wichita, Kansas.
* A Rolls-Royce powered Gulfstream G550 business jet established a new
city-pair speed record between Washington DC and Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt,
flying 5,429 nautical miles in just 10 hours and 19 minutes. The G550 flew
at an average cruise speed of Mach 0.85.
* CorporateCare sales continued last year's success with 19 contracts signed
to date in 2005.
* India's first low-cost carrier - Air Deccan - selected the International
Aero Engines (IAE) V2500 engine to power its fleet expansion of 30 Airbus
A320s. The engines will be covered by a Fleet Hour Agreement, taking the
value of the deal to more than $600 million.
* Air China and IAE signed a 10-year Fleet Hour Agreement under which IAE
will provide maintenance support for the V2500 engines in Air China's fleet
of 12 Airbus A319 aircraft.
Defence
* The UK MoD has awarded Rolls-Royce a £65 million contract to support the
Spey engines that power the Nimrod MRA2 and R1 reconnaissance aircraft. The
contract is an extension and expansion of an existing agreement under which
the MoD has benefited from significant cost reduction.
* The first GE Rolls-Royce F136 Short Take-off Vertical Landing propulsion
system, which combines GE's F136 with the Rolls-Royce LiftSystem®,
successfully began testing.
* Rolls-Royce delivered its 29,000th Rolls-Royce Model 250 helicopter engine.
Today, over 16,000 Model 250 engines remain in service with 4,500 operators
in over 155 nations.
Marine
* Rolls-Royce signed a £137 million long-term service and support contract
for Olympus and Tyne gas turbines which power 27 ships in service with the
Royal Navy, and French, Belgian and Royal Netherlands navies. The company
will support the gas turbines until 2017, when the ships are due to go out
of service. The contract was awarded by the UK's MoD on behalf of all four
navies.
* The first delivery was made of the MT30 gas turbine, a marine version of
the Trent engine. It will power test runs for the US Navy's DD(X) destroyer
programme for prime contractor Northrop Grumman.
* Spain's marine-safety agency, SASEMAR, ordered two advanced
pollution-prevention and control ships, designed and equipped by
Rolls-Royce, in a contract worth £16 million.
Energy
* Rolls-Royce won a third contract to supply RB211 gas turbines for the Azeri
oil project being developed in the Caspian Sea. Valued at over $75 million,
the new contract brings the total value of Rolls-Royce energy equipment
ordered for this project to more than $230 million.
* Metragaz, an affiliate of the Spanish group Natural Gas, awarded
Rolls-Royce a Long Term Service Agreement contract valued at £11 million
for maintenance of the RB211 gas compressor installations operating on its
gas pipeline in Morocco.
* Earlier this year, Rolls-Royce established a joint venture with a
consortium of companies in Asia as a further step in the process of
bringing to market its solid-oxide fuel cell technology. The Asian group
has bought a 25 per cent share in Rolls-Royce Fuel Cell Systems and will
contribute both financial and technical resources to this development
programme.
Further information on the above can be found at www.Rolls-Royce.com
Or please contact:
Duncan Campbell- Smith
Director, Corporate Communications
Rolls-Royce plc
+44 207 227 9193
Maria Darby-Walker
Head of Corporate Media Relations
Rolls-Royce plc
+44 207 227 9102