Rolls-Royce steps up cull of top brass to hit targets

ROLLS-ROYCE boss Warren East’s cull of top brass at the engineering giant has ramped up, helping him keep to his do-or-die cost-cutting schedule.

East today promised to sweep away a whole layer of management at the struggling group, a key pledge to investors who are banking on him turning around the stuttering group.

Another 400 senior roles have been scrapped since the turn of the year, with half of these roles in the UK business.

Overall, 20% of the company’s management are being cut.

In their place more workers are coming in on the ground, with 350 new jobs on the track at its Derby plant and more engineers in the nuclear business.

“We will attack the way we work and make decisions. We’ve reduced the number of committees and reduced the frequency of them and the number of people we have,” he said.

“It’s very much the start of the simplification. There is no shortage of opportunity here to reduce complexity.”

Shares in the aero-engines manufacturer rose as much as 8% today after investors cheered East’s promise to meet £150 million to £200 million of cost reductions by the end of 2017.

The job cuts and other measures have already saved Rolls £50 million over the past six months, which is at the top end of City expectations.