Rolls back in the black but further jobs pain on way

Aero and marine engine giant Rolls-royce is set to wield the axe again amid plans to ramp up cost savings despite bouncing back to the black.

Chief executive Warren East said it was too early to say how many jobs would be affected by the latest move, but confirmed that the shake-up will see the firm cut out duplicate roles in its support and management functions.

It came as the group returned to profit last year with a pre-tax surplus of £4.9 billion, thanks to a £2.6bn accounting boost on the back of the recent strengthening of the Brexit-buffeted pound. Rolls slumped £4.6bn into the red in 2016 in what was its largest ever loss.

The latest results showed that, on an underlying basis, pre-tax profits rose 25 per cent to £1.1bn in 2017.

Industry analyst Howard Wheeldon said: “No profit warning, no shocks and despite not everything going its way, Rolls-royce’s [2017] results demonstrate a range of remarkable performance improvements. This is only the start in my view.”