New chief defends calling Rolls a ‘burning platform’

ROLLS-ROYCE’S new chief executive has been forced to defend calling the company a “burning platform” under questions from irate shareholders.

At the company’s annual meeting in Bristol yesterday, Tufan Erginbilgic was accused of making “extremely destabilising” comments about the business.

Mr Erginbilgic called Rolls-royce a “burning platform” in a speech to staff when he became chief executive in January. The comments were subsequently leaked to the press.

The executive defended his comments yesterday, saying that the phrase reflected the truth of Rolls-royce’s weak financial position.

The Financial Times reported that Mr Erginbilgic said: “It was about putting the mirror up … This is definitely an underperforming company.”

Mr Erginbilgic said he was fixing the engineer’s woes by shutting down some operations and installing his own management team. The former BP executive, who took over as chief executive in January from long-time chief Warren East, has set targets to improve the engine maker’s cash generation, debt pile and future investment.

So far he has shuttered the company’s R2 Factory artificial intelligence (AI) venture and hired some of his former colleagues during his tenure at oil firm

BP, including Helen Mccabe, who became Rolls-royce’s sixth finance chief in two years.

Mr Erginbilgic told investors: “We are already benefiting from the actions we are taking as well as recovery and growth in our end markets.

“We announced several changes to the executive team in March to support the transformation, adding leaders with proven track records of delivery and

‘It was about putting the mirror up. This is definitely an underperforming company’

high-performance. We are making good progress and our financial performance year-to-date is in line with expectations.”

The FTSE 100 engine maker said that engine flying hours, a key measure for the business, had recovered to 83pc of pre-pandemic levels in the first four months of the year and are on track to be up to 90pc for the full year.

The company’s commercial jet engine business makes most of its money from maintenance contracts.

Though shares in Rolls-royce fell almost 7pc yesterday, the company’s valuation has risen 85pc over the past 12 months.