Rolls-Royce has announced that its order book rose significantly in 2013, led by its civil aerospace business. The company received orders for engines to power 334 widebody aircraft in 2013, or about 2.5 years of production; with the value of the civil aerospace order book up £18.9bn -- equivalent to 3/4 the annual output of the whole UK aerospace industry.
Midlands Aerospace Alliance analysis (left) shows the ratio of order book to revenue continuing to fall, following its 2007 jump when the Trent XWB engine for the Airbus A350 was launched.
As part of the announcement of its preliminary financal results for the year 2013, Rolls-Royce has reported that its order book rose once more.
The order book increased 19%, to £71.6bn (up 16% excluding Rolls-Royce's part of newly acquired maker of diesel and reciprocal engines Tognum).
The company received orders for engines to power 334 widebody aircraft; equivalant to about 2.5 years of production. The order book increased in Civil Aerospace, Marine, Energy and Power Systems, but decreased in Defence Aerospace. The order intake in 2013 included new orders of £18.9bn in Civil Aerospace, £1.6bn in Defence Aerospace, £2.7bn in Marine, £1.1bn in Energy and £2.7bn in Power Systems. The regional composition was broadly unchanged, with Asia and the Middle East representing 49% of the total order book.
Analysis by the Midlands Aerospace Alliance indicates that the growth in the Rolls-Royce civil aerospace order book is equivalent to 3/4 the annual production of the entire UK aerospace industry. Further analysis (below) shows that the ratio of order book to revenue continues to fall following its 2007 jump when the Trent XWB engine for the Airbus A350 was launched and received a number of very large orders. (The 2012 order book fall is due to Rolls-Royce's withdrawal from the IAE consortium manufacturing the V2500 engine for the A320ceo series aircraft.)
