Skip to content

Rolls-Royce Brings Forward £1.5bn Buyback

Rolls-Royce has held its 2026 guidance, said it will revisit its mid-term targets in February and launched a £1.5bn interim buyback, bringing forward cash returns it had already planned.

Rolls-Royce (LON: RR.) has launched a £1.5bn interim share buyback and held its 2026 guidance. The aero-engine maker made the announcement in a statement at 7am today, before the London market opened.

The shares were up 2.1% at 1,371p by 8.23am, on a delayed quote, against yesterday’s close of 1,342.6p.

RR.LSE

The company still expects underlying operating profit of £4.7bn to £4.9bn and free cash flow of £3.8bn to £4.0bn this year. The low end of the profit range is about 36% above the £3.46bn it reported for 2025. Mid-term targets will be revisited in February.

Its £2.5bn buyback for 2026 is substantially complete. The new £1.5bn tranche is due to be completed by full-year results on the 25th of February 2027 and sits inside the existing £7bn to £9bn return programme for 2026 to 2028, so it moves cash forward rather than adding to the total. Chief executive Tufan Erginbilgic put it this way:

We are also accelerating the phasing of our share buyback. Today we are announcing an interim share buyback of £1.5bn.

Tufan Erginbilgic, chief executive, Rolls-Royce

Bar chart comparing Rolls-Royce's 2026 share buyback with the new, smaller interim buyback
Rolls-Royce buyback tranches, £bn. Source: Rolls-Royce RNS, 12 November 2026.

Large-engine flying hours reached 114% of 2019 levels over the first ten months, up 4% on a year earlier. The large-engine backlog is about 2,500 engines.

In Power Systems, orders rose 62% in the first nine months, and the order backlog stood at a record £8.6bn at the end of September.

One caveat applies. Rolls-Royce expects full-year flying hours towards the lower end of its 115% to 120% range, because fuel-price-related capacity reductions have temporarily hit flying hours in some regions.

The next scheduled catalyst is the full-year results on Thursday the 25th of February, by which the interim buyback is due to be completed. The company gave no start date or broker for it.

Asktraders News Team
Asktraders News Team
Team Member

The AskTraders Analyst Team features experts in technical and fundamental analysis, as well as traders specializing in stocks, forex, and cryptocurrency.

Stay ahead of the markets

Sign up to our free Morning Markets email, every weekday before the open.