Rolls-Royce shares soar to all-time high on reinstated dividend, raised profit guidance

Shares of Rolls-Royce jumped more than 11% to hit an all-time high on Thursday after the company reinstated its dividend and raised its profit forecast on the back of strong first-half results.

Shares had pared gains slightly to trade 8.8% higher by 8:24 am London time.

The British aerospace and defense company reported underlying profit of £1.1 billion ($1.4 billion) in the first half of the year, and said it expects that figure to rise to between £2.1 billion and £2.3 billion for 2024, ahead of market expectations.

The company said it would resume dividends for full-year 2024, starting at a 30% pay-out ratio of underlying profit after tax.

CEO Tufan Erginbilgic, who took the helm in 2023 to revitalize the company, said the strong results were a sign that the company’s plans, optimization and cost efficiency programs were taking shape.

“Our transformation of Rolls-Royce into a high-performing, competitive, resilient, and growing business is proceeding with pace and intensity. We are expanding the earnings and cash potential of the business in a challenging supply chain environment, which we are proactively managing,” he said in a statement.

“These results and our increased financial resilience give us the confidence to raise our 2024 guidance and reinstate shareholder distributions in respect of the full year 2024 results,” Erginbilgic added.

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