2023 profit 1.6 bln stg
Beats consensus
Guides to 2024 profit of 1.7 bln2 bln stg
Shares up 9

LONDON, Feb 22 Reuters Britain39;s RollsRoyce guided that profit could rise as much as 25 this year, ahead of forecasts, after it smashed targets by more than doubling profits last year as its engines flew more and defence and power orders flowed.

Shares in RollsRoyce climbed 9 to 359 pence in early trading, hitting highs last seen in 2018.

Under CEO Tufan Erginbilgic, the former BP executive who took over a year ago, Rolls39;s stock has rocketed over 200 as his transformation plan to cut costs and improve pricing to drive higher margins has made headway.

We are creating momentum and a track record of significant delivery, he told reporters on a call on Thursday.

Last year39;s group underlying operating profit came in at 1.6 billion pounds 2 billion, well ahead of an analyst forecast of 1.4 billion pounds and its own guidance of 1.21.4 billion pounds, and compared to the 652 million pounds it made in 2022.

Bernstein analyst George Zhao called 2023 a historic year for RollsRoyce.

The key stock driver is all about making progress towards the 2027 targets, he said. The guide was better than expected across all key metrics.

For 2024, Rolls forecast underlying operating profit would come in between 1.7 billion pounds and 2 billion pounds, above the consensus for it to come in at 1.695 billion.

Rolls, which powers ships and submarines and makes power generation…