Rolls-Royce lifts guidance to £4.2 billion as orders mount — Rolls Royce Share Price
Rolls royce share price sits against a fresh £4.0 billion to £4.2 billion full-year underlying operating profit target after Rolls-Royce said it had had a strong start to the year driven by transformation and self-help. The company paired that guidance with defence orders and programme milestones across March and April, giving shareholders a clearer read on how the business is filling its order book.
Erginbilgic’s £4.2 billion guide
Tufan Erginbilgic said the company had had “a strong start to the year driven by our transformation and self-help” and said the group was “better equipped to respond to changes in the external environment.” Rolls-Royce kept its full-year guidance at £4.0 billion to £4.2 billion of underlying operating profit and £3.6 billion to £3.8 billion of free cash flow for 2026, which gives investors a fixed earnings frame rather than a moving target.
3 high performing businesses now sit behind that forecast, and Rolls-Royce said the portfolio left it better equipped to respond to changes in the external environment. Defence was described as one of the most resilient parts of the business with a highly attractive growth outlook, and that positioning matters because the latest orders and programme gains came across naval, air and ground platforms rather than from one narrow segment.
March orders in Turkey and the US
20 Eurofighter Typhoons for Turkey drove one of the March wins, with Rolls-Royce acting as lead partner in the EUROJET consortium to provide EJ200 engines. The engine programme also powers Typhoons operated by the UK, Germany, Spain, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Austria, Oman and Kuwait, so the order extends a platform already embedded across several air forces.
March also brought collaboration with Boeing on the next stages of the critical design review for the US Air Force’s B-52 re-engining programme. That work centers on the F-130 engine, which will fit the Cold War-era bomber fleet, and Rolls-Royce also said engine testing for the US Army’s MV-75 programme was progressing well with endurance and altitude testing on track for later this year.
April moves in naval air power
April brought the first flight of the US Navy’s MQ-25 autonomous refuelling aircraft, powered by Rolls-Royce’s AE 3007 engine. The MQ-25 Stingray is the US Navy’s first carrier-based uncrewed aircraft and is designed to extend the operational range of the carrier air wing by taking over the aerial refuelling mission from crewed F/A-18 Super Hornets.
Up to 11 frigates for the Australian Navy will also run on the MT30 marine gas turbine after April’s selection, adding another naval platform to the company’s defence book. The MT30 is already in service as the propulsion system for the Royal Navy’s Type 26 frigates and the US Navy’s Freedom-class littoral combat ships, so the Australian award builds on an engine already in fleet use.
German and Polish vehicle contracts
350 upgraded mtu Series 199 engines will go on new Boxer armoured wheeled vehicles for the German Armed Forces and other international customers, while around 200 compact mtu PowerPacks were ordered for the Bundeswehr’s Puma armoured personnel carrier. Rolls-Royce also signed a memorandum of understanding with Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa to provide services to mtu engines used by the Polish armed forces, widening the ground-defence side of the business alongside the aircraft and ship contracts.
£4.0 billion to £4.2 billion in underlying operating profit and £3.6 billion to £3.8 billion in free cash flow are the numbers investors now have to measure against the next update. Rolls-Royce also said the Middle East conflict’s financial impact on the business was expected to be fully mitigated, which removes one cost overhang even as the company tries to convert its March and April wins into delivery and cash flow later in 2026.
