Rolls-Royce to return £1bn to investors

Aerospace engines maker Rolls-Royce today revealed plans to return £1 billion to shareholders following the sale of its energy arm to Siemens.

The £985 million sale of its gas turbines and compressor business to the German engineer was announced last month and is expected to complete by the end of this year.

Chief executive John Rishton said: “As no material acquisitions are planned, and reflecting the strength of our balance sheet, we will return the proceeds of the energy sale to our shareholders.”

Plans for the windfall were unveiled ahead of an investor briefing that will see the group set out plans to drive down capital spending towards 4 per cent of underlying revenues over the next three to five years, compared with 4.9 per cent last year.