Rolls‑Royce Accelerates £1.5bn Share Buyback, Confirms 2026 Profit Guidance

Rolls-Royce announced an interim share buyback of £1.5bn to be completed by its full-year results on 25 February 2027, and reaffirmed 2026 guidance of £4.7bn to £4.9bn underlying operating profit and £3.8bn to £4.0bn free cash flow. The guidance was not changed in this update; the ranges were last raised in July. Shares in London gained about 2.44% to 1,375.40 pence, according to RTTNews.

The buyback forms part of the existing £7bn to £9bn programme for 2026 to 2028, and the £2.5bn 2026 buyback is substantially complete. It speeds up the pace of capital return within that programme rather than being a new total.

The company points to Power Systems: order intake rose 62% year on year in the first nine months, the Power Systems order backlog reached a record £8.6bn, up from £8.0bn at mid-year, and gas engine orders nearly tripled. MLQ links that demand to data centres and says Rolls-Royce is finalising a multi-year backup engine contract with an unnamed hyperscaler. In Civil Aerospace, large engine flying hours were up 4% in the first ten months, at 114% of 2019 levels, with the full year expected near the lower bound of the 115% to 120% guidance range.

Jefferies maintained its Buy rating with an unchanged target of 2,000p, according to MarketScreener. A dpa-AFX headline list also showed RBC at Outperform on the day, but we could not confirm whether that was maintained or changed. What to watch: the 25 February results, where mid-term targets will be revisited.