ROLLS-ROYCE, the engineering and aerospace giant, has shed £3 billion over six months with most being lost to the dramatic decrease in flights and lack of need for new engines as well as maintenance under the cloud of coronavirus.
It said the cash outflow included £1.1 billion reduction in receipts from engine flying hours and engine deliveries and a £1.1bn one-time impact as it stopped sending out invoices in its first half trading for 2020.
The company said in the update to the London Stock Change, where investors have seen shares drop from 635p in March, that it expects a better second half.
However, over the year, cash-burn is estimated to hit £4bn.
Rolls-Royce said flying hours were down 75 per cent in the three months since lockdown.
It also said more than 3,000 UK workers have applied for redundancy.
READ MORE: Hundreds braced for job losses at Rolls-Royce plant in Renfrewshire
The news comes seven weeks after Rolls-Royce said that it would slash 9,000 jobs across its global workforce, warning that factories in the UK were set to be the worst hit.
About 9,000 workers are sited at its Derby base, and the company’s second largest civil aerospace facility in the UK is at Inchinnan, Renfrewshire, where over 1,300 workers make compressor blades and seals.
Around 700 jobs are expected to be lost at the Scottish plant.
The manufacturer of engines for plane makers including Airbus and Boeing had already been facing problems before the pandemic dealt a serious blow to the global economy.
It has had to make changes to its Trent 1000 engines, grounding many of its customers’ planes to perform maintenance work, after an engine failed and rained metal on an Italian town.
The company said on Wednesday that it was making “good progress” on fixing the Trent 1000s, and has the number of grounded aircraft to below 10.
READ MORE: Rolls-Royce to cut jobs in division that includes 1,300 Scottish workers
Warren East, Rolls-Royce chief executive, said: “These are exceptional times.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has created a historic shock in civil aviation which will take several years to recover.
“We started this year with positive momentum and strong liquidity and acted swiftly to conserve cash and cut costs to protect Rolls-Royce during the pandemic. We are taking steps to resize our civil aerospace business to adapt to lower medium-term demand from customers and help secure our future.
“This means we have had to take the very difficult decision to lose people who have helped us become the company we are and who have been proud to work for Rolls-Royce."
Infographic: Rolls-Royce civil aerospace facilities potentially affected by job cuts
He added: "It is my first priority to treat everyone - whether they are leaving or staying - with dignity and respect. We will take the lessons of how we have dealt with this unprecedented challenge with us and position ourselves to emerge as an even stronger company in the future.”
Rolls-Royce told investors: “Our cashflows have been significantly affected by Covid-19 and as a result our free cash outflow in the first half was approximately £3bn.”
It said its “rate of cash outflow is expected to ease in the second half supported by increased benefits from cash mitigation actions, the timing of working capital movements and the anticipated ongoing recovery of commercial aviation from the trough”.
A Rolls-Royce spokesman said it is offering as many internal roles as possible to employees in Inchinnan for potential relocation, covering divisions such as its defence and submarine businesses.
The spokesman added: “Unfortunately we aren’t able to break down how many people at each site have applied for voluntary severance, but as of today we have received more than 3,000 expressions of interest in the UK, with approximately two-thirds of these currently expected to leave by the end of August.” Shares closed 10.95 per cent down at 256.3p.
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