LONDON, July 1, 2026, 14:01 BST
- Market status: London equities were still trading at the dateline. Rolls-Royce was at 1,465.40p up 1.44% at 13:40 BST.
- Rolls-Royce picked up 4 million shares last week, spending about £56.5 million. The buyback has now used around £905 million of cash out of the £2.3 billion planned.
- SAS placed a fresh order for the Trent 7000, but Airbus and Rolls-Royce reported different numbers for firm A330neo orders.
Rolls-Royce Holdings plc (LON:RR.) was up 1.44% at 1,465.40p by 13:40 BST on Wednesday, having traded about 4.4% under last week’s 52-week high of 1,532.60p. Google Finance showed its market cap at £122.37 billion.
The key question for investors is shifting from whether the stock has room to rise to how much more of its own stock Rolls-Royce can buy back after this stretch. On Wednesday, the company reported it bought 4,007,376 shares between June 23 and June 29, paying an average of about 1,409p each, spending roughly £56.5 million in cash. Since rolling out the £2.3 billion buyback on Feb. 26, Rolls-Royce has snapped up 74,601,999 shares at an average price of 1,212.92p.
| Buyback measure | Latest disclosed | Investor maths |
|---|---|---|
| Shares bought, June 23-29 | 4.0 mln | Estimated £56.5 million cash |
| Since programme start | 74.6 mln | Estimated £905 million cash |
| Programme cash used | — | Roughly 39% of £2.3 billion |
| Remaining £1.40 billion at 1,465.40p | — | Around 95 million shares |
Source: Writer’s calculations using RNS data and Google Finance.
This is key since the same amount of money now buys fewer shares. At 1,465.40p, the last £1.40 billion of the buyback gets about 95 million shares, or 1.1% of shares outstanding. Using the average price so far, it would have bought around 115 million. The rally trims the programme’s future buyback yield by roughly 17%.
The stock trades above the sell-side median. Data from LSEG in Investors Chronicle says 18 analysts have a median 12-month target of 1,415p, with the highest at 1,740p and lowest at 1,101p. Rolls-Royce is guiding for £3.6 billion to £3.8 billion in 2026 free cash flow.
| Valuation check | Figure | Read-through |
|---|---|---|
| Latest quote | 1,465.40p | Trading 3.6% above the median target |
| 52-week high | 1,532.60p | Latest quote is 4.4% below the high |
| Market cap / 2026 FCF midpoint | £122.37 bln / £3.7 bln | Multiple stands at about 33x |
| Market cap / 2028 FCF target midpoint | £122.37 bln / £5.15 bln | Comes to about 24x |
Source: Data from Google Finance, Investors Chronicle/LSEG, and Rolls-Royce forecasts; writer’s calculation.
Anton Kharitonov at Traders Union warned the rally looks stretched in the short term and urged investors not to “chase elevated levels” unless there is stronger demand confirmation. Traders Union
SAS gave Rolls-Royce a new commercial push. Rolls-Royce said SAS is buying 20 Airbus SE EPA:AIR A330neo jets with 40 Trent 7000 engines, plus options on 10 more planes. Reuters said Airbus counted 18 A330neo firm orders in the deal, with SAS laying out a bigger plan involving up to 40 widebody jets for European routes, a package SAS put at $10 billion.
Rob Watson, who leads Civil Aerospace at Rolls-Royce, called the Trent 7000 engine “outstanding” for efficiency and sustainability. SAS CEO Anko van der Werff said the engine brings “enhanced efficiency and environmental performance” to the airline. Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce said the new order increases its installed engine base, rather than being just more equipment sales. The company said only its Trent 7000 engines power the A330neo, which has 14% lower fuel burn per seat than the older model. Airbus said the A330neo cuts fuel use, CO2 and operating costs by 25% compared to earlier competing aircraft.
Rolls-Royce is scheduled to report 2026 half-year results on July 30. Back in April, the company said it had finished more than £750 million of the £2.5 billion 2026 portion of the planned £7 billion to £9 billion buyback. The board kept 2026 guidance for underlying operating profit at £4.0 billion to £4.2 billion and free cash flow at £3.6 billion to £3.8 billion.
