LONDON, June 29, 2026, 09:14 BST
- Rolls-Royce Holdings plc (LON:RR) gained 0.6% to 1,414.60p at 09:04 BST, sitting 7.7% under its 52-week high.
- China Eastern Airlines (SHA:600115) will buy 25 Airbus EPA:AIR A330neo jets using Trent 7000 engines, with deliveries scheduled from 2029 to 2033.
- The company’s £118.22 billion market cap trades at almost 32 times the midpoint of Rolls-Royce’s 2026 free cash flow target.
Rolls-Royce Holdings plc (LON:RR) ticked higher in early London trading on Monday, but the gain was modest for a stock often seen as a top test of aero-engine cash generation in Europe. By 09:04 BST, shares changed hands at 1,414.60p, up 0.60% during London’s main session, as the FTSE 100 slipped around 0.11%.
China Eastern’s latest order landed with 25 A330neo widebodies on the table at a sticker price of around $9.35 billion. The jets run on Rolls-Royce Trent 7000 engines—so with two engines for each plane, that’s 50 installed. The filing seen by Reuters didn’t break out a separate price for the engines or say anything about service contracts.
Valuation is the key point. Rolls-Royce’s market cap, shown as £118.22 billion by Google Finance, works out to about 32 times the middle of management’s £3.6 billion to £3.8 billion free cash flow goal for 2026. That’s a steep multiple for new orders that won’t kick in until 2029.
| Rolls tape | Latest public figure | Market read |
|---|---|---|
| Share price | 1,414.60p, up 0.60% at 09:04 BST | Stock is up a bit after Friday’s fall |
| Day range | 1,403.00p-1,419.00p | Kept tight in early moves |
| Volume | 1.01 million vs 30.58 million average | Very thin tape early on |
| 52-week high | 1,532.60p | Shares sit 7.7% back from the 12-month high |
| Market value / 2026 FCF goal | £118.22 bln / £3.7 bln midpoint | Running at about 32x the cash flow goal |
Rolls-Royce dropped 1.8% to £14.06 on June 26, with trading volume at 11.2 million, compared with the 50-day average of 34.7 million shares. The FTSE 100 slipped 0.21%. The stock closed 8.25% lower than the 52-week high set on June 25.
CEO Tufan Erginbilgic told investors in April that Rolls-Royce had “a strong start to the year” and said the company expects to offset the ongoing financial hit from Middle East disruption. Rolls kept its 2026 outlook unchanged, still targeting £4.0 billion-£4.2 billion in underlying operating profit and £3.6 billion-£3.8 billion in free cash flow. Rolls-Royce
| Cash-flow driver | Latest figure | Investor issue |
|---|---|---|
| China Eastern A330neo order | 25 planes for delivery between 2029 and 2033 | 50 Trent 7000 engines expected, but timing is distant |
| Large engine flying hours | Q1 at 115% of 2019; 2026 guide at 115%-120% | Civil aftermarket cash watched in short-term |
| Large engine OE deliveries | Q1 rose 18% | Needed to build future service pipeline |
| Large engine shop visits | Climbed 12% in Q1 | Puts cost and shop capacity to the test |
| Power Systems backlog | £7.3bn as of March 31 | Data-centre, government demand help group cash |
Rolls-Royce said in April that by the end of the month, aircraft-on-ground cases were down to single digits, and the company is still aiming for zero AOG in the second half. The company also reported Power Systems order intake for gas and diesel engines was up about 50% on the year in the first quarter.
Flight-hour data is now seen as more telling than the headline size of jet orders. Berenberg said earlier this month that Rolls-Royce’s programme-weighted, thrust-adjusted engine flying hours rose 5% year on year from January through May. Safran (EPA:SAF) was up 2%. MTU Aero Engines (ETR:MTX) was down 1%.
The next question is about future spending. The Financial Times said on Sunday that Rolls-Royce aims to get back into the narrow-body engine space with UltraFan 30, with ground tests planned by 2028. But the project needs partners, billions in funding, and government support.
Rolls-Royce is moving faster on services. The company put out a June 25 release with Bombardier (TSE:BBD.B), saying its new monitoring upgrade for Global 5500 and 6500 jets can read up to 10,000 engine health data points. “Cloud analytics and artificial intelligence continue to play an increasing role” in service, Rolls-Royce SVP Services for Business Aviation Andy Robinson said. Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce said it will report half-year results on July 30. By late April, the company had finished over £750 million of the £2.5 billion 2026 tranche in its £7 billion-£9 billion buyback aimed for 2026-2028.
