The new boss of Rolls-Royce described the engineering giant as a "burning platform" and said the company's performance is "unsustainable".

Tufan Erginbilgic, a former executive at oil giant BP, told staff that they faced a "last chance" to change.

"Every investment we make, we destroy value," he told employees, according to the Financial Times.

Rolls-Royce told the BBC Mr Erginbilgic had been "honest about our financial underperformance" compared to others.

Rolls-Royce is one of the UK's flagship companies. Its engines and systems are on planes such as the Airbus A350 and Boeing 787.

It was one of many firms hit hard by the Covid pandemic when air travel was grounded for months and it axed 9,000 jobs.

But in a broadcast to staff, Mr Erginbilgic said Rolls-Royce had "not been performing for a long, long time".

The ex-oil executive added that the company was a "burning platform", meaning it is imperative to get out of the situation it finds itself in.

"It has nothing to do with Covid, let's be very clear. Covid created a crisis, but the issue in hand has nothing to do with it," Mr Erginbilgic said. "Given everything I know talking to investors, this is our last chance."

Mr Erginbilgic took over as chief executive of Rolls-Royce from Warren East, who led the firm for eight years, earlier this month.

He is charged with significantly improving the performance of the company, which analysts have said is often less profitable than US rival General Electric in the aircraft sector.

Mr East had said in 2021 that company was "set it on track for growth in the future" and that the worst times were behind, after huge losses of £4bn in 2020. led to thousands of job cuts.

Source:
courtesy of BBC NEWS

by Michael Race

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