Rolls Royce £1bn Share Buy-back

Rolls Royce announced a £1 billion share repurchase plan on Thursday, to distribute its accumulated cash to shareholders

Daniel Holland 20 June, 2014 | 9:26AM
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Rolls Royce (RR.) announced a £1 billion share repurchase plan on Thursday, to distribute its accumulated cash to shareholders. With the current share price below our fair value estimate, we view this corporate purchase as a reasonable use of capital.

That said, our current fair value estimate assumes £800 million of share repurchases over the next two years, so the incremental benefit to our valuation is not enough to merit changing our current fair value estimate of £11.15. Our narrow economic moat rating is unchanged following this announcement.

Rolls-Royce is one of only four firms in the world that can successfully develop and manufacture commercial narrow-body jet engines, a key reason we think the company stands to benefit from sizable competitive advantages in its end markets. That said, we see a few growth headwinds for Rolls-Royce defence spending is coming under pressure globally and the company lacks a presence in the next generation of commercial narrow-body aircraft.

Alliances and joint ventures abound in the commercial aerospace engine market, where a partner on one platform may be a competitor on another. Each firm is fully aware of the others' technologies. Competition, though fierce, provides an adequate return for firms investing in new platforms.

Rolls-Royce's Trent engines have carved positions on a number of major commercial airframes, including the Boeing 787 and Airbus' A380 and A350 platforms. Each of these platforms should produce steady demand for Rolls-Royce in the coming years.

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Securities Mentioned in Article

Security NamePriceChange (%)Morningstar
Rating
Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC395.50 GBX-1.74Rating

About Author

Daniel Holland  Daniel Holland is a stock analyst with Morningstar.

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