Rolls-Royce staff rewarded with £700 each in shares

Rolls-Royce is to hand over £700 worth of shares to all staff as the aerospace giant celebrates a successful turnaround.

Chief Executive Tufan Erginbilgic said the engine maker will give 150 shares to “every colleague, in every part of our organization” in September.

This follows this week’s half-year results, which saw Rolls announce its first dividend since the pandemic.

The move was welcomed by investors who had called on Erginbilgic to restore the coveted payout.

Shares rose to record highs on Thursday but fell 3.6 percent, or 17.2p, to 463.9p yesterday. It employs about 42,000 people worldwide and everyone is planning to buy shares.

In an internal message to employees, Erginbilgic said the resumption of dividend payments marks an “important moment” for shareholders and prospective investors.

He added: ‘These results have been made possible thanks to your hard work and our collective actions.

‘You make the difference. It is therefore important that you share in our success. That is why we are giving you the opportunity to own a part of Rolls-Royce.’

‘Turbo’ Tufan, as he is better known, joined in early 2023 as Rolls struggled to recover from the pandemic and suffered huge losses as aircraft were grounded.

But he has cut costs – expected to be £200m a year by the end of 2025 – and paid down debt.

Last October, Rolls announced 2,500 redundancies. The value of its shares has more than quadrupled since the start of 2023, a factor that has earned Erginbilgic the nickname ‘Turbo’ Tufan.