Rolls-Royce Holdings, the aircraft engine manufacturer, is to axe more than 2,000 jobs as part of a cost-cutting drive by its new chief executive.
Sky News has learnt that the Derby-based company is expected to announce plans to lay off around 2,500 staff as soon as Tuesday.
The cuts will be distributed across its global operations and are likely to affect hundreds of UK staff, according to people close to the situation.
The restructuring of its non-engineering workforce has been anticipated for months, and will be among the most significant steps taken so far by Tufan Erginbilgic, who took over as Rolls-Royce’s chief executive at the start of the year.
His move to cut costs and reduce duplication across the company’s operations will please City analysts and investors who believe there is significant scope to improve its efficiency.
Since his appointment, Mr Erginbilgic has described the company as “a burning platform” and said one of its main subsidiaries had been “grossly mismanaged”, underlining his reputation as a plain-speaking executive.
Whitehall officials are understood to have been briefed on the latest redundancy plans, in accordance with statutory requirements relating to job cuts, on Monday evening.
Shares in Rolls-Royce have staged a remarkable recovery in the last year, trebling on the back of a resurgence in aviation demand following the pandemic and the early results of its transformation plan.
During the COVID-19 crisis, doubts grew about Rolls’ long-term survival as it was forced to raise capital from shareholders and axe 9,000 jobs.
A Rolls-Royce spokesman declined to comment on Monday evening.