Rolls-Royce Shares: £1.5bn Buyback Announced as Engine Maker Stays on Track for £4.9bn Profit

Rolls-Royce is to hand £1.5 billion back to shareholders through a new share buyback, after the engine maker said it was on track to hit its profit targets for the year. Shares rose at the start of trading on Thursday as the company stuck to its forecast of up to £4.9 billion in underlying operating profit for 2026.

What is a share buyback?

In a share buyback, a company uses its spare cash to buy its own shares on the stock market. That reduces the number of shares in circulation, which can boost the value of the ones that are left. The £1.5 billion buyback is part of a larger plan to return £7 billion to £9 billion to shareholders between 2026 and 2028.

Why is Rolls-Royce doing well?

Rolls-Royce makes engines for big passenger planes such as the Airbus A350 and Boeing 787, and earns much of its money from servicing them based on how many hours they fly. Flying hours for its large engines rose 4% year on year in the first ten months of 2026 and are now 14% above their level before the pandemic.

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What does it mean for savers?

Rolls-Royce is one of the biggest companies in the FTSE 100, so its shares are held by many pension funds and tracker funds as well as individual investors. The company will report its full-year results on 25 February 2027.

Photo: Julian Herzog / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0. Source: Rolls-Royce Holdings trading update, 12 November 2026.