Shares in Rolls-Royce jumped on Thursday following the engineering company's announcement of a new plan to purchase £1.5bn of its own shares. The FTSE 100 firm's stock price climbed over 2.8 per cent in early trading.
The move comes amid continued demand for its gas and defence engines. In its third-quarter trading update, Tufan Erginbilgic stated the group is on track to meet its full-year targets, citing "strong operational, strategic and financial progress."
Performance was boosted by demand for gas-fired engines, particularly from data centres. The power systems arm saw a 62 per cent year-on-year jump in the nine months to October, with an order book of £8.6bn, the highest in the company's 120-year history. Rolls-Royce expects double-digit revenue growth and improving margins from services in this division.
The company also noted "strong demand" across its defence and plane divisions, with the latter having an order backlog of approximately 2,500 engines. Rolls-Royce shares have climbed over 15 per cent this year and more than 860 per cent in the past five years.