Britain’s aerospace and defence industry has lurched into crisis as Rolls-Royce put out another devastating profit warning while BAE Systems announced the loss of hundreds of jobs in Lancashire because of the lack of orders for the Eurofighter Typhoon.
In a chastening day for the cream of Britain’s engineering industry, Rolls-Royce released its fifth profit warning in 21 months, sending shares in the Derby-based aero-engine maker crashing 20 per cent on the day to a near six-year low, down 130½p to 536½p.
The latest warning of plunging profits across Rolls-Royce’s operations means that more than £12 billion has been wiped off the value of the company since it started alerting investors that not all was not well in the early weeks of last year.
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