Middle East investments set to power Rolls-Royce's

Having won orders worth over $1 billion at last week's Dubai Airshow, aircraft engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce is upbeat about the Middle East and plans to increase investments in the region, according to the company's top executive. "You are going to see us expanding our presence in the region in the coming months. To date, because we have been focused on deliveries, we have really been looking at how we can provide the right services to support our customers. And as that product base grows, I don't doubt that it will see further investment in the region," Rob Watson, Regional Director-Middle East, told Gulf News in an interview. Asked if the company had any investment plans for the region in the immediate future, he said: "Yes, we do have plans for further investments. But I won't be in a position to talk about it today." He was quick to add that the company will make an important announcement "possibly some time this week" regarding a new partnership that will be announced in the emirate. Long-term goals "We are always looking for opportunities and partners. And we are clear about our priorities, particularly in the UAE. We have been here a long time and we are going to be here for a long time. We are very committed to the Middle East as we have very important customers and partners here," Watson said. The UK-based company remains bullish on the region despite the global financial crisis and maintains that securing financing is not a major issue for the company. Asked how much the Middle East accounts for Rolls-Royce's global business, Watson said: "Generally, we tend not to break down our revenue regionally. But if I gave you an example of our latest and fastest selling engine — the Trent XWB, which will power the Airbus A350 XWB [extra wide body] — 30 per cent of its fleet is being sold into the Middle East. That shows what an important market this region is to us." The enginemaker has already won orders for 1,100 XWB engines, despite the plane not having entered service yet. Watson said: "There is a strong position for growth in the Middle East. Ours is such a long-term market that, although we pay close attention to some of the economic and political turbulence, we take a long term view. So I am very bullish about the growth prospects in the Middle East. Our performance in the last five years underlines why it's such an important market." Looking at Rolls-Royce's £60 billion (total) order book, Watson says that a successful delivery of that order will double the company in size. "And a big part of that growth is focused on the Middle East," he said. "Ten years ago, our order book was valued at £16 billion. The change is enormous and half of this order book relates to orders from customers in Asia and the Middle East," said Watson. As part of the company's commitment to training and education in the UAE, Rolls-Royce last week signed a long term leadership training agreement with the Emirates Group during the airshow to provide an innovative leadership and business management programme for UAE national managers. Rolls-Royce is hopeful it will win the engine order from Qatar Airways for the five Airbus A380s and three options it ordered at last week's airshow. "There will be an engine selection on that and we will be competing for that. We have won all the competitions this year so far on the A380 and around 70 per cent of the 16 A380 operators in the world use Rolls-Royce engines," Watson told Gulf News. Rolls-Royce announced deals worth over $1 billion at the airshow last week. They include an approximately $500 million deal with Saudi Arabian Airlines for engines (Trent 700) and TotalCare support for up to eight Airbus A330 aircraft; a $280 million deal with Garuda Indonesian Airlines for engines (Trent 700) for four Airbus A330s; a $75 million deal with Thai Airlines for engines (V2500) to power five purchased and six leased Airbus A320 series planes; and an Oman Air order for Trent 1000 engines to power six Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, for an undisclosed value.