Trent engine splutters at Rolls

Rolls-Royce has yet to sell a single one of its industrial Trent engines, an attempt to break into the power generation market, despite ploughing £300m into the project.

A spokesman for Rolls said the company had resumed marketing the engines after overcoming technical problems. In tests, the two types of industrial Trent engine built by Rolls developed emissions problems and had to be re-engineered. But shareholders might have gained the impression that things were going rather better.

In October 2001, Sir John Rose, chief executive, said he expected orders for the engines by the end of that year. In the 2001 annual report, published in April 2002, he said "recent successful testing ... has resulted in the resumption of marketing of the industrial Trent".

At the AGM on 30 May, the then chairman, Sir Ralph Robins, said: "Good progress was made with the introduction of new low-emission combustion systems for the indus-trial Trent, and marketing resumed in the fourth quarter of the year [2001]."

A Rolls spokesman denied there were any inconsistencies between these statements and the marketing of the Trent. "These are not things you buy off the shelf – marketing of them takes a long time," he said. He also blamed the depressed world energy market.

Rolls has already made a £120m provision against the cost of the Trent project.