LONDON, Jan 5, 2026, 08:30 GMT — Regular session
- Rolls-Royce shares rose 2.1% in early London trading, hovering near a 52-week high. 1
- The company disclosed it bought 475,882 shares in the first trades under its £200 million buyback programme. 2
- Investors’ next focal point is the Feb. 26 full-year results, with any 2026 buyback update in the spotlight. 3
Rolls-Royce Holdings shares rose on Monday after the aero-engine maker disclosed its first share repurchases under a £200 million buyback programme. By 08:30 GMT, the stock was up 2.09% at 1,222.05 pence. 1
The timing matters because the buyback is one of the few company-specific catalysts at the start of the year, and it lands with the stock already close to a 52-week high. Investors are looking ahead to full-year results in late February for any fresh guidance and capital returns signals. 1
A share buyback is when a company buys back its own stock, typically to reduce the number of shares outstanding. Rolls-Royce said it intends to cancel the shares it repurchases, which shrinks the share count and can lift earnings per share if profits hold up. 2
In a regulatory filing on Monday, Rolls-Royce said it bought 475,882 ordinary shares on Jan. 2 at a volume-weighted average price of 1,186.4761 pence. The highest price paid was 1,197 pence and the lowest was 1,157.5 pence, the filing showed. 2
Based on the disclosed average price, the purchases amount to about £5.6 million, a small fraction of the £200 million programme. Rolls-Royce said it had 8,401,849,179 shares in issue and the same number of voting rights following the transaction. 2
The interim programme runs from Jan. 2 and is expected to complete no later than Feb. 24, with UBS executing the trades under a non-discretionary agreement, Rolls-Royce said. The company also said it will announce repurchases no later than 7:30 a.m. on the next business day. 4
The stock traded between 1,197.45 and 1,228.00 on the day, leaving it within touching distance of a 52-week high of 1,228.50. About 2 million shares had traded by early morning, compared with a three-month average of about 27 million, Investing.com data showed. 1
On valuation, Investing.com’s compilation of analyst estimates put the average 12-month price target at about 1,216 pence, roughly in line with the current share price. The proximity to that target leaves less room for error in February’s results narrative. 1
But the rally also raises the bar: any disappointment on cash generation, buyback pace or operational delivery can bite quickly in a stock sitting near its highs. Supply-chain bottlenecks have been a recurring constraint for the sector, and CEO Tufan Erginbilgic said in November that “strong performance across the group… was in line with our expectations.” 5
The next near-term catalyst is the next daily buyback disclosure, while the bigger test comes on Feb. 26 when Rolls-Royce reports 2025 full-year results and investors look for any update on buybacks for the rest of 2026. 3
