Rolls-Royce Share Price Today: China JV, 2025 Guidance and 2026

Updated: 10 December 2025

Rolls-Royce Holdings plc (LON: RR., ADR: RYCEY) is ending 2025 in full “turnaround‑completed, growth‑mode” territory. The share price has nearly doubled this year, management has reaffirmed strong 2025 profit and cash flow guidance, and the group has just opened a major new engine overhaul joint venture in Beijing – all while analysts are still nudging their targets higher. ^[1]

Below is a detailed look at the latest share price, today’s key news, analyst forecasts, and the main risks investors are debating.

Rolls-Royce share price today and recent performance

As of 10 December 2025, Rolls‑Royce shares trade at around 1,110p on the London Stock Exchange, giving the group a market capitalisation of roughly £92–93 billion. Over the past 12 months the stock has moved in a wide range between about 557p and 1,195p, putting today’s level close to the top of its 52‑week band. ^[2]

Key snapshot as of today:

Share price: ~1,110p
Day range: roughly 1,099p–1,121p
52‑week range: 557p–1,195p
Market cap: ~£92–93bn
P/E ratio: ~55x trailing earnings
Dividend yield: around 0.5% (dividends only recently reinstated) ^[3]

On a total‑return basis, the London‑listed RR.L shares are up about 95% year to date, while the US‑traded ADR RYCEY shows total returns of roughly 108% in 2025. ^[4] Articles tracking early‑December performance note that £10,000 invested at the start of 2025 would already have grown by more than 80% by 2 December. ^[5]

In short: Rolls‑Royce has gone from “distressed pandemic recovery play” to one of the FTSE 100’s standout momentum stories.

Today’s big news: new Beijing engine overhaul JV with Air China

The main corporate headline on 10 December 2025 is the official opening of Beijing Aero Engine Services Limited (BAESL), Rolls‑Royce’s new maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) joint venture with Air China in the Chinese capital. ^[6]

According to the company: ^[7]

BAESL is the first dedicated Trent engine overhaul facility on the Chinese mainland, and becomes a key part of Rolls‑Royce’s global MRO network.
The site will handle Trent 700, Trent XWB‑84 and Trent 1000 engines, all core widebody platforms.
The facility plans to start operations in 2026 and ramp up to around 250 engine overhauls per year by 2034.
At launch, it has received its maintenance organisation certificate from the Civil Aviation Administration of China, signalling regulatory readiness.

Rolls‑Royce powers more than 500 commercial aircraft in China, and nearly one‑fifth of the global Trent engine fleet has been delivered to Chinese operators. Management explicitly frames BAESL as a “bold investment” to expand its widebody aftermarket capacity and provide more local support for a rapidly growing market. ^[8]

Why investors care:

Widebody engine MRO is high‑margin, long‑duration business. Every additional Trent engine flying in China today is a stream of profitable shop visits over 10–20+ years.
The JV deepens a strategic relationship with Air China, the country’s flag carrier, and strengthens Rolls‑Royce’s position just as Chinese widebody flying hours recover.
It also backs up the bullish commentary in November’s trading update about strong demand for Trent‑powered aircraft in Greater China and Asia‑Pacific. ^[9]

For shareholders, BAESL is not an overnight earnings transformer, but it is a textbook example of Rolls‑Royce leaning into its most attractive profit stream: servicing a large installed base of Trent engines.

November trading update: guidance intact, cash engine humming

On 13 November 2025, Rolls‑Royce released a trading update covering the 10 months to 31 October. Management described performance as “strong across the group” and reaffirmed full‑year 2025 guidance despite ongoing supply chain issues. ^[10]

For 2025, the company continues to target: ^[11]

Underlying operating profit:£3.1–3.2 billion
Free cash flow:£3.0–3.1 billion

The update highlighted several key points:

Civil Aerospace

Large engine flying hours in the first 10 months of 2025 were 109% of 2019 levels, up 8% year on year, confirming that widebody travel is now firmly above pre‑pandemic activity. ^[12]
Rolls‑Royce reported significant new large‑engine orders from carriers including IndiGo, Malaysia Airlines and Avolon in the second half of the year. ^[13]
Demand for the Trent XWB‑97‑powered Airbus A350F freighter is described as “growing,” with customers such as Air China Cargo and Korean Air – reinforcing the logic behind expanding MRO capacity in China. ^[14]
The company is pushing “time on wing” improvements: upgraded Trent 1000 hardware more than doubles time on wing, and further durability upgrades for Trent 1000 and Trent 7000 aimed at another ~30% improvement are on track to be certified by year‑end 2025. ^[15]

Defence

Demand remains “robust,” with continued progress on the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) and successful testing of advanced combustor technology using additive manufacturing. ^[16]
The UK and Türkiye agreed an export deal for 20 Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft, powered by Rolls‑Royce EJ200 engines, with options for more. ^[17]

Power Systems

Power Systems continues to see strong order intake, especially in power generation for data centres and government customers. ^[18]
Rolls‑Royce is developing a next‑generation engine targeting data‑centre backup, promising higher power density and lower emissions. It also unveiled a fast‑start gas generator that can act as prime power for data centres awaiting grid connection from 2026, then be repurposed as backup. ^[19]
A milestone 100% methanol‑fuelled high‑speed marine engine was successfully tested, aligning with decarbonisation themes. ^[20]

Balance sheet and capital allocation

Credit rating agencies now all rate Rolls‑Royce at investment grade, with S&P upgrading it to BBB+ in August. ^[21]
The company repaid a $1bn bond maturing in October and has completed £0.9bn of its £1bn share buyback. ^[22]
Full‑year 2025 results are scheduled for 26 February 2026. ^[23]

Taken together, the update painted a picture of a business already beyond “repair mode” and firmly into a phase of profitable growth and balance‑sheet rebuilding.

Insider buying and institutional ownership

Recent insider and institutional signals around the stock are also adding colour for investors.

Director share purchases

On 9 December 2025, Rolls‑Royce disclosed that two non‑executive directors bought shares via a monthly purchase plan on 8 December: ^[24]

Wendy Mars, non‑executive director, acquired 167 shares at £10.9575 each (about 1,096p), a total of roughly £1,830.
Birgit Behrendt, also a non‑executive director, bought 100 shares at the same price, for a total of about £1,096.

These are relatively small transactions in monetary terms, but they do show board‑level willingness to continue adding exposure at around current prices.

Heavy institutional backing

Analysis from Simply Wall St notes that around 81% of Rolls‑Royce’s outstanding shares are held by institutional investors, underscoring how much of the company’s fate is now tied to large asset managers and pension funds. ^[25]

That high institutional presence tends to amplify both good and bad news: the share price can move sharply when the consensus view shifts, but it also means there is deep analyst coverage and scrutiny of management’s strategy.

Analyst ratings, price targets and growth forecasts

A lot of that scrutiny is currently upbeat – but not unanimous.

Street consensus and price targets

Different data providers paint a broadly similar picture: plenty of “Buy” ratings and price targets clustered just above today’s share price.

ValueInvesting.io shows a consensus “Buy” rating from 25 analysts, with no “Sell” recommendations. ^[26]
That same consensus points to revenues of about £20.1bn in 2025 (up ~6% from 2024) and £22.1bn in 2026 (up ~10%), with EPS rising from around £0.29 in 2025 to £0.33 in 2026. ^[27]
Investing.com data suggests an average 12‑month price target of roughly 1,207p, with a high of about 1,615p and a low around 790p. It lists 13 analysts on the “Buy” side and none recommending “Sell,” implying around 9% upside from current levels. ^[28]
MarketBeat’s summary for the London listing describes a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average target of about 1,161.5p. ^[29]
For the US ADR (RYCEY), MarketWatch cites an “Overweight” average recommendation and a mean target price of about $16.71. ^[30]

So, across the board, analysts mostly agree that the shares are at least fairly valued to slightly undervalued, with mid‑single to low‑double‑digit upside from today’s 1,110p region.

RBC’s “outperform” initiation and long‑term model

One of the more detailed recent pieces of research came from RBC Capital Markets, which initiated coverage on Rolls‑Royce with an “outperform” rating and a price target of 1,275p, implying roughly 17% upside from the level at the time of the note. ^[31]

Highlights from RBC’s analysis: ^[32]

The turnaround has made Rolls‑Royce “far more stable and cash‑generative,” with the widebody engine business now the main value driver.
They estimate that widebody civil aerospace accounts for about 37% of group sales but roughly 70% of the valuation in their sum‑of‑the‑parts model.
RBC models group sales growing around 8% per year through 2030, with particularly strong growth in Civil Aerospace (~9.4% CAGR) and Power Systems (~8% CAGR).
Revenue forecasts: roughly £19.7bn in 2025, £21.5bn in 2026, and £23.2bn in 2027, with EBITA rising from about £3.23bn to £3.88bn over the same period.
Free cash flow yield is projected around 4.4% in 2026, rising to about 5.2% by 2029, above the sector average.

Crucially, RBC calls its valuation “deliberately conservative” because it gives zero explicit value to future widebody programmes (like UltraFan) and small modular reactors (SMRs). It estimates that if those bets succeed, they could add up to 400p per share in long‑term upside – but only over many years and with substantial execution risk. ^[33]

Sector backdrop: defence boom, data‑centre power and the nuclear option

Rolls‑Royce’s story is currently riding several big structural waves:

Civil aerospace recovery

Widebody flying hours back above 2019 levels and strong engine orders show that long‑haul travel and air freight are firmly recovering. ^[34]
The BAESL Beijing JV is explicitly positioned to support this trend in China, one of the world’s biggest and fastest‑growing widebody markets. ^[35]

Defence spending

Geopolitical tensions continue to drive defence budgets higher. In London trading, Rolls‑Royce often moves with the broader defence complex: a recent Reuters roundup noted FTSE 100 gains led by defence names after reports of German lawmakers preparing a large defence procurement package. ^[36]
Rolls‑Royce is directly exposed via combat jet engines (e.g. EJ200 for Typhoon), naval power and defence‑related power systems. The latest trading update highlighted expanded collaboration on GCAP and progress on nuclear microreactor projects such as Project Pele in the US. ^[37]

Power Systems and data centres

The data‑centre boom – powered by cloud and AI workloads – is driving demand for backup power and grid‑support solutions. Rolls‑Royce’s mtu‑branded engines, next‑gen gensets and new fast‑start gas generator are aimed squarely at this market. ^[38]

Small modular reactors (SMRs)

SMRs are perhaps the most speculative – and potentially transformative – pillar of the investment story. Rolls‑Royce is one of the highest‑profile SMR developers in the UK and Europe.
RBC’s note treats SMRs as optionality: not included in its base case, but potentially worth several hundred pence per share if regulatory approvals, financing and deployment line up over the next decade or two. ^[39]
Commentators have pointed out that the share price pullback of around 10% from recent highs coincided with growing debate about whether the nuclear narrative is running ahead of reality – a reminder that SMR exposure cuts both ways for sentiment. ^[40]

Valuation debate: has the share price run too far?

After an ~95% total‑return surge in 2025 and a huge multi‑year recovery from pandemic lows, the question many investors are now asking is simple: “Is there still value left?” ^[41]

On traditional metrics, Rolls‑Royce no longer looks cheap:

The trailing P/E ratio sits in the mid‑50s, far above many industrial and defence peers. ^[42]
The dividend yield is still below 1%, with cash currently directed more towards debt reduction and share buybacks than high payouts. ^[43]

Some recent opinion pieces have argued the shares could be more than 20% overvalued versus certain peers, while others contend that the company’s unique mix of widebody aero, defence and energy transition exposure justifies a premium multiple. ^[44]

RBC itself flags a key risk: consensus earnings expectations are already 9–20% above its own mid‑term forecasts. That means a lot of good news is priced in, and any stumble on execution, cash generation or civil demand could trigger a sharp de‑rating. ^[45]

On the flip side, bulls note that:

Execution under CEO Tufan Erginbilgic has been strong so far, with guidance repeatedly met or upgraded. ^[46]
Balance‑sheet repair is largely done, with investment‑grade ratings restored and major debt refinancings behind the company. ^[47]
The high‑margin aftermarket engine business offers long‑duration visibility on cash flows, especially if flying hours and shop visits keep growing. ^[48]

In other words, the market is now paying up for Rolls‑Royce as a high‑quality growth story rather than a deep‑value turnaround. Whether that premium is justified will depend on how well the company navigates the next few years of civil demand, supply‑chain constraints, defence programme milestones and SMR financing.

Key risks to watch

Even with the current momentum, investors following RR.L and RYCEY should keep a close eye on several risk factors:

Civil aerospace cyclicality: A global slowdown, fuel‑price shock or new health crisis could hit widebody flying hours and new aircraft orders, squeezing both original equipment and aftermarket revenues. ^[49]
Supply chain and inflation: The 2025 guidance already acknowledges ongoing supply‑chain challenges; cost pressures or parts shortages could still derail margin targets. ^[50]
Defence programme risk: Complex programmes like GCAP and advanced combat engines carry technical and political risk; delays or cancellations can impact long‑term cash flows. ^[51]
Execution on Power Systems: The data‑centre and energy‑transition opportunity is huge, but competition is intense. Failure to deliver on next‑gen engines or new products could shrink growth in that division. ^[52]
SMR uncertainty: SMRs depend on regulation, public acceptance, funding and project delivery across multiple governments. Timelines could stretch far beyond early investor hopes. ^[53]
Valuation and expectations: With high P/E and many bullish targets already in the price, even meeting guidance may not be enough to drive further upside if the market was expecting more. ^[54]

What today’s developments mean for Rolls‑Royce shareholders

Putting it all together:

The BAESL Beijing joint venture is a concrete, near‑term capacity expansion that supports the core thesis: Rolls‑Royce wants to monetise its growing Trent installed base in China with local, high‑margin aftermarket services. ^[55]
The November trading update reinforced that 2025 is on track to be a year of multi‑billion‑pound operating profit and free cash flow, with strong demand across Civil Aerospace, Defence and Power Systems. ^[56]
Analyst consensus remains broadly positive, with most rating the shares a “Buy” and clustering 12‑month price targets just above current levels, while RBC’s detailed model suggests further upside if management continues to execute – and considerable long‑term optionality from UltraFan and SMRs. ^[57]
At the same time, the share price’s massive run‑up and premium valuation mean expectations are high. Short‑term pullbacks, like the recent ~10% slide from the highs, are likely to continue when sentiment swings or macro data wobbles. ^[58]

For investors and traders following Rolls‑Royce into 2026, today’s news flow reinforces a simple narrative: the turnaround has landed, but the margin for error is shrinking. Future returns are likely to depend less on “survival” and more on whether the company can consistently beat already‑optimistic forecasts in civil aerospace, defence and energy – while turning those ambitious nuclear and new‑markets projects into something more than a story.