Shares in Rolls-Royce had lost 39 per cent of their value from the start of 2014 when ValueAct Capital Management, the San Francisco-based activist investor, emerged on Friday with a 5.4 per cent stake. This is a startling fall for Britain’s most eminent engineer, although three profit warnings in the period will not have helped.
The last appeared just as Warren East was easing himself into the job of chief executive. ValueAct’s timing looks good. Rolls-Royce has been laid low by what look like largely short-term problems. Mr East has promised a review of its operations, but has talked down prospects of a sale of the non-aerospace business, even if analysts think that the marine side alone could be worth £6 billion.
The announcement about