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Customer services

When a Rolls-Royce engine enters service, it marks the start of a customer relationship that may last 25 years or more. This creates the opportunity for provision of additional services to customers. Our ability to provide these in a timely and innovative way allows us to deliver value to both customers and shareholders.

Today we offer an extensive range of services, which accounts for 35 per cent of sales. These include financial and leasing activities, web-based predictive data management products, global repair and overhaul and the sale of parts.

Over the past five years, we have doubled our share of repair and overhaul on our own engines to more than 50 per cent. In the last two years alone we have won more than 200 repair and overhaul contracts in the civil aerospace, defence and energy sectors. An example of our success in the aftermarket was demonstrated by the recent $1 billion agreement with American Airlines to provide comprehensive maintenance support over the next ten years for the RB211 engines on its fleet of more than 100 Boeing 757 aircraft.

We were the first aero-engine company to anticipate the potential for engine leasing and today Rolls-Royce & Partners Finance, our joint venture with GATX Capital, the US-based finance and leasing company, is the world's largest specialist aero gas turbine leasing business. Rolls-Royce has become the market leader of packages such as 'Total Care', which we apply to our broad portfolio of civil engines and support with capabilities such as engine leasing. Rapid expansion of the regional jet market has enhanced the opportunities for this form of customer service.

Pembroke Group, our aircraft leasing joint venture had a successful year and saw its portfolio of owned and managed aircraft grow to 145, including those on order or option, compared to 93 in the previous year. GATX Capital recently became an equal partner with Rolls-Royce in this business, endorsing our approach to the market and strengthening our strategic relationship which dates back to their initial investment in Rolls-Royce & Partners Finance in 1998.

In the energy market our power development operation, Rolls-Royce Power Ventures, ended the year with 12 power generation projects in operation and four in the late stages of commissioning. Through these projects, we sell electricity to utilities and industries in nine countries on four continents. The projects use a mix of our equipment including the industrial Trent, RB211 and Allen diesel engines. The increase in deregulation of the power sector globally provides greater worldwide potential.

We are developing e-business services for customers, particularly in the area of predictive maintenance. By predicting the behaviour of components in service, we can minimise interruption to operations and maximise the availability of the asset to customers. Through Data Systems & Solutions, our joint venture with Science Applications International Corporation, we have launched a number of products, including:
enginedatacentre.com
supplying customers service data;
aeromanager.com
providing a complete range of facilities for fleet management and
powerplantmanager.com
giving similar information for owners of power generation facilities.

We continue to develop aftermarket activities and see these as fundamental to our overall relationship with customers.