© Rolls-Royce plc 2008 Legal Information

In 1987, Rolls-Royce was in many respects a very different company. The business was, of course, centred on the gas turbine but here the similarities stop.

Twenty years ago, Rolls-Royce was predominantly a UK company, with over 90 per cent of its employees based in this country. If you look at the Group's sales at the time, two points jump out at you: the extent to which revenue was dominated by UK sales and the relative narrowness of the Group's global penetration, with Europe and North America accounting for over 70 per cent of turnover. We were primarily a defence and civil aerospace business, with the marine and energy sectors in the early stages of development.

Now, by contrast, we are a genuinely global company. Over 40 per cent of our workforce is based outside the UK and our employees include 50 different nationalities. We manufacture in 20 countries and have customer support facilities in 50.

The increasingly global nature of our markets is illustrated by the composition of our record order book, which is now balanced between the Americas, Europe and Asia. The rapid increase in our business in Asia and the Middle East was particularly striking in 2007, with the order book for these regions at the same level as the total value of the order book just four years ago. Almost 50 per cent of our order book is from outside the traditional markets of Europe and North America.

In 2007, we significantly expanded our international presence in all four of our business sectors. We won new customers in the Americas, Europe and Asia, often in countries in which previously we had little or no presence.