Rolls-Royce shares have now trebled this year

ROLLS-ROYCE shares have raced to the highest level in more than four years.

And they have now more than trebled since ‘Turbo’ Tufan Erginbilgic became the engineer’s chief executive at the start of this year.

The Derby-based giant is the best performing stock in the FTSE 100 so far in 2023 – and it is on course for its best year since it listed in London in 1987.

The shares rose another 3.1pc, or 8.7p, to 285.4p yesterday, taking gains since the start of the year to 206pc and valuing the company at more than £24bn.

It is a major vote of confidence in Erginbilgic’s leadership, less than a year after he took over.

Rolls-Royce spent years under

‘Investors wonder if expectations too high’

performing under previous bosses and came close to bankruptcy during the pandemic.

Former BP executive Erginbilgic took over in January and warned Rolls-Royce had ‘not been performing for a long, long time’.

Erginbilgic, 64, last week unveiled a strategy to boost profits to £2.8bn by 2027 compared to last year’s £652m.

Brokers at JP Morgan raised Rolls-Royce’s stock to overweight from neutral with a target price of 400p, up from 235p. And Goldman Sachs reinstated a buy rating and a target price of 370p.

Goldman Sachs analysts said: ‘ Investors are questioning whether expectations are too high. We do not think so.’