Posting half-year figures, the company said earnings will be “modestly higher” than in 2009, when Rolls made a £915m pre-tax profit. The turbine business had predicted that sales and profit would not grow this year. Despite a successful Farnborough Airshow, where Rolls picked up $1.7bn (£1bn) of orders for aircraft engines and maintenance, profits in Rolls’ civil aerospace business will fall this year.