Warren East, the outgoing chief executive of Rolls-Royce, struck an upbeat tone about the engineering group’s prospects on Thursday, telling investors a gradual improvement in flying had helped trading this year.

The FTSE 100 company, paid by customers according to hours flown by aircraft fitted with its engines, took a big financial hit from the grounding of flights during the coronavirus pandemic. It was forced to shore up its balance sheet with £7.3bn of new equity and debt in 2020.

In a trading update ahead of its annual meeting, the company stuck with its previous guidance for 2022 and said it was working closely with its global supply chain to limit the impact of disruptions coming out of the pandemic.

East, who surprised the market in February by announcing he would be leaving at the end of this year, said the company had made “significant progress” in its recovery.

“We are confident that we have positioned the business to achieve positive profit and cash this year, driven by the benefits of our cost reductions and increased engine flying hours in civil aerospace,” he said.

The flying hours of passenger planes using Rolls-Royce’s Trent engines were up 42 per cent in the first four months year on year.

However, the company cautioned that while passenger demand is recovering on routes where travel restrictions have been lifted, additional Covid-19 restrictions have resulted in “fewer flights in China where the situation is still evolving”. 

The company said it expects to complete the sale of its Spanish subsidiary, ITP Aero, by the end of next month, subject to regulatory approvals, allowing it to achieve a target of raising £2bn from disposals. The proceeds from the programme of disposals will be used to repay debt.

There was no news on how the company’s search for a successor to East is going. Shares in Rolls-Royce were trading up 1 per cent at 81.38p by late afternoon on Thursday.