LONDON - Britain's Rolls-Royce stuck to its profit and cash flow guidance for 2018 and said it was making progress with a plan to repair some problematic Trent 1000 engines more quickly.

The British engineering company provided the reassuring update ahead of its annual shareholder meeting in Derby, northern England, where it is likely to face questions over engine durability issues.

While a long-term turnaround programme to improve profitability at one of the biggest names in British manufacturing is on track, difficulties with the Trent 1000 which powers Boeing Dreamliner 787 aircraft, is causing setbacks.

Turbine blades on some Trent 1000 engines have worn out sooner than expected, forcing airlines to disrupt their schedules to allow for the engines to be inspected more regularly.

Rolls said that about two-thirds of the inspections had now been carried out, and the company was making "significant progress" in finding or developing new maintenance and repair facilities to enable it to fix engines and return them to airline customers more quickly.

The company said on Thursday that the year had started well.

It had already said it would reprioritise spending to mitigate the costs of the inspection and repairprogramme and is sticking to its 2018 free cash flow guidance of about 450 million pounds ($643 million), give or take 100 million pounds.

For 2018, Rolls has forecast group underlying operating profit of about 400 million pounds, give or take 100 million pounds. At the lower end of expectations that would represent a decline from its 2017 level of 321 million pounds.

Rolls added on Thursday that its full-year profits would be heavily weighted to the second half.

(Reporting by Sarah Young; editing by Kate Holton)

© Reuters News 2018