Rolls-Royce has invested $9 million in the new Niterói facility to serve its rapidly expanding base of installed equipment within the region. The new facility will provide strong customer service support to Brazil's growing fleet of offshore vessels, many of which boast the most efficient and technologically advanced power and propulsion systems designed and supplied by Rolls-Royce.

The new 13,000 sqm facility, with direct access to Guanabara Bay, will have an effective workshop area of 2,100 sqm, with a hoisting capacity of 100 tonnes, a machining area with latest-generation equipment and a separate area for cleaning, sandblasting and painting. It will be the most technologically advanced in the area, and will create up to 100 new jobs once fully operational, by early next year.

The Governor of Rio de Janeiro State, Sergio Cabral, represented by the Secretary of Economic Development, Energy, Industry and Services, Julio Bueno and the Mayor of Niterói, Jorge Roberto Silveira, joined John Paterson, President - Rolls-Royce Marine and Laudio Nogues, Regional Director - Rolls-Royce Marine, during the inauguration ceremony at Ilha do Caju.

Commenting at today's ceremony, John Paterson said: "The expansion of our global service centre network is central to the further development of our customer support capabilities and our continually expanding base of installed equipment. Here in Brazil, this is predominantly focused at the growing offshore oil and gas sector."

In 2009, Rolls-Royce also opened new facilities in Galveston, Texas, and Newfoundland, Canada, and has recently expanded facilities in Seattle, Washington; Veracruz, Mexico; Mumbai, India; Genoa, Italy and Singapore.

Notes to Editors:

1. Rolls-Royce, a world-leading provider of power systems and services for use on land, at sea and in the air, has established strong positions in its four global markets - civil aerospace, defence aerospace, marine and energy.

2. Rolls-Royce has a broad customer base including more than 600 airlines, 4,000 corporate and utility aircraft and helicopter operators, 160 armed forces, more than 2,000 marine customers, including 70 navies, and energy customers in nearly 120 countries.

3. In 2008, Rolls-Royce and its partners invested £885 million on research and development, two-thirds of which had the objective of further improving the environmental aspects of its products, in particular the reduction of emissions.

4. Rolls-Royce is a world leader in marine solutions, providing products, service and expertise to around 30,000 vessels in the offshore, merchant, naval surface and submarine markets. Its core product range includes ship and systems design, diesel engines, gas turbines, propellers, thrusters, water jets, manoeuvring and stabilising systems, and deck machinery.

5. Rolls-Royce has been supplying products and services to Brazil's civil and defense aerospace, marine and energy markets since the 1950s and now employs around 500 people.

6. There are over 100 Platform Supply Vessels (PSV) and Anchor Handling Tug Supply (AHTS) vessels equipped with Rolls-Royce equipment operating in Brazil. Forty of these, built by Brazilian Shipyards, are Rolls-Royce UT design vessels.

7. The Group's main customers in the Brazilian civil aerospace sector are TAM, which employs Rolls-Royce Trent 500 engines in its A340s, and Embraer, which uses the AE3007 to power the ERJ145 regional aircraft and Legacy 600 series Executive Jets. The Brazilian Air Force has been using Rolls-Royce engines since 1953, and the Brazilian Navy uses Rolls-Royce gas turbines on a range of vessels and frigates. In the energy sector, Rolls-Royce supplies Petrobas with offshore and land based electrical energy generation systems and centrifugal gas compressors for the Gasene pipeline project.

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