LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Rolls-Royce L:RR said excluding currency movements it was on track to report flat revenue and profit in 2014, in line with an earlier forecast, adding that its performance would be weighted to the second half due to a one-off charge.
Currency headwinds are currently biting, however, Rolls-Royce, the world's second-largest maker of aircraft engines behind U.S. group General Electric N:GE, said.
At current rates, it estimated that foreign exchange translation effects would shave 40 million pounds off profit and 300 million pounds off revenue over the year.
Analysts currently expect the company to post annual pretax profit of 1.8 billion pounds, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Sterling
In its marine business, the company said it would take a 30 million pound one-off charge to rectify a quality issue, resulting in a 10 percent reduction in profit in that unit.
"The group's financial performance in 2014 is expected to be weighted to the second half of the year, with around two thirds of the full year 2014 profit being generated in the second half," the company said in a statement on Thursday.
In addition to the one-off charge, Rolls-Royce said the first half would be impacted by higher restructuring charges, with the second half benefiting from cost savings.
Rolls-Royce added that it was confident of returning to growth next year, having disappointed the market in February with its guidance that U.S. and European spending cuts would result in flat profits, bringing a decade of profit growth to an end.
(Reporting by Sarah Young; Editing by Brenda Goh)