Rolls-Royce Names BP's Ian Davis as New Chairman

British aerospace company Rolls-Royce has said that Ian Davis who is also the non-executive director of BP and Johnson & Johnson will replace retiring Simon Robertson as chairman of the company.

Davis will join the company's board as a non-executive director on 1 March and assume the role of chairman at the conclusion of the annual general meeting on 2 May.

Davis worked with McKinsey & Company for more than thirty years in different capacities including chairman and worldwide managing director. He is also a non-executive member of the Cabinet Office Board.

Robertson has been working as the chairman of Rolls-Royce for the past eight years.

In December, Rolls-Royce revealed it was being investigated over allegations of bribery and corruption in Indonesia and China. The company said that the investigation by the Serious Fraud Office is going on and that veteran lawyer Lord Gold had begun reviewing the company's compliance procedures in connection with the investigation.

Rolls-Royce also reported a higher-than-expected rise in full-year profits on the back of a strong performance in its civil aerospace division.

Underlying pre-tax profit for full year 2012 rose 24 percent to £1.4bn ($2.18bn, €1.63bn) as revenues grow 8 percent to £12.2bn. Rolls-Royce was expected to post an average pretax profit of £1.37bn, according to analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.

The company's order book rose 4 percent to £60.1bn due to strong demand for its Trent XWB and Trent 1000-TEN aircraft engines. The Trent XWB engine is set to power the Airbus A350 and the latter will power Boeing 787s entering service from 2016.

"In 2013, we expect modest growth in underlying revenue and good growth in underlying profit with cash flow around break even as we continue to invest for the future," Rolls-Royce chief executive John Rishton said in a statement.