Rolls-Royce surged 8.57 percent to 338.75 pence in late afternoon trade in London, after hitting an intra-day high of 353 pence, while the capital's FTSE 100 index of leading shares firmed 0.05 percent to 5,266.20 points.

In response, broker Merrill Lynch said it was an extremely good set of results and lifted its share price target to 355 pence from 325 pence.

The group pleased shareholders as it announced its first dividend increase since 2001 -- raising its interim dividend by 5.0 percent to 3.34 pence a share -- and held out the prospect of further rises in the future.

During the first half of 2005, pre-tax profit rose 10.7 percent to 165 million pounds (239 million euros, 287 million dollars).

"Clearly, the rise in the interim payment is a reflection of our confidence in the business," group chief executive John Rose told reporters.

Underlying pre-tax profit, excluding exceptional items, jumped by 54 percent to 260 million pounds, well above analysts' consensus forecasts of a range between 190 and 230 million pounds.

The aircraft engine maker also said it had achieved a "record" order book totalling 21.9 billion pounds by the end of June, compared with 18.1 billion pounds by the same point the previous year.

Sales increased by 15.8 percent to 3.184 billion pounds during the six months to June 30 compared with the same period a year earlier.

"The higher orders and sales reflect strong market positions and the continuing growth of our services revenues," Rose said in a separate statement accompanying the results.

"We remain on target to generate continued growth in profits and reduction of average net debt in 2005."

Group sales were also "driven by a recovery in the civil aerospace division", Rose said, adding that "the group is poised to deliver strong levels of organic growth".

First-half underlying profits from the division -- before financing costs -- jumped from 83 million to 200 million pounds in the period.

The group delivered 441 engines in the first half, compared with 384 a year ago, and the group expected the number of its civil engines in service to increase by 40 percent to 15,500 over the next five years.

"This is a huge market worth 2.0 trillion US dollars (1.65 trillion euros) over a 20-year period," said Rose. "Our aim is to have a three-year average share of at least 30 percent of this market."

All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

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