Rolls-Royce Secures Czech Nuclear Deal as Shareholders Await Trading Update

Rolls-Royce signs second European SMR contract with CEZ for Czech Temelin plant, while shares fall 18% from peak; AGM and trading update on April 30 in focus.

Rolls-Royce has locked in a second European contract for its small modular reactor business, signing an early works agreement with Czech utility CEZ Group for the country’s first SMR unit. The deal, announced on April 24, targets up to three gigawatts of installed capacity at the Temelin nuclear plant in southern Bohemia, where geological surveys were already underway last year.

The contract covers site-specific planning, licensing procedures and initial infrastructure work at the Temelin site. It positions Rolls-Royce SMR as the only company with multiple contractual commitments to deliver small reactors across Europe — the Czech agreement follows a similar deal with Great British Energy Nuclear for SMR units in the UK.

But the nuclear news comes at a time when the stock is under significant pressure. Rolls-Royce shares have fallen roughly 18 percent from their February peak of 15.92 euros, currently trading around 13.10 euros. Over the past seven trading sessions, the decline has been steeper than initially reported in some market commentary, with the stock losing approximately 12 percent in that period alone. On a 12-month view, however, the shares still show a gain of nearly 46 percent.

Supply Chain and Manufacturing Advances

The company has also been busy on the aerospace side. Over the weekend, Rolls-Royce confirmed a new seven-year contract worth approximately £360 million with supplier Sigma. Under the agreement, Sigma will produce high-precision safety-critical components for various aerospace programmes at manufacturing sites in both the UK and India.

On Friday, the company opened a new additive manufacturing facility in Bristol, backed by the UK Ministry of Defence. The plant is designed to accelerate production of complex components and ease ongoing supply chain pressures that have weighed on the aerospace industry.

AGM and Trading Update in Focus

All eyes now turn to Thursday, April 30, when Rolls-Royce holds its annual general meeting in Derby, accompanied by a trading update. Three key items dominate the agenda: confirmation of the 2026 profit forecast — the company is targeting adjusted operating profit between £4.0 billion and £4.2 billion — a vote on revised executive remuneration policy, and progress on the £2.5 billion share buyback programme planned for this year, part of a multi-year programme running through 2028.

The stock has recently approached its 200-day moving average, a technical level that often attracts attention. Whether Thursday’s update can shift sentiment will depend on whether management can demonstrate that operational momentum remains strong enough to justify the current valuation.

For the SMR project in the Czech Republic, much now hinges on the local regulatory authorities. The timeline for first commissioning has been pushed back to the second half of the 2030s, underscoring the long lead times that even these smaller, supposedly faster-to-build reactors still face.