HEALTHY order books are underpinning a boom time for the civil aerospace division of Rolls-Royce - which employs 1,000 people in East Lancashire.

Latest interim pre-tax profits for the Rolls Royce Group, announced today, are down from £870million to £377million.

But the aerospace sector, which has a major base at Barnoldswick remains bullish, with orders rising by more than £8billion year-on-year.

The division was bolstered by the recent announcement that a $1.3billion contract had been secured for the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner, an environmentally-conscious craft which uses 20 per cent less fuel than other models.

The fuel-efficiencies have been made possible due to the development of the new Trent 1000 engine by Rolls civil aerospace workers.

Rolls is also contracted, under the deal, to develop the next two generations of the engine, for future models of the new aeroplane.

The underlying profit for the division is an anticipated £261million, compared to £243million for the previous year.

The seven per cent increase has been attributed to rises in aftermarket service sales and original equipment deliveries.

And civil aerospace has also delivered more engines in the past year - 421 - than the 412 it managed for the same period in 2006.

Sales have also topped the £2billion mark, an improvement on the £1.79billion achieved 12 months earlier.

Commenting on the interim results, Sir John Rose, Rolls-Royce chief executive, said: "The Group has made strong progress in the first half.

"'We have a well balanced business with a broad portfolio of products and services and proven access to global markets.

"Continued investment in our product portfolio and value added services for our customers has made us a market leader and gives us the ability to grow organically."

Officials from Rolls are predicting growth despite rising raw material costs and the weak performance of the US dollar.

The civil aerospace section has enjoyed a good year, with $14billion worth of contracts being secured at the Paris Air Show in June.

Those deals were said to have safeguarded 1,000 jobs for 10 years at the plant in Barnoldswick.