The UK aircraft engine-maker said it would invest £150m in two plants in Singapore and the US in the next five years to increase its global manufacturing capacity and cut exposure to the weak dollar.

The Singapore plant will assemble part of the Trent family of large jet engines – for use on new Boeing 787 and Airbus A350 jets – and Rolls-Royce is locating a test and assembly plant for a new range of business jet engines in Virginia.

Sir John Rose, the firm’s chief executive, said the two new plants were part of a “continuing trend towards the globalisation” of the group’s operations.