Britain's Rolls-Royce (RR) has announced that it has appointed Ian Davis, the former head of McKinsey as its new chairman.

Davis has worked as chairman and global managing director at McKinsey and also as a non-executive director of BP and Johnson & Johnson. The will now join as the board of as a non-executive director in March. Davis will replace Robertson on 2 May at the Derby-based manufacturer.

He is joining Rolls-Royce at a difficult time as the company is set to face corruption inquiry in some countries. The company has already submitted a report from internal investigation into allegations of corruption in Asian markets to the Serious Fraud Office (SFO). The regulator has not determined if it will launch a formal inquiry into the case.

The US Department of Justice is also looking into allegations that the company paid $20 million a a car to Tommy Suharto, the son of the former Indonesian president in order to persuade Garuda airline to procure Trent 700 engines.

The company said that its pre-tax profits have risen to £1.4 billion and that its revenues increased 8 per cent to £12.2 billion. The company gets its major income from manufacturing and servicing civil aircraft engines such as the Trent 900 that powers the A380 superjumbo.