Rolls-Royce, in the middle of a major turnaround programme after a string of profit downgrades, said the two appointments would help the aerospace and defence firm respond more quickly to market changes and become more innovative.

Story has spent his career advising on mergers and acquisitions and financing transactions in a number of industries during his time at banks including Citi, Deutsche and Morgan Stanley.

Crockett spent 14 years at Cisco Systems and previously ran a national not for profit organisation designed to bring British-based digital businesses to market.

The appointments are the latest from Chief Executive Warren East who has embarked on a drive to turn around the group, making it more efficient. It named Daily Mail and General Trust's Stephen Daintith as its new finance chief last week.

(Reporting by Sarah Young; writing by Kate Holton; editing by Paul Sandle)