The marine division of Rolls-Royce, which services the offshore energy industry, said revenue was up, but only modest growth was expected this year.

The company reported a 9 percent gain in revenue for the year ending Dec. 31. Chief Executive Warren East said the company outperformed its expectations, though headwinds remain in the overall business economy.

"While we have made good progress in our cost-cutting and efficiency programs, more needs to be done to ensure we drive sustainable margin improvements within the business," he said in a statement.

East warned the marine arm of the company, which provides services for the offshore oil and gas sector, remains under pressure from last year's decline in spending in energy. Already, the company is reeling from penalties paid to settle bribery charges in Brazil, Britain and the United States.

On a separate issue, the company denied making back-door agreements to move into the Iranian economy in December, just as the new U.S. president-elect was vowing to take a more hawkish stance on Tehran. With sanctions pressures easing because of multilateral agreement on nuclear issues, Iran has opened the doors to several European companies.

Spending, meanwhile, has returned to the oil and gas sector and energy companies are returning to work in some places, like the United States, suppressed by last year's market downturn. Rolls-Royce said, however, that it expected only "modest" improvements for 2017 and cash flow would be relatively unchanged.

The company in December announced plans to cut 800 jobs, on top of the 1,000 eliminated in early 2016.