Yum Brands Inc said November sales at established KFC restaurnts in China, its top market, failed to grow despite a successful half-priced chicken promotion, and it forecast a return to earnings per share growth in 2014.
China accounts for more than half of Yum's operating profit. Its shares have risen 14 percent since the start of November on expectations that China's KFC restaurant sales are poised for a rebound.
Yum's overall China same-restaurant sales rose 1 percent in November, including flat sales at KFC and a gain of 7 percent at Pizza Hut Casual Dining. Yum is the biggest Western restaurant operator in China and had almost 4,500 KFC outlets there at the end of its third quarter.
Nine analysts, on average, had expected a 3.1 percent sales decline at KFC and an 8.8 percent rise at Pizza Hut, according to Consensus Metrix.
The limited-time half-priced bucket promotion yielded a roughly 16 percent increase in KFC China same-restaurant sales for the first 10 days of November. KFC same-restaurant sales fell about 8 percent for the rest of the month, Yum said in a statement.
Source: reuters
