KFC Operator Yum China Posts Profit, Revenue Gains on New Store Openings

What’s new: Yum China Holdings Inc., operator of KFC and Pizza Hut restaurants in China, reported its revenue rose 11% year-on-year in last year’s fourth quarter to $2.26 billion, while its net income rose 68% to $151 million.

The company also reported its same-store sales fell 4% year-on-year, including a 4% drop at its KFC restaurants and a 5% drop for Pizza Huts, according to its results announced on Wednesday in the U.S.

Yum China said it opened 1,165 new stores in China in 2020, nearly half of those in the fourth quarter alone, bringing its total to 10,506 in a market spread out across more than 1,500 cities.

What’s the background: Like other major retailers, Yum China was hit hard in the first half of the year when many of its restaurants were forced to close or take other restrictive measures at the height of China’s Covid-19 epidemic. But since then it has gradually recovered as the nation has brought its outbreak under control.

The company noted its sales benefitted in October from the weeklong National Day holiday, but that November and December brought pressured from regional outbreaks of the virus in cities like Qingdao, Beijing and Dalian.

Yum China is the oldest Western fast food company to operate in China. It has been in the market for more than 30 years, and is its largest operator. Accordingly, its results are often seen as a broader barometer for China’s restaurant sector.

Quick Takes are condensed versions of China-related stories for fast news you can use.

Contact reporter Yang Ge (geyang@caixin.com)

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