People wear facial mask walking past a KFC restaurant, which has resumed its outdoor dining area. For the COVID-19 epidemic situation is under control in China, most of shopping malls and stores are resuming business.
Zhang Peng | Getty Images
Yum Brands on Wednesday reported that its first-quarter same-store sales fell 7% as the coronavirus pandemic weighed on Pizza Hut and KFC’s sales.
Shares of the company rose less than 1% in premarket trading.
Here’s what the company reported:
- Earnings per share: 64 cents, adjusted
- Revenue: $1.26 billion
Yum reported fiscal first-quarter net income of $83 million, or 27 cents per share, down from $262 million, or 83 cents per share, a year earlier. The company’s minority stake in Grubhub trimmed earnings per share by 6 cents.
Excluding refranchising gains, costs of acquiring Habit Burger Grill and other items, Yum earned 64 cents per share.
Net sales rose 1% to $1.26 billion.
Wall Street anticipated earnings per share of 65 cents on revenue of $1.20 billion, based on a survey of analysts by Refinitiv.
KFC’s same-store sales shrank 8% in the quarter. More than a quarter of the fried chicken chain’s systemwide sales come from China, where it was forced to close many locations temporarily to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
Pizza Hut, the laggard of Yum’s portfolio, reported even steeper same-store sales declines of 11% as sales in the U.S. and China fell.
Yum China, which was spun off in 2016, said on Tuesday that the decline in same-store sales is slowing as consumers in China adjust to a new normal. The KFC and Pizza Hut licensee said that about 99% of its stores in China are either partially or fully open.
Taco Bell was the only brand to report positive same-store sales growth during the quarter. In mid-March, the chain began offering only drive-thru service, with takeout allowed if the location did not have a drive-thru lane. Some restaurants began opening later, effectively removing breakfast from the menu.