Yum Brands earnings beat on Taco bell, KFC boost

[August 01, 2019]  (Reuters) - Yum Brands Inc <YUM.N> beat Wall Street expectations for quarterly profit and sales on Thursday, as the restaurant chain operator benefited from better-than-expected growth at KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell.

Yum has invested in delivery services by picking up a stake in GrubHub Inc <GRUB.N>, while investing in online ordering software company QuikOrder to boost delivery speed and compete better in a crowded restaurant industry.

Taco Bell's same-store sales grew 7%, well above expectations of a 3.75% growth; while KFC grew 6%, topping estimates of a 3.68% rise, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Pizza Hut, a weak spot for the company in the past few years, grew for the first time in five quarters, posting a better-than-expected 2% rise in same-store sales. Overall, the company's sales from restaurants open at least a year rose 5%, beating Wall Street expectations.

"Second-quarter results maintained early year momentum and helped us to exceed our already high expectations for a strong first half of 2019," Chief Executive Officer Greg Creed said in a statement.

Excluding items, the company earned 93 cents per share in the second quarter ended June 30, trouncing expectations by 6 cents.

Yum's total revenue fell 4% to $1.31 billion, hurt by the company's move to refranchise its restaurants which replaces sales with royalty fees. Analysts were expecting total revenue of $1.28 billion.

Yum shares rose 2.5 pct to $115.35 in light premarket trade.

(Reporting by Nivedita Balu and Aishwarya Venugopal in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernard Orr and Anil D'Silva)

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