Yum China grows sales despite Delta outbreaks
Net income increased 26% to US$990 million.
Yum China managed to grow its revenues by 19% last year to US$9.85 billion despite multiple waves of Delta variant outbreaks persisting throughout the fourth quarter.
In a statement, the company said its net income increased 26% to US$990 million from US$784 million in the prior year, primarily due to the increase in operating profit that was partially offset by loss from mark-to-market investments.
Same-store sales decreased just 1% year-on-year.
The KFC and Pizza Hut operator also added 1,282 stores, bringing its total network to 11,788 as of December 31, 2021.
Pizza Hut sales jumped 14% whilst KFC sales rose by 8%. On a same-store basis, sales increased 7% and fell 3% at KFC.
"The COVID-19 situation presented tremendous volatility to our operations. We delivered strong performance in the first half of the year when COVID-19 conditions were relatively stable. In the second half, our business was significantly affected by regional outbreaks and tighter public health measures. The fourth quarter was particularly challenging with multiple widespread outbreaks and also being the seasonally smallest quarter,” Yum China chief financial officer Andy Yeung said.
CEO Joey Wat added: "Looking ahead, we continue to face significant uncertainties from the COVID-19 situation and other headwinds from the external environment. But with our product innovation capabilities, world-class operational excellence and agility, I am confident that we will emerge from the pandemic even stronger than before. We are staying the course to reach our next milestone of 20,000 stores.”
“Our innovative store models are creating new opportunities, enabling us to penetrate further into lower-tier cities and expand more flexibly in higher-tier cities. We will continue to apply a disciplined and systematic approach in opening new stores to ensure profitable growth of the business,” she added.
