Yum China Reports Fourth Quarter Results, Increases Dividend by 23% and Steps Up 2024 Share Repurchases to $1.25 billion

SHANGHAI, Feb. 6, 2024

SHANGHAI, Feb. 6, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Yum China Holdings, Inc. (the "Company" or "Yum China") (NYSE: YUMC and HKEX: 9987) today reported unaudited results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2023.

 Fourth Quarter Highlights

• Total system sales grew 21% year over year excluding foreign currency translation ("F/X"). Growth was mainly attributable to 12% net new unit contribution⁽²⁾, 4% same-store sales growth and lapping temporary closures from the pandemic in the prior year.
• Opened 542 net new stores in the fourth quarter. Total stores reached 14,644 as of December 31, 2023. KFC reached 10,296 stores and Pizza Hut reached 3,312 stores.
• Total revenues increased 19% to $2.49 billion, or 21% excluding F/X.
• Operating profit grew 170% to $110 million. Core operating profit grew 324%.
• Restaurant margin expanded to 10.7%. Excluding items affecting comparability at the restaurant level – the impact from temporary relief and VAT deduction benefits in both years, restaurant margin expanded 170 basis points.
• Diluted EPS increased 77% to $0.23. Excluding Special Items as well as unfavorable impacts of $0.01 from F/X and $0.04 from the mark-to-market investment in Meituan, the increase was 164%.
• Foreign currency translation unfavorably impacted total revenues by $36 million, operating profit by $2 million and diluted EPS by $0.01.

Full Year Highlights

• Total system sales grew 21% excluding F/X. Growth was mainly attributable to 9% net new unit contribution, 7% same-store sales growth and lapping temporary closures from the pandemic in the prior year.
• Store count increased 13%, or 1,697 net new stores, exceeding the full-year net new store target.
• Total revenues were up 15% to $10.98 billion, or 21% excluding F/X.
• Operating profit grew 76% to $1.1 billion. Core operating profit grew 79%.
• Restaurant margin expanded to 16.3%. Excluding items affecting comparability at the restaurant level, restaurant margin expanded 270 basis points.
• Diluted EPS increased 89% to $1.97. Excluding Special Items as well as unfavorable impacts of $0.11 from F/X and $0.04 from the mark-to-market investment in Meituan, the increase was 101%.
• Foreign currency translation unfavorably impacted total revenues by $589 million, operating profit by $61 million and diluted EPS by $0.11.
• Shareholder returns through share repurchases and cash dividends increased 25% to $833 million.
• Digital sales⁽³⁾ exceeded $9.2 billion, with digital ordering accounted for approximately 89% of total company sales.
• Total membership of KFC and Pizza Hut exceeded 470 million, up 14% versus the prior year. Member sales accounted for approximately 65% of KFC and Pizza Hut's system sales in the aggregate.

(1) Core Operating Profit is defined as Operating Profit adjusted for Special Items, further excluding items affecting comparability and the impact of F/X. The Company uses Core Operating Profit for the purposes of evaluating the performance of its core operations. Please refer to "Reconciliation of Reported GAAP Results to Non-GAAP Measures" included in the accompanying tables of this release for further details.

(2) Net new unit contribution refers to sales contribution from net new stores.

(3) Digital sales refer to sales at company-owned stores where orderings were placed digitally. ARIVA.DE Börsen-Geflüster Werbung Weiter aufwärts? Kurzfristig positionieren in Yum China Holdings Inc ME8S1D Ask: 0,29 Hebel: 4,82 mit moderatem Hebel Zum Produkt Morgan Stanley Den Basisprospekt sowie die Endgültigen Bedingungen und die Basisinformationsblätter erhalten Sie hier: ME8S1D,. Beachten Sie auch die weiteren Hinweise zu dieser Werbung. Der Emittent ist berechtigt, Wertpapiere mit open end-Laufzeit zu kündigen. Kurse Yum China Holdings Inc 38,41 $ +2,81%

Increasing Dividends and Stepping Up Share Repurchases

• Yum China returned approximately $390 million to shareholders in the fourth quarter and $833 million for the full year through share repurchases and cash dividends. This stands as the highest full year return thus far in the Company's history.
• During the fourth quarter, the Company stepped up share repurchases, totaling 7.5 million shares of common stock for $336 million. In 2023 the Company repurchased 12.4 million shares, equivalent to about 3% of its total outstanding shares. As of December 31, 2023, approximately $1.5 billion remained available for future share repurchases under the current authorization program.
• The Company plans to significantly accelerate the return of value to its shareholders in 2024:
  - The board declared a 23% increase in cash dividend to $0.16 per share on Yum China's common stock, payable on March 26, 2024 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on March 5, 2024.
  - The Company plans to repurchase $1.25 billion of its common stock in 2024, through open market transactions in the U.S. and Hong Kong. This includes two primary components: (i) an aggregate repurchase amount of $750 million in 2024 under the Rule 10b5-1 of the United States Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act") in the U.S. and a similar program in Hong Kong; and (ii) an aggregate repurchase amount of $500 million in the first quarter of 2024 under the Rule 10b-18 of the Exchange Act in the U.S. and through similar transactions in Hong Kong.

Key Financial Results

	Fourth Quarter																	Full Year
									%/ppts Change																	%/ppts Change
	2023				2022				Reported				Ex F/X					2023				2022				Reported				Ex F/X
System Sales Growth (4) (%)		21				(4)			NM				NM						21				(5)			NM				NM
Same-Store Sales Growth (4) (%)		4				(4)			NM				NM						7				(7)			NM				NM
Operating Profit ($mn)		110				41				+170				+175					1,106				629				+76				+86
Adjusted Operating Profit (5) ($mn)		116				40				+193				+199					1,121				633				+77				+87
Core Operating Profit (5) (6) ($mn)		111				29			NM					+324					1,121				627			NM					+79
Net Income ($mn)		97				53				+81				+84					827				442				+87				+97
Adjusted Net Income (5) ($mn)		103				52				+96				+100					842				446				+89				+99
Diluted Earnings   Per Common Share ($)		0.23				0.13				+77				+85					1.97				1.04				+89				+100
Adjusted Diluted Earnings   Per Common Share (5) ($)		0.25				0.13				+92				+92 Werbung Mehr Nachrichten zur Yum China Holdings Inc Aktie kostenlos abonnieren E-Mail-Adresse Bitte überprüfe deine die E-Mail-Adresse. Benachrichtigungen von ARIVA.DE (Mit der Bestellung akzeptierst du die Datenschutzhinweise) -1 Vielen Dank, dass du dich für unseren Newsletter angemeldet hast. Du erhältst in Kürze eine E-Mail mit einem Aktivierungslink. Hinweis: ARIVA.DE veröffentlicht in dieser Rubrik Analysen, Kolumnen und Nachrichten aus verschiedenen Quellen. Die ARIVA.DE AG ist nicht verantwortlich für Inhalte, die erkennbar von Dritten in den „News“-Bereich dieser Webseite eingestellt worden sind, und macht sich diese nicht zu Eigen. Diese Inhalte sind insbesondere durch eine entsprechende „von“-Kennzeichnung unterhalb der Artikelüberschrift und/oder durch den Link „Um den vollständigen Artikel zu lesen, klicken Sie bitte hier.“ erkennbar; verantwortlich für diese Inhalte ist allein der genannte Dritte. Andere Nutzer interessierten sich auch für folgende News 04.05.24 - dpa-AFX Russland schreibt Selenskyj zur Fahndung aus 04.05.24 - dpa-AFX ROUNDUP: Berichte: Israel schickt keine Delegation nach Kairo zu Verhandlungen 04.05.24 - dpa-AFX US-Außenminister zu Gaza-Verhandlungen: Schwer zu verstehen, was Hamas denkt Neuer Gesetzesentwurf    Kommt nach der Cannabis-Neuregulierung nun eine komplette Legalisierung in USA?! weiterlesen» Anzeige wo-site-teaser-box-16854_site-teaser-box_2024-05-05_09%253A00%253A00_2024-05-06_09%253A00%253A59