Aussie fast food chains boost Kiwi group’s revenue

KFC,YUM BrandsFood chain Restaurant Brands has met its sales forecast for 2018, with revenue rising 49 per cent to $740.8 million, as acquisitions in Hawaii and Australia bolstered earnings.

In June last year, chief executive Russel Creedy said the company expected to “comfortably” exceed revenue of $700 million in the 2018 financial year and it was aiming to reach $1 billion in annual sales.

On Thursday, the company reported it had done that with fourth-quarter earnings, for the 12 weeks ending February 26, at $181.3 million, a 49 per cent lift on the same period in 2017.

Its full-year results will be announced next month.

Ted van Arkel, Restaurant Brands’ chairman, expressed the board’s satisfaction with this result which was a further milestone towards the company’s $1 billion annual sales objective.

In New Zealand, Restaurant Brands runs KFC, Pizza Hut, Carl’s Jr and Starbucks Coffee, while in the last 18 months it has added Hawaii, where it operates 82 Taco Bell and Pizza Hut stores, and Australia, where it operates 61 KFC outlets in New South Wales.

KFC New Zealand sales rose 7.8 per cent to $319.6m in the year, up 6.2 per cent on a same-store basis, with fourth-quarter sales rising 7.1 per cent to $75.7m, up 5 per cent on a same-store basis.

The US operations had fourth-quarter sales of US$28.6 (NZ$39.4m) and have contributed US$119.8m in the 51 weeks since they were bought.

In Australia, annual sales rose 50.9 per cent on a total store basis to A$139.5m (NZ$151.8m), up 4.9 per cent on a same-store basis. It started the year with 42 stores and bought or opened 19 during the year.

Sales at the 36 company-owned Pizza Hut New Zealand outlets rose 1.5 per cent annually to $41.1m, up 8.1 per cent on a same-store basis.

Starbucks Coffee sales struggled, down 3.3 per cent annually to $25.8m though they rose 6.3 per cent on a same-store basis.

Carl’s Jr sales dropped 3.9 per cent to $34.9m in the year, and were down 2.6 per cent on a same-store basis, with the number of outlets unchanged at 19.

The shares last traded at $7.20 and have gained 34 per cent in the past 12 months.

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