(Reuters) – Yum Brands Inc <YUM.N> posted a smaller-than-expected drop in comparable sales and beat profit estimates on Thursday, helped by strong online sales at its Taco Bell chain as COVID-19 pandemic fears kept customers at home.
Fast-food restaurants, including rivals McDonald’s Corp <MCD.N> and Chipotle Mexican Grill <CMG.N>, have benefited from earlier digital investments, especially when dining rooms were closed at the height of the health crisis.
“For the second consecutive quarter, digital sales increased by more than $1 billion over the prior year and set a single quarter record of $4 billion,” Chief Executive Officer David Gibbs said.
Net income rose about 11% to $283 million in the third quarter, as Yum recorded $8 million of pre-tax income due to the change in fair value of its investment in food delivery firm Grubhub Inc <GRUB.N>.
Yum said it sold its Grubhub stake for $206 million in the reported quarter, more than two years after the company made a $200 million investment to improve its delivery services.
Grubhub is expected to be bought by European online food-ordering company Just Eat Takeaway.com NV <TKWY.AS> for $6.9 billion in the first half of 2021, pending approval from its shareholders and regulators.
Comparable sales fell 2% for the KFC owner in the quarter ended Sept. 30, but beat the average analyst estimate of a 3.74% slide, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
Taco Bell posted comparable sales growth of 3%, well above the estimate of a 1.75% rise.
At Pizza Hut, Yum’s pizza chain that has long been grappling with stiff competition from Domino’s Pizza and others, comparable sales were down 3% and slipped 4% at KFC.
Excluding one-time items, the company earned $1.01 per share, compared with the estimate of 80 cents.
Total revenue rose about 8% to $1.45 billion.
(Reporting by Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli, Bernard Orr)
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