(Reuters) – Yum Brands Inc <YUM.N> on Thursday beat Wall Street expectations for quarterly same-restaurant sales and profit, as consumers ordered more comfort foods such as pizzas and tacos online while under coronavirus lockdowns, sending its shares about 2% higher.
Restaurants have modified the way they serve their customers, launching new features to ensure safety along with fast and contactless delivery, as online orders surge.
For Yum, which operates about 50,000 restaurants globally, online sales reached an all-time high, said Chief Executive Officer David Gibbs.
“Digital sales were a big driver of the dramatic improvement in sales from the initial impact of COVID-19.”
Sales at Pizza Hut and Taco Bell stores open for more than a year fell 9% and 8%, respectively. Analysts were expecting a decline of 11.98% for Pizza Hut and a 11.99% dip at Taco Bell, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
However, KFC sales slumped 21%, compared with the 17.32% fall forecast by analysts.
Overall, same-store sales for the second quarter ended June 30 fell 15%, compared with analysts’ expectation of a 16.02% slump.
Net income fell about 29% to $206 million. Excluding one-time items, the company earned 82 cents per share, beating the estimate of 54 cents.
(Reporting by Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)
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