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Yum! Brands Reports Solid First-Quarter System Sales Growth of 8%; Same-Store Sales Growth of 4%; GAAP Operating Profit Decline of (22)%; Core Operating Profit Growth of 12%

By: Yum! Brands |  0 Shares     135 Reads

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - (BUSINESS WIRE) - May 01, 2019 - Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE: YUM) today reported results for the first-quarter ended March 31, 2019. Worldwide system sales excluding foreign currency translation grew 8%, with 7% net-new units and 4% same-store sales growth. First-quarter GAAP EPS was $0.83, a decrease of (35)%. First-quarter EPS excluding Special Items was $0.82, a decrease of (8)%.

Greg Creed Comments

Greg Creed, CEO, said, “The third and final year of our transformation is underway and I’m thrilled with the progress towards our commitment to becoming a more focused, more franchised, and more efficient growth company. First-quarter results were a solid start to the year, reflecting particular strength at the KFC division and Taco Bell U.S. With this quarter, we have a healthy foundation to help us achieve our 2019 guidance. Through the lens of our four growth drivers, we continue to leverage our unprecedented scale and expand our capabilities with the goal of improving franchise economics and accelerating growth. We remain confident in our enviable business model and our commitment to lasting growth that

First-Quarter Highlights

• Worldwide system sales excluding foreign currency translation grew 8%, with KFC at 9%, Taco Bell at 7%, and Pizza Hut at 7%. Adjusting the prior year base to include Telepizza, system sales growth excluding foreign currency translation would have been 7% worldwide and 1% for the Pizza Hut Division.
• We opened 310 net units in the quarter. On a year-over-year basis, which takes into account the strategic alliance with Telepizza in the fourth-quarter 2018, net new unit growth was 7%.
• We repurchased 1.1 million shares totaling $106 million at an average price of $94.
• We reflected the change in fair value of our investment in Grubhub by recording $20 million of pre-tax investment expense, resulting in a negative ($0.05) impact in EPS. Our Grubhub investment unfavorably impacted year-over-year EPS growth by ($0.21).
• Foreign currency translation unfavorably impacted divisional operating profit by $19 million.

_{All comparisons are versus the same period a year ago.
System sales growth figures exclude foreign currency translation ("F/X") and core operating profit growth figures exclude F/X and Special Items. Special Items are not allocated to any segment and therefore only impact worldwide GAAP results. See reconciliation of Non-GAAP Measurements to GAAP Results within this release for further details.}

KFC DIVISION

• KFC Division opened 372 new restaurants in 46 countries.
• Operating margin increased 8.1 percentage points driven by refranchising and same-store sales growth.
• Foreign currency translation unfavorably impacted operating profit by $16 million.

PIZZA HUT DIVISION

• Pizza Hut Division opened 172 new restaurants in 39 countries.
• Operating margin increased 5.1 percentage points driven by refranchising and lower franchise and property expense due to lower advertising spend associated with the U.S. Transformation Agreement.
• Foreign currency translation unfavorably impacted operating profit by $3 million.

TACO BELL DIVISION

• Taco Bell Division opened 62 new restaurants, including 12 new international restaurants.
• Operating margin increased 2.5 percentage points driven by refranchising and same-store sales growth.

Other Items

• Disclosures pertaining to outstanding debt in our Restricted Group capital structure will be provided at the time of the filing of the first-quarter Form 10-Q.

Conference Call

Yum! Brands, Inc. will host a conference call to review the company's financial performance and strategies at 8:15 a.m. Eastern Time May 1, 2019. The number is 877/815-2029 for U.S. callers and 706/645-9271 for international callers, conference ID 2388316.

The call will be available for playback beginning at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time May 1, 2019 through June 7, 2019. To access the playback, dial 855/859-2056 in the U.S. and 404/537-3406 internationally, conference ID 2388316.

The webcast and the playback can be accessed via the website by visiting Yum! Brands' website, investors.yum.com/events-and-presentations and selecting “Q1 2019 Yum! Brands, Inc. Earnings Call.”

Additional Information Online

Quarter end dates for each division, restaurant count details, definitions of terms and Restricted Group financial information are available at investors.yum.com. Reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures are included within this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This announcement may contain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. We intend all forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts and by the use of forward-looking words such as “expect,” “expectation,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “may,” “could,” “intend,” “belief,” “plan,” “estimate,” “target,” “predict,” “likely,” “seek,” “project,” “model,” “ongoing,” “will,” “should,” “forecast,” “outlook” or similar terminology. These statements are based on and reflect our current expectations, estimates, assumptions and/or projections, our perception of historical trends and current conditions, as well as other factors that we believe are appropriate and reasonable under the circumstances. Forward-looking statements are neither predictions nor guarantees of future events, circumstances or performance and are inherently subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those indicated by those statements. There can be no assurance that our expectations, estimates, assumptions and/or projections, including with respect to the future earnings and performance or capital structure of Yum! Brands, will prove to be correct or that any of our expectations, estimates or projections will be achieved.

Numerous factors could cause our actual results and events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements, including, without limitation: food safety and food borne-illness issues; health concerns arising from outbreaks of viruses or other diseases; the success of our franchisees and licensees; the success of our transformation initiatives, including our refranchising strategy; our significant exposure to the Chinese market; changes in economic and political conditions in countries and territories outside of the U.S. where we operate; our ability to protect the integrity and security of individually identifiable data of our customers and employees; our ability to successfully implement technology initiatives; our increasing dependence on digital commerce platforms and information technology systems; the impact of social media; our ability to secure and maintain distribution and adequate supply to our restaurants; the success of our development strategy in emerging markets; changes in commodity, labor and other operating costs; pending or future litigation and legal claims or proceedings; changes in or noncompliance with government regulations, including labor standards and anti-bribery or anti-corruption laws; tax matters, including changes in tax laws or disagreements with taxing authorities; consumer preferences and perceptions of our brands; changes in consumer discretionary spending and general economic conditions; competition within the retail food industry; and risks relating to our significant amount of indebtedness. In addition, other risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently believe to be immaterial could affect the accuracy of any such forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements should be evaluated with the understanding of their inherent uncertainty.

The forward-looking statements included in this announcement are only made as of the date of this announcement and we disclaim any obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. You should consult our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (including the information set forth under the captions “Risk Factors” and “Forward-Looking Statements” in our most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q) for additional detail about factors that could affect our financial and other results.

Yum! Brands, Inc., based in Louisville, Kentucky, has over 48,000 restaurants in more than 145 countries and territories primarily operating the company’s brands -- KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell -- global leaders of the chicken, pizza and Mexican-style food categories. Worldwide, the Yum! Brands system opens over eight new restaurants per day on average, making it a leader in global retail development. In 2018, Yum! Brands was named to the Dow Jones Sustainability North America Index and ranked among the top 100 Best Corporate Citizens by Corporate Responsibility Magazine. In 2019, Yum! Brands was named to the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index for the second consecutive year.

Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Measurements to GAAP Results

(amounts in millions, except per share amounts)

(unaudited)

In addition to the results provided in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles in the United States of America ("GAAP"), the Company provides the following non-GAAP measurements.

• System sales and System sales excluding the impacts of foreign currency translation ("FX"). System sales include the results of all restaurants regardless of ownership, including Company-owned and franchise restaurants. Sales of franchise restaurants typically generate ongoing franchise and license fees for the Company at a rate of 3% to 6% of sales. Franchise restaurant sales are not included in Company sales on the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income; however, the franchise and license fees are included in the Company’s revenues. We believe System sales growth is useful to investors as a significant indicator of the overall strength of our business as it incorporates our primary revenue drivers, Company and franchise same-store sales as well as net unit growth.
• Diluted Earnings Per Share ("EPS") excluding Special Items (as defined below);
• Effective Tax Rate excluding Special Items;
• Core Operating Profit. Core Operating Profit excludes Special Items and FX and we use Core Operating Profit for the purposes of evaluating performance internally.

These non-GAAP measurements are not intended to replace the presentation of our financial results in accordance with GAAP. Rather, the Company believes that the presentation of these non-GAAP measurements provide additional information to investors to facilitate the comparison of past and present operations.

Special Items are not included in any of our Division segment results as the Company does not believe they are indicative of our ongoing operations due to their size and/or nature. Our chief operating decision maker does not consider the impact of Special Items when assessing segment performance. The Special Items are described in (b), (c) and (d) in the accompanying notes.

Certain non-GAAP measurements are presented excluding the impact of FX. These amounts are derived by translating current year results at prior year average exchange rates. We believe the elimination of the FX impact provides better year-to-year comparability without the distortion of foreign currency fluctuations.

2019 EPS GUIDANCE

We have also provided certain forward-looking guidance using non-GAAP measurements. Specifically, in connection with the announcement of our strategic transformation initiatives in 2016, we announced a 2019 Diluted EPS target of at least $3.75 (“2019 Adjusted EPS Target”). This 2019 Adjusted EPS Target was intended to exclude:

• Any impact from changes in FX rates (i.e. FX rates were assumed not to change from those in place when we determined the 2019 Adjusted EPS Target in 2016)
• Any Special Items? and
• The impact of the 53rd week in 2019 for our U.S. businesses and certain international subsidiaries that report on a period calendar?

Additionally, we acquired an interest in Grubhub common stock subsequent to our original determination of the 2019 Adjusted EPS Target and thus are excluding any resulting mark-to-market adjustment for that investment from the 2019 Adjusted EPS target.

At this time, we are unable to forecast any Special Items or Grubhub mark-to-market adjustments for the remainder of 2019 beyond amounts already recognized through March 31, 2019. The full year forecasted impacts of FX and the 53rd week and actual year-to-date impacts of Special Items and Grubhub mark-to-market adjustments on our 2019 Adjusted EPS Target are shown below. This impact of FX has been determined as the difference in translating our current local currency forecasts for 2019 at current FX forward rates and FX rates at the time the 2019 Adjusted EPS target was determined in 2016.

The above tables reconcile segment information, which is based on management responsibility, with our Condensed Consolidated Summary of Results. Corporate and unallocated expenses comprise items that are not allocated to segments for performance reporting purposes.

The Corporate and Unallocated column in the above tables includes, among other amounts, all amounts that we have deemed Special Items. See Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Measurements to GAAP Results.

Contacts:

Analysts are invited to contact:
Keith Siegner, Vice President, Investor Relations, Corporate Strategy and Treasurer at 888/298-6986

Members of the media are invited to contact:
Virginia Ferguson, Director, Public Relations, at 502/874-8200

SOURCE Yum! Brands, Inc

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