US fastfood giant Yum! Brands has reported higher profit and revenues for the third quarter and said it was raising its full-year earnings estimate.
The company reported net income of US$214m, or 72 cents per share, for the third quarter to 3 September, compared to $185m, or 61 cents per share, for the year-ago period. Total revenues were $2.24bn, compared to $2.18bn in the third quarter of the previous year.
The company said worldwide system same-store sales grew by 2% in the third quarter compared to the year-ago quarter, while systemwide US same-store sales increased 4%.
David Novak, chairman and CEO, said that based on the company’s third-quarter results it is raising its 2005 full-year EPS estimate to $2.64 or 12% growth prior to special items.
“We continue to aggressively expand outside the United States and expect to exceed our full-year target of over 1,100 new restaurants. This includes a record number of new-restaurant openings from our China division where we fully expect to exceed our 2005 target of 375 openings. We are especially pleased that our third-quarter US blended same-store sales increased 4%, lapping our strongest quarter last year, which is the best performance in five years. We expect 4% US blended growth for the full-year 2005,” Novak said.

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