Yum Brands earned $1.56 a share in the third quarter, $0.06 better than expected, and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.75, up from $0.71 a year earlier. Revenue was $2.05B against $2.08B expected.

The weakness is at Taco Bell. Its division's same-store sales fell 4%, against a rise of 7% a year earlier, and system sales fell 2%, Yum's results release shows. CNBC reported that a cyclospora outbreak tied to iceberg lettuce cut traffic. Executives had said the weekend of July 18 was the worst for sales, CNBC said, and trends have improved since. Chris Turner, the chief executive, said Taco Bell U.S. has outpaced the quick-service industry on same-store sales since the end of September.

KFC held up better. Its division's system sales rose 6% excluding currency, same-store sales rose 1% and units rose 7%, with 955 gross new units, according to the release. Turner called it a record third quarter for KFC global unit development. Taco Bell International did better still, with system sales up 14% and same-store sales up 5%. Excluding Pizza Hut, Yum's overall same-store sales were flat, CNBC reported.

Pizza Hut is no longer part of the group. Yum sold the mainland China business to Yum China on August 7 and the rest of the world to LongRange Capital on September 1, so the quarter includes Pizza Hut only until those dates. The company said the sales produced a pretax gain of about $1.7B.

© Raydn · raydn.us