(Reuters) – KFC parent Yum Brands Inc (YUM.N) raised its full-year outlook after sales at established restaurants in China held up, despite cooling economic growth in the restaurant company’s largest market.
Shares of Yum, whose other chains include Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, jumped 3.6 percent after the company also reported third-quarter profit that topped Wall Street’s expectations.
Yum’s same-restaurant sales in China were up 6 percent for the quarter, in line with the gain analysts polled by Consensus Metrix expected.
The company’s net income for the quarter, ended September 8, rose to $471 million, or $1 per share, from $383 million, or 80 cents per share, a year earlier.
Excluding a gain from refranchising restaurants, Yum earned 99 cents per share in the latest quarter, topping analysts’ average forecast by 2 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Based on that performance, Louisville, Kentucky-based Yum now expects to earn at least $3.24 per share for the full year, up from the $3.22 it previously forecast.
(Reporting By Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)
