Restaurant Brands New Zealand, the nation's largest fast food operator, said fourth quarter sales rose at a faster pace as it benefited from its new Carl's Jr. burger chain.
Sales rose 6.4 per cent to $77.6 million in the 12 weeks ended Feb. 24, up from a 4.5 per cent pace in the year earlier quarter, the Auckland-based company said in a statement. Annual sales rose 5.6 per cent to $329 million, compared with a 1.2 per cent pace the year earlier. That's ahead of the $326 million mean forecast of analysts polled by Reuters.
Restaurant Brands is tweaking its store mix in an effort to boost future earnings. The company is selling its regional and lower volume Pizza Hut stores to independent franchisees, closing unprofitable Starbucks Coffee outlets and has added burger chain Carl's Jr to better compete with rivals McDonald's Restaurants (NZ) and Burger King Corp.
Shares in Restaurant Brands advanced 1.8 per cent to $2.85 and have slipped 0.4 per cent so far this year. The stock has an average 'hold' rating according to analysts polled by Reuters.
Sales at fried chicken chain KFC continued to dominate sales, accounting for 73 per cent of revenue in the fourth quarter. KFC sales rose 5 per cent to $56.9 million, up from 1.8 per cent sales growth in the year earlier period, as it added one store taking the total to 90 and benefited from a new menu, Christmas promotional activity and the release of the Real Kahuna Burger.