Yum issues 2009 earnings forecast, backs 2008 view
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Yum Brands Inc (YUM.N), the parent of Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC, forecast on Thursday 2009 earnings per share growth of at least 10 percent and backed its 2008 earnings forecast, sending its shares up 1.4 percent.
Yum, which excludes special items from its EPS guidance, expects 2008 earnings to grow 12 percent from 2007.
Fast-food restaurants such as those Yum operates have been the industry's best performers. Their speed and low prices have made them more resilient to the consumer spending downturn spawned by the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
So far this quarter, Yum said system-wide same-store sale are up 4 percent in mainland China, up 4 percent in its international division and up 2 percent in the United States.
Yum gets more than half of its sales from outside the United States. Like McDonald's Corp (MCD.N), it has depended on overseas markets for growth.
Yum shares, which closed up 67 cents at $27.71, rose to $28.10 in extended trading.
(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein; Editing by Andre Grenon)
