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KFC, Pizza Hut operator Yum China reports 54 per cent profit drop after Covid-19 curbs kept diners at bay
- The fast-food giant said its earnings in the three months ended June 30 came to US$83 million, down 54 per cent from the same period last year
- ‘We have been battling the pandemic for the past two and a half years. The second quarter was the most challenging to date,’ says CEO
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Yum China Holdings, the owner of the KFC and Pizza Hut restaurant chains in China, took a beating from the mainland’s stringent Covid-19 curbs as its net profit dropped by more than half from a year earlier.
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The fast-food giant said on Friday that its earnings in the three months ended June 30 came to US$83 million, down 54 per cent from the same period last year.
Its performance still beat the company’s forecast in May when it warned investors of a potential net loss amid a flare-up in the pandemic which prompted Shanghai to impose a two-month citywide lockdown.
From April to May, 2,500 of Yum China’s restaurants, about a fifth of the total, were either temporarily closed or barred from serving dine-in customers because of the zero-Covid strategy.
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“We have been battling the pandemic for the past two and a half years. The second quarter was the most challenging to date,” said the company’s chief executive, Joey Wat.
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At a results briefing, Wat said the business outlook in the coming months remained uncertain as a resurgence of the coronavirus in cities like Shenzhen and Xi’an continued to disrupt operations.
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