KFC, Pizza Hut operator Yum China says coronavirus has forced it to shut a third of its 9,200 stores in mainland China
- Shanghai-based company says 2020 sales and profit will be hit by outbreak
- Its total revenue for 2019 rose 4 per cent year on year to US$8.78 billion
Yum China Holdings, the Shanghai-based operator of Pizza Hut, KFC and Taco Bell restaurants in mainland China, has been forced to temporarily close about a third of its restaurants because of the coronavirus outbreak, it said overnight in a press release.
The company, which owns 9,200 stores in more than 1,300 cities in China, said its 2020 sales and profit would be hit by the outbreak, which has forced retailers ranging from Starbucks and McDonald’s to Nike and Adidas to shut stores, as part of efforts to contain its spread.
The outbreak had significantly impacted the company’s operations, it said in its fourth-quarter earnings report. “As a result of the outbreak, the company may experience operating losses for the first quarter of 2020, and if the sales trend continues, for the full year 2020.”
The Fortune 500 company’s New York Stock Exchange-listed shares fell more than 3 per cent on the news in after-hours trading overnight.
About 46 million people are in lockdown in China because of the coronavirus, which originated in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, and has killed more than 560 people and infected more than 28,000.
The company said it could not forecast when the restaurants would reopen. “Our top priority is the health and safety of our employees and customers. We have implemented various preventive measures across our restaurants and other workplaces to help protect our employees and customers,” Joey Wat, Yum China’s chief executive, said in the earnings report.
