Restaurant Brands’ total sales for the 12 months surges by 28.3%, compared to the prior year, which ended at $497.2 million last 27 February.
$97.2 million was generated by the 42 KFC outlets in Australia, adding to New Zealand operations that has generated sales of $400 million, up 3.2%.
Restaurant Brands acquired 42 KFC stores in New South Wales, Australia. The 42 acquired stores contributed A$92.5 million in total sales in the ten months since acquisition.
Total sales of A$25.8 million (NZD$27.1 million) were made during the fourth quarter, which is an increase of 8% on a same store basis over the equivalent period last year.
Total company store numbers were up by 39 on the equivalent period last year to 212 with the Australian acquisition, off-set by Pizza Hut store sales to independent franchisees. Store numbers remained steady at 42 during the quarter.
Group same store sales for the year were +3% with Pizza Hut and KFC New Zealand both up 3.6% and Starbucks Coffee up 4.5%.
The company finished the year strongly with fourth quarter sales of $121.6 million, an increase of 36.8% or $32.7 million on the equivalent period last year. There was positive same store sales growth for all brands, up 6% in total, led by KFC New Zealand at +7.1%, Starbucks Coffee up 6.6% and Pizza Hut up 1.6%.
Year to date sales for KFC New Zealand were $296.5 million, an increase of 4.9% on a total basis and up 3.6% on a same store basis.
Total sales in the fourth quarter for KFC New Zealand were $70.7 million, up 9% or $5.8 million on the equivalent period last year. This is rolling over an increase of 4.2% the year before.
Same store sales for the quarter were also up strongly by +7.1%. Store numbers remained steady at 92 during the quarter.
Year to date sales for Restaurant Brands owned Pizza Hut stores were $40.5 million, an increase of 3.6% on a same store basis.
Total quarterly sales for Restaurant Brands, owned Pizza Hut stores, were $9 million, a decrease of 9.2% on the equivalent period last year, due to having four fewer stores as the company continued its strategy of selling stores to independent franchisees. Same store sales for the quarter increased by 1.6%.
Company owned stores reduced by one during the quarter to 35 versus 39 in the prior year with the Invercargill store sold to an independent franchisee. There are now 58 Pizza Hut stores operated by independent franchisees with one new store in Hastings opened during the quarter. This has brought the total network to 93 stores. As a brand, the pizza fast food company continued to grow strongly with the total network sales for the quarter up 6% on prior year.
Full year sales for Starbucks Coffee were $26.7 million, up 4.5% on a same store basis. The popular coffee chain’s total sales for the fourth quarter were $6.6 million, a slight decrease on the equivalent period last year, but with one less store. Same store sales for the quarter were up 6.6% (rolling over a 5.5% increase in the prior year). There were 24 stores trading at the end of the quarter, down one versus the previous year.
On Wednesday, Restaurant Brands announced plans to split its corporate structure into three geographical divisions of New Zealand, Australia and Hawaii, as it awaits settlement on its acquisition of Pacific Island Restaurants, the largest fast-food operator in the US state with 82 Taco Bell and Pizza Hut stores.
