KFC outlets in China continue to hamper performance of the parent company Yum! Brands Inc.’s system of more than 5,400 restaurants in the country. The company's same-store sales last month in China decreased 19 per cent, it indicated in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Mark Brandau reported in Nation's Restaurant News. KFC same-store sales in China declined an estimated 25 per cent, more than offsetting a gain of 12 per cent at Pizza Hut Casual Dining, which has slightly fewer than 1,000 locations in China.
As it has stated previously, the company expects negative publicity surrounding this year’s avian-influenza outbreak in China to dissipate and allow for a return to same-store sales growth by the end of the year. “The impact of prior instances of avian flu in China has been short-lived, and based on current trends, we believe this will again be the case. We expect that KFC China same-store sales will continue to recover over the course of the year and be positive in the fourth quarter,” Yum! Brands said in the filing.