Yum! Brands Inc. Reports Full Year 2009 EPS Growth of 13% or $2.17 Per Share, Excluding Special Items
	Worldwide revenue declined 4% due to the negative impact from foreign currency translation and refranchising. Excluding these items, revenue increased 5%.
Yum! Brands Inc. (NYSE: YUM) today reported results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 26, 2009. 'Given the tough macro environment, I am especially pleased to announce 2009 was another strong year of performance as we continue our quest to make Yum! Brands 'The Defining Global Company That Feeds the World.' FULL-YEAR HIGHLIGHTS ● Worldwide system sales grew 1% prior to foreign currency translation. ● Worldwide revenue declined 4% due to the negative impact from foreign currency translation and refranchising. Excluding these items, revenue increased 5%. ● International development continued at a strong pace with 1,467 new restaurants including a record 509 new units in mainland China and 898 new units in Yum! Restaurants International (YRI). ● Worldwide operating profit grew 9% prior to foreign currency translation, including growth of 23% in China, 5% in YRI and 1% in the U.S. After negative foreign currency translation, worldwide operating profit grew 6%. ● Worldwide restaurant margin improved by 1.7 percentage points driven by China and the U.S. ● EPS growth was negatively impacted by approximately $0.07 per share due to foreign currency translation that was fully offset by lower interest expense and a lower tax rate. ● An industry leader with return on invested capital (ROIC) of 20%. Story continues below ↓ Advertisement FOURTH-QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS ● System sales growth of +8% in mainland China and +2% in YRI was offset by a 7% decline in the U.S. resulting in a 2% decline worldwide prior to foreign currency translation, and a 1% decline after a benefit from foreign currency translation. ● Worldwide restaurant margin improved by 0.8 percentage points. ● Worldwide operating profit was flat prior to foreign currency translation with growth of 24% in China and 9% in YRI, offset by a 23% decline in the United States. After a benefit from foreign currency translation, worldwide operating profit grew 2%. David C. Novak, Chairman and CEO, said, 'Given the tough macro environment, I am especially pleased to announce 2009 was another strong year of performance as we continue our quest to make Yum! Brands 'The Defining Global Company That Feeds the World.' We reported 13% EPS growth, marking the 8th straight year that we exceeded our annual target of at least 10% growth and achieved at least 13%. Our growth in 2009 was driven primarily by a record 509 new units in mainland China and 898 new units in Yum! Restaurants International. At the same time, we invested heavily in our future growth drivers including infrastructure in emerging markets and developing incremental sales layers that will make our unit economics even stronger over time. 'We are in the enviable position of having powerful brands and unmatched unit economics in China as evidenced by KFC's $1.4 million average unit volumes and restaurant margins of over 20%. There is no question we are in the early innings of profitable expansion in this massive and rapidly growing economy. We are also making progress creating major new growth vehicles by investing in India, Russia and France and beginning to develop Taco Bell into a truly global brand. At the same time, we are aggressively developing incremental sales layers including breakfast, new beverages and expanded protein options. Our goal is to provide more meaningful menu variety to our customers and leverage our assets throughout the day. We are putting these same building blocks in place to drive long-term growth at Taco Bell in the U.S. where we are also making steady progress transforming and restructuring our Pizza Hut and KFC businesses. 'In 2010, we once again expect to achieve our annual target of at least 10% EPS growth. Our profitable international new unit development will be a key driver of our growth as we execute against our obvious short-term challenge of driving same-store-sales growth. I am confident that our teams around the world will continue to build on our track record of consistent double-digit EPS growth.'