Yum Warns Sales in China Unlikely to Rise in 4Q

KFC parent Yum Brands Inc (NYSE:YUM) on Tuesday warned that sales at established restaurants in its top market of China are unlikely to rebound in the fourth quarter, as it had expected, and its shares tumbled 6.5 percent in extended trading.

Yum's China same-restaurant sales fell 11 percent in the third quarter, as the company grappled with the after-effects of a food safety scare and bird flu outbreak.

Those important sales dropped a steeper-than-expected 11 percent in September. The fourth quarter of the company's China division has four months.

Based on the disappointing sales results from China, and a higher than expected full-year tax rate, Yum now expects a high-single to low-double-digit percentage full-year earnings per share decline versus the prior year. It previously had expected a mid-single-digit percentage decline in earnings per share. Both estimates exclude special items.

Shares in Yum fell $4.67 in extended trading to $67.

(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)