Restaurant Brands shares near 13-year record on higher forecast

Thursday 1st July 2010

Restaurant Brands NZ has boosted its forecast profit for the financial year, helping its shares near a 13-year high.

Chairman Ted van Arkel told shareholders at their annual meeting that the company expects to post a net profit, excluding non-trading items, of between $24 million and $26 million this year.

The shares gained 2.2% to $2.35 today, just two cents shy of a new 13-year high when the company first started trading.

"Indications are that the New Zealand economy is starting to gain some traction after the major international crises, but there are other storm clouds that have not fully dissipated and some macroeconomic influences such as the forthcoming GST rate increases which may have some impact on our sales," van Arkel said.

"While I do not generally make a habit of commenting on the share price, I think it would be remiss of me not to note the substantial improvement in shareholder value Restaurant Brands' securities have delivered over the past 12 months."

Restaurant Brands operates the Pizza Hut, Starbuck's and KFC brands in New Zealand.

Under the guidance of chief executive Russell Creedy, Restaurant Brands has managed to turn around its underperforming Pizza Hut stores and continued to build on the success of its KFC stores, which made a record $54.3 million in the three months through March.

Van Arkel said the company will keep lifting its payout to shareholders where appropriate, with last year's dividend at 12.5 cents, up 75% from the year before.

Businesswire.co.nz

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