Yum China Holdings, Inc.
(the "Company" or "
Yum China
") (NYSE: YUMC and HKEX: 9987) today reported that its Board of Directors (the "Board") has increased the Company's share repurchase authorization by
$1 billion
to an aggregate of
$2.4 billion
.
From 2017 to
March 16, 2022
, the Company repurchased approximately 24 million shares of common stock for
$971 million
, including approximately 4 million shares repurchased for
$188 million
quarter-to-date 2022. This increase brings the total remaining authorization to approximately
$1.4 billion
.
"The Board's approval to expand our share repurchase program reflects the strength of our balance sheet and our ability to generate strong cash flow. From 2017 to 2021, we generated operating cash flow of
$5.6 billion
and free cash flow of
$3.2 billion
[1]. To date, we have returned approximately
$1.7 billion
of capital to shareholders in the form of cash dividends and share repurchases. Despite the significant impact from COVID-19 in 2021 and stepped-up capital investments to drive organic growth, we generated operating cash flow of
$1.1 billion
and free cash flow of
$442 million
[2]," said
Joey Wat
, CEO of
Yum China
. "We are confident that our resilient business model and RGM strategic framework -- fortifying resiliency, accelerating growth and widening strategic moat -- will help us to capture the amazing growth opportunities in
China
over the long term. We remain committed to a disciplined capital allocation strategy that balances returning capital to our shareholders and investing in our business for greater growth."
The Board's authorization permits the Company to make repurchases of its shares of common stock from time to time in open market or privately negotiated transactions, including block trades, accelerated share repurchase transactions and the use of Rule 10b5-1 trading plans. The authorization has no expiration date.
About
Yum China Holdings, Inc.
Yum China Holdings, Inc.
is a licensee of
Yum! Brands
in mainland
China
. It has exclusive rights in mainland
China
to
KFC
,
China's
leading quick-service restaurant brand,
Pizza Hut
, the leading casual dining restaurant brand in
China
, and
Taco Bell
, a
California
-based restaurant chain serving innovative Mexican-inspired food.
Yum China
also owns the Little Sheep,
Huang Ji Huang
, East Dawning and COFFii & JOY concepts outright. In addition,
Yum China
has partnered with Lavazza to explore and develop the Lavazza coffee shop concept in
China
. The Company had 12,163 restaurants in over 1,600 cities at the end of
February 2022
.
In 2021,
Yum China
ranked # 363 on the Fortune 500 list and was named to TIME100 Most Influential Companies list.
Yum China
has also been selected as member of both Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI): World Index and Emerging Market Index. In 2022, the Company was named to the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index and was certified as a Top Employer 2022 in
China
by the
Top Employers Institute
, both for the fourth consecutive year. For more information, please visit http://ir.yumchina.com.
Footnotes:
[1] 2017 to 2021 free cash flow is calculated using operating cash flow of
$5.6 billion
less capital spending of
$2.4 billion
.
[2] 2021 free cash flow is calculated using operating cash flow of
$1,131 million
less capital spending of
$689 million
.
Source:
Yum China Holdings, Inc
[Category: Retail]
