肯德基东家百胜拆分中国业务

刘颖

Yum! Brands Inc., the owner of fast-food restaurants KFC and Pizza Hut, is to spin its China business off into a separate, publicly traded company, according to Bloomberg.
    The new company, which accounts for more than half of today’s group revenue, will be led by Micky Pant, who was named the China unit’s chief executive officer in August, the agency said.
    The news has been expected since last week, when Yum announced that activist investor Keith Meister, who had openly campaigned for such a split, has joined its board, after accumulating a stake of nearly 5% in the company through his investment firm Corvex Management LP.
    The company has struggled in China since a tainted food scandal last year, and profits in the world’s second-largest market are expected to be stagnant this year, and may well be negative once foreign exchange rates are factored in.
    Same-store sales at KFC in China are expected to grow by less than 4% year-on-year in the fourth quarter, the company said last week. Ironically, though, it’s Pizza Hut which is now faring worse in the world’s second-largest economy. Same-store sales there are expected to down on the year.
    The move is a radical break for the company after nearly 30 years operating in China. One of the first western restaurant chains to exploit the country’s economic opening, KFC now has over 5,000 restaurants there. Pizza Hut, which first opened in China in 1990, has nearly 1,400 restaurants there.

刘颖

彭博报道称，新公司将由今年8月被任命为百胜中国事业部首席执行官的米基·潘塔领导，其营业收入占百胜集团目前总收入的半数以上。

    上周百胜宣布，公开力主百胜拆分中国业务的激进投资者基思·梅斯特加入公司董事会。此前梅斯特旗下投资公司Corvex Management LP持有的百胜股份比例已接近5%。自梅斯特入主百胜董事会的消息公布后，业界就在预计百胜会有拆分之举。

    去年爆出使用劣质食品丑闻以来，百胜在全球第二大市场中国的业绩备受困扰，今年在华盈利增长预计将会停滞，计入汇率影响因素，甚至很可能出现负增长。

    百胜上周表示，预计今年第四季度肯德基中国区同店销售额同比增长不足4%。讽刺的是，百胜旗下的必胜客在中国的表现目前还不如肯德基，其同店销售额预计会同比下滑。

    对进入中国开展业务近三十年的百胜而言，此次拆分可谓同过去的辉煌彻底决裂。作为首批乘改革开放东风挺进中国的西方餐饮连锁企业，肯德基已经在中国开设5000余家门店。1990年首次在华开店的必胜客也拥有将近1400家中国分店。