NEWS WRAP: Top Yum China execs, board member buy over $600,000 of company’s stock

Four senior executives, including CEO Joey Wat and one non-executive board member, have made purchases in the past two weeks after the company reported market-beating results

By Doug Young

Four top executives and one non-executive board member of Yum China Holdings Inc. (YUMC.US; 9987.HK), including CEO Joey Wat, purchased a combined total of 18,400 of the company’s shares, currently valued at over $620,000, over the past two weeks, after the restaurant operator reported market-beating quarterly results on Aug 6.

Wat purchased 3,800 shares of the company’s stock on Aug. 14; Chief Technology Officer Leila Zhang bought 4,000 shares on Aug. 15; Yum China’s General Manager for KFC Warton Wang bought 3,700 shares on Aug. 16; and Pizza Hut General Manager Jeff Kuai bought 3,900 shares on Aug. 13, according to stock exchange filings. In addition, newly appointed board member Robert Blaine Aitken Jr. purchased 3,000 shares of the stock on Aug. 16.

Such purchases are highly symbolic, reflecting top management’s confidence in the company while also suggesting that the shares remain undervalued.

Yum China, which is dual-listed in the U.S. and Hong Kong, runs more than 15,000 stores in China, including the KFC and Pizza Hut brands. It has been an independent company since its spinoff from Yum Brands (YUM.US) in 2016.

The company has also been aggressively buying back its stock, spending a collective $249 million in the second quarter on share buybacks and dividends. Yum China has repurchased nearly $1 billion worth of its stock so far this year, with buybacks totaling $2.83 billion since 2017.

The company’s U.S. shares rose 12% on Aug. 6 after Yum China reported industry-beating results, which included revenue, profit and margin gains, even as other global restaurant chains reported difficulties in the China market amid a challenging macro environment. The stock maintained those gains and continued to rally slightly in the following week.

Yum China’s revenue grew 4% in the second quarter to $2.68 billion on a constant currency basis, roughly double the 2% growth for the broader restaurant sector, as the company opened a net 401 new stores to bring its total to 15,423. The company seized on its market clout and greater efficiencies, including through the rollout of AI-automated “iKitchens” at its Pizza Hut stores, to boost its core operating profit by 12% year-on-year for the quarter, while increasing overall operating margin to 9.9% from 9.7% a year earlier.

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