(Yicai) Nov. 7 -- Yum China Holdings, the exclusive licensee for KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell in the Chinese mainland, said Yum! Brands’ strategic review of Pizza Hut, including a potential sale, will not affect the pizza restaurant chain’s day-to-day running in China, where it remains profitable and expanding.

“We independently operate Pizza Hut restaurants in China,” a spokesperson for Shanghai-based Yum China told Yicai yesterday. “This news won’t affect the daily operations of Pizza Hut in the country.”

Pizza Hut is growing strongly in China, where restaurant profits have climbed for six consecutive quarters year on year, and the total number of outlets exceeds 4,000, the person added. “We’re confident in the long-term development of the Chinese market and will continue to deepen our presence in China,” they said.

US-based Yum! Brands is considering “strategic options” for Pizza Hut to “realise its full value, which may be better executed outside of Yum! Brands,” Chief Executive Chris Turner said in a statement on Nov. 4.

That same day, Starbucks Coffee announced an agreement to sell 60 percent of its China business to Boyu Capital, a Chinese private equity firm, for about USD4 billion. The deal, unveiled soon after the US coffee chain reported its annual earnings, marks a strategic shift in the face of growing competition in Starbucks’ second-largest market.

Yum China was originally the Chinese division of Yum! Brands. In October 2016, Yum! Brands spun off its China operations and established Yum China as an independent, publicly traded company. Yum China was listed on the New York Stock Exchange the following month.

Yum China holds the exclusive rights to KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell in the mainland for a period of 50 years. Yum! Brands does not own any stake in Yum China.

Yum China’s net profit fell  5 percent to USD282 million in the this quarter from a year earlier, while revenue rose 4 percent to USD3.2 billion, according to the firm’s most recent trading report.

It added a record net 536 stores in the period, with franchised outlets accounting for 32 percent of the total. As of Sept. 30, its restaurant count reached 17,514, including 12,640 KFC and 4,022 Pizza Hut eateries.

Editor: Futura Costaglione