Yum! Brands (YUM) Approves $4.2B Buyback, Declares Dividend

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE: YUM) today announced that its Board of Directors authorized repurchases of up to $4.2 billion in additional shares of common stock and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.46 per share of common stock.

Greg Creed, CEO of Yum! Brands, said, “Today’s announcement marks another step towards our goal of delivering meaningful cash returns and demonstrates the commitment of our Board and management team to creating shareholder value. Our capital return plans reflect our continued confidence in our long-term growth prospects as we move towards the separation of our China business, which will result in two distinct and attractive investment opportunities for all of our shareholders.”

The additional share repurchases are part of Yum! Brands’ previously announced commitment to returning $6.2 billion of capital to shareholders prior to the planned separation of its China business, which is on track to be completed by the end of 2016. The capital will be returned in the form of share repurchases, a special dividend or a combination thereof. From October 2015 through May 19, 2016, Yum! repurchased 27.6 million shares of common stock totaling approximately $2 billion at an average price of $72 per share. The $4.2 billion in additional share repurchases of outstanding common stock is authorized through December 31, 2016 and supersedes all previous unutilized authorizations. Repurchases of common stock may be made from time to time in the open market or through privately negotiated transactions and will be subject to market conditions and other factors.

The quarterly dividend is in addition to the targeted $6.2 billion in return of capital and will be distributed August 5, 2016 to shareholders of record at the close of business on July 15, 2016. Since initiating a dividend in 2004, Yum! has increased its dividend at a double-digit percentage rate each of the past 11 years, placing Yum! in a select group of companies from the S&P 500 to do so.

Yum! Brands, Inc., based in Louisville, Kentucky, has nearly 43,000 restaurants in more than 130 countries and territories. Yum! is ranked #228 on the Fortune 500 List with revenues of over $13 billion in 2015 and is one of the Aon Hewitt Top Companies for Leaders in North America. The Company’s restaurant brands - KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell - are the global leaders of the chicken, pizza and Mexican-style food categories. Worldwide, the Yum! Brands system opens over six new restaurants per day on average, making it a leader in global retail development.

You May Also Be Interested In

• Ball Corporation (BALL) Raises Dividend, Enters 40M Share Buyback, Announces Management Changes
• Waste Connections (WCN) Declares $0.285 Quarterly Dividend; 0.7% Yield
• NASDAQ (NDAQ) Raises Quarterly Dividend 9.1% to $0.24; 1.6% Yield