Fast- food giant targets $ 700m

Restaurant Brands New Zealand, the fast- food retailer, is forecasting sales above $ 700 million in the 2018 financial year as it reaps gains from its expansion into Australia and Hawaii.

In New Zealand, Restaurant Brands runs KFC, Pizza Hut, Carl’s Jr and Starbucks Coffee. In the past 12 months it has added Hawaii, where it operates 82 Taco Bell and Pizza Hut stores, and Australia, where it operates 47 KFC outlets in New South Wales. Sales for the year ended February 27, 2017 were $ 497.2m, including $ 400m in New Zealand sales and 10 months’ trading from the Australian business.

“We are well on the way to our billion dollar revenue target,” chief executive Russel Creedy said in notes published on the NZX. “With the benefit of virtually a full year’s trading for the Hawaiian and Australian operations, together with sound growth in New Zealand, we expect total sales for the current financial year to be comfortably in excess of $ 700 million.”

Before yesterday’s annual meeting in Auckland, the company announced plans to duallist on the Australian Stock Exchange by the end of September.

Restaurant Brands had 212 stores in Australia and New Zealand at the end of the financial year, and expects that number to top 300 by the end of this financial year.

The shares rose 0.3 per cent to $ 5.98.