Yum China announces $360m share buyback H1 2025

This is part of a broader capital return plan

Yum China Holdings, Inc. has announced that it has entered into share repurchase agreements in the US and Hong Kong, totalling around US$360m for the first half of 2025, commencing on 6 January 2025.

The share repurchase agreements include approximately $290m under Rule 10b5-1 of the United States Securities Exchange Act in the US and approximately $70.68m (HK$550m) for a comparable program in Hong Kong.

These agreements are one component of the share repurchase program and part of the broader capital allocation plan to return $4.5b to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases from 2024 to 2026, including $1.5b for the full year 2024.

In the first 11 months of 2024, the company returned a record $1.37b to shareholders, including $1.18b in share repurchases and $187m in cash dividends.

A total of 30 million shares have been bought back, which is equivalent to approximately 7% of its outstanding shares as of 31 December 2023.

“With our confidence in our cash-generating capability, we plan to return US$4.5b to shareholders between 2024 and 2026,” said Joey Wat, CEO of Yum China.

Yum China has already returned $4.3b to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases since 2017.

($1 = HK$7.78)