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Burger King and Tim Hortons helped their parent company, Restaurant Brands International (RBI), to top earnings estimates. The fast-food restaurant company headquartered in Toronto, Canada, reported its quarterly earnings on Tuesday, Feb. 15, and the results were beyond the analyst's expectations.
RBI acknowledged that it was able to beat estimates due to digital sales growth or surge in online sales. The heightened demand at Burger King and Tim Horton restaurant chains also played a big role in the good results.
The digital orders made up almost a third of RBI's total sales worldwide. The same-store sales at Burger King US also climbed two percent, which was above the expectations of a marginal decline as well.
Overall, BK's same-store sales have gone up by 11.3%, effectively besting StreetAccount LLC's estimates of 10%. Apparently, Burger King is struggling a bit in its home market and has been outrun by some of its stern rivals in the industry, such as McDonald's.
According to CNBC, RBI's global digital sales surged by over 65%, which is from $6 billion to $10 billion last year amid efforts to bolster the company's e-commerce business. The company reported its fourth-quarter net income had reached $261 million, which is up from a year earlier's result of $138 million.
Along with Burger King, Tim Hortons also did well in boosting its parent company's earnings. It was said that the coffee chain's partnership with superstar singer Justin Bieber surely fueled its same-store sales growth. The collaboration with the pop star produced flavors for the brand's Timbits bite-sized of Tim's traditional donuts.
"I'm proud of the strong performance our brands delivered as we closed out 2021," RBI's chief executive officer, José Cil, said in a press release as a comment to the company's good sales performance. "During the quarter, we saw sequential improvements in each brand and around the world, including notable growth at Tim Hortons Canada and Burger King U.S."
The CEO added, "Our growth throughout 2021 resulted in strong free cash flow generation, allowing us to make important investments in our business while returning over $1.5 billion of capital to shareholders and acquiring a new restaurant brand in Firehouse Subs."
