LOS ANGELES, Jan 8 (Reuters) – KFC parent Yum Brands Inc
said it had stopped using chicken from suppliers in
China that are now under a government investigation before the
review was even announced and analysts said they expect the
company to recover from the business hit in its biggest market.

Yum, which gets more than half of its overall revenue and
operating profit from China, on Monday warned that bad publicity
from a Chinese government food safety review of chicken
suppliers hit its sales in China harder than expected in the
latest quarter.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – KFC parent Yum Brands Inc (YUM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said it had stopped using chicken from suppliers in China that are now under a government investigation before the review was even announced, and analysts said they expect the company to recover from the business hit in its biggest market.

Yum, which gets more than half of its overall revenue and operating profit from China, on Monday warned that bad publicity from a Chinese government food safety review of chicken suppliers hit its sales in China harder than expected in the latest quarter.

By Lisa Baertlein

(Reuters) – KFC parent Yum Brands Inc (YUM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) on Monday warned that sales in its top market of China shrank more than expected in the fourth quarter, citing bad publicity from a government review of that country’s chicken supply.

Yum said in a regulatory filing on Monday that China sales fell 6 percent in the quarter, compared to its earlier forecast of a 4 percent decline. It said the media coverage associated with the government’s review had a “significant impact” on KFC sales in China in the last two weeks of December.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Actor Patrick Dempsey, better known as television’s “Dr. McDreamy,” promised to rescue Seattle’s Tully’s coffee chain with a $9.15 million bid to buy it out of bankruptcy.

The “Grey’s Anatomy” star who plays Dr. Derek Shepherd, a surgeon at fictional Seattle Grace Hospital, said his offer bested those from six rival bidders – including global coffee giant Starbucks Corp.

By Lisa Baertlein

(Reuters) – Family Dollar Stores Inc (FDO.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) posted a lower-than-expected quarterly profit on Thursday, sending its shares tumbling 11.8 percent as its push to sell more everyday items including soft drinks and cigarettes attracted more customers but hurt profitability.

The company also lowered its forecast for the year and said December sales, which came in after the quarter ended, were hurt as shoppers limited their discretionary spending.

Dec 26 (Reuters) – Starbucks Corp will use its
ubiquitous coffee cups to tell U.S. lawmakers to come up with a
deal to avoid going over the “fiscal cliff” of automatic tax
hikes and government spending cuts.

Chief Executive Howard Schultz is urging workers in
Starbucks’ roughly 120 Washington-area shops to write “come
together” on customers’ cups on Thursday and Friday, as
President Barack Obama and lawmakers return to work and attempt
to revive fiscal cliff negotiations that collapsed before the
Christmas holiday.

By Lisa Baertlein

(Reuters) – Starbucks Corp (SBUX.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) will use its ubiquitous coffee cups to tell U.S. lawmakers to come up with a deal to avoid going over the “fiscal cliff” and triggering automatic tax hikes and spending cuts.

Chief Executive Howard Schultz is urging workers in Starbucks’ roughly 120 Washington-area shops to write “come together” on customers’ cups on Thursday and Friday, as U.S. President Barack Obama and lawmakers return to work and attempt to revive fiscal cliff negotiations that collapsed before the Christmas holiday.

By Lisa Baertlein

(Reuters) – For many U.S. men, it is all-or-nothing time for holiday shopping. Either they have already done all their shopping, or they have completed none of it, a Reuters/Ipsos poll shows.

Eighteen percent of all respondents said they had done no holiday shopping, unchanged from a survey the previous week. But more of the men were shopping laggards: 20.6 percent of them compared with 15.6 percent of women said they still had bought no gifts.

By Lisa Baertlein

(Reuters) – For many men, it’s all or nothing time for holiday shopping. Either they have already done all their shopping, or they have completed none of it, a Reuters/Ipsos poll shows.

Eighteen percent of total respondents to the survey said they had none of their holiday shopping done, unchanged from a survey the previous week. But more men were shopping laggards – with 20.6 percent versus 15.6 percent of women saying they still had bought no gifts.

Dec 19 (Reuters) – For many men, it’s all or nothing time
for holiday shopping. Either they have already done all their
shopping, or they have completed none of it, a Reuters/Ipsos
poll shows.

Eighteen percent of total respondents to the survey said
they had none of their holiday shopping done, unchanged from a
survey the previous week. But more men were shopping laggards -
with 20.6 percent versus 15.6 percent of women saying they still
had bought no gifts.