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Restaurant Brands earnings top estimates, fueled by Tim Hortons and international growth

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Restaurant Brands earnings top estimates, fueled by Tim Hortons and international growth


A general view of a Tim Hortons Drive-Thru coffeehouse and restaurant at Lakeside Retail Park on February 5, 2024 in Grays, United Kingdom.

John Keeble | Getty Images

Restaurant Brands International on Thursday reported quarterly earnings and revenue that beat analysts’ expectations, fueled by growth of its international restaurants and Tim Hortons.

Combined, the two divisions account for roughly 70% of the company’s earnings, according to CEO Josh Kobza.

Like many restaurants, the company has seen low- and middle-income consumers spend less on dining in recent quarters. Diners didn’t change their behavior in the third quarter, but executives credited sticking to their strategy and avoiding the so-called value wars for the company’s strong quarterly performance, particularly at Burger King’s U.S. restaurants.

“If you look at our results, we’re doing well despite some of those trends,” Kobza told CNBC.

Here’s what the company reported compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

  • Earnings per share: $1.03 adjusted vs. $1 expected
  • Revenue: $2.45 billion vs. $2.4 billion expected

Restaurant Brands reported third-quarter net income attributable to shareholders of $315 million, or 96 cents per share, up from $252 million, or 79 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding transaction costs and other items, the company earned $1.03 per share.

Net sales rose 6.9% to $2.45 billion. The company’s same-store sales, which only track the metric at restaurants open at least a year, grew 4%.

Restaurant Brands’ international segment was the star of the quarter, reporting 6.5% same-store sales growth. That topped the StreetAccount consensus estimate of 4.4%. The company’s restaurants in Western Europe, China and Japan fueled the segment’s same-store sales growth, Kobza told CNBC.

Tim Hortons reported same-store sales growth of 4.2%. The Canadian coffee chain has been leaning more into food offerings to drive sales and traffic at its restaurants. Executives also said an improved iced latte is driving sales of cold drinks, which grew 10% in the quarter.

Burger King’s same-store sales increased 3.1%, showing that the chain’s turnaround strategy in the U.S. is paying off for the business. Burger King has focused on restaurant renovations and marketing based on core menu items like the Whopper to revive domestic sales. The remodeled restaurants are paying off for franchisees as well, which is lifting operators’ profitability, according to Burger King U.S. President Tom Curtis.

Looking ahead, the burger chain is planning to lean into “product elevation,” Curtis said in an interview.

“I think that’s important in an environment where you hear a lot about shrinkflation, and you hear a lot about cost cutting. So for us, we’re going to be zigging while others are zagging,” he added.

Popeyes was the only Restaurant Brands division to report same-store sales declines. The chicken chain saw its same-store sales shrink 2.4%. In recent quarters, it has struggled to keep up with rivals, particularly when it comes to competition for value-minded customers.

“I think what we want to focus on in the coming quarters is making even more progress on the operational side, in terms of the consistency of the guest experience that we’re delivering across the store base,” Kobza said.

Looking ahead, executives said Popeyes will also focus more on its core menu items after spending much of the last year highlighting innovations, like bone-in chicken wings.



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United Airlines flight attendants ratify new contract with 31% raises this summer

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United Airlines flight attendants ratify new contract with 31% raises this summer


A United Airlines plane approaches the runway at Denver International Airport on March 23, 2026.

Al Drago | Getty Images

United Airlines flight attendants approved a new five-year labor contract with 31% average raises to base pay by August and other improvements, marking the last of the major carriers with unionized flight crews to reach a deal post-Covid.

The labor deal would give United’s roughly 30,000 flight attendants their first raises in close to six years. The company and the flight attendants’ union reached a preliminary deal in March. Crews had rejected a contract last year.

The union said the contract won 82% approval from the flight attendants, with close to 90% of them voting.

“The contract will immediately change the lives of United Flight Attendants, especially our thousands of new hires who have been hired since the pandemic,” said Ken Diaz, president of the United chapter of the Association of Flight Attendants.

The contract also includes boarding pay, or pay for when the aircraft’s door is open and travelers are getting on. Airlines had for years started flight attendants’ pay clock once the boarding door was closed.

The contract comes with a roughly 7% to 8% increase in compensation and $741 million in back pay, as well as quality-of-life improvements like restrictions on red-eye flights and “sit pay” during disruptions of more than 2½ hours.

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Joni Lamb, Whose Christian TV Station Went Global, Dies at 65

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Joni Lamb, Whose Christian TV Station Went Global, Dies at 65


Joni Lamb, the president of Daystar Television Network, a televangelism broadcaster she founded with her husband, Marcus Lamb, turning their family into stars of Christian entertainment, died on Thursday. She was 65.

In an announcement posted on Daystar’s website, the company described the cause as “serious health matters” exacerbated by a recent back injury. It did not say where she died.

On a trip to Jerusalem in 1983, shortly after the couple married, Mr. Lamb visited the Mount of Olives and felt God telling him to move to Montgomery, Ala., and start a Christian TV station. He and Ms. Lamb poured their energy and modest finances into the effort and began appearing on the air two years later.

By the time they founded Daystar — in Texas in 1997 — they were experienced entrepreneurs and performers. After just a few years, they owned 24 stations around the country. By 2010, they had become the second-largest Christian broadcaster, after Trinity Broadcasting Network, and were reaching more than 200 countries, The Dallas Morning News reported.

Compared with other televangelists, the Lambs “are younger and come across as more ordinary folks,” David Clark, the president of a rival Christian broadcaster, told The Fort Worth Star-Telegram in 2001. “They come across as being sincere.”

Mr. Clark added: “Marc is sharp, and his wife, Joni, is a big asset.”

The Lambs frequently appeared on their own network in a talk show format, discussing the pleasures and challenges of domestic life in a Christian idiom. Ms. Lamb, who liked to break into song, was Daystar’s leading talk show host, over the decades moderating shows like “Taking a Break With Joni” and “Joni Table Talk.” She would often be surrounded by other female regulars, putting questions to a male guest who had wisdom to impart.

The prominent pastor Jentezen Franklin visited earlier this year, for example, to discuss his new book, “The Power of Short Prayers.” The conversation slipped easily into evangelism.

“For someone watching right now: You’ve been listening; God’s opened your heart,” Ms. Lamb said. “In fact, your heart’s already been opened for some time, as you’ve been looking, searching, and you tried everything else. Always say, ‘Why don’t you try Jesus?’ A simple prayer: That will change your life for eternity.”

During the episode she was flanked, as she often was, by her two daughters, Rachel Lamb Brown and Rebecca Lamb Weiss, and referred to her husband by his first name, as if the viewers at home were family friends.

In 2021, Mr. Lamb died, at 64, of Covid-19, after having frequently suggested that people should pray instead of getting vaccinated. Ms. Lamb announced his death on air.

The travails of the Lamb family were often incorporated into the station’s programming. In 2010, Mr. Lamb admitted on live TV to an extramarital affair and described an attempt to extort millions of dollars in blackmail.

“Christian TV took a soap opera turn,” The Dallas Morning News wrote of the episode.

In 2020, Daystar returned a $3.9 million Paycheck Protection Program loan after the CBS program “Inside Edition” investigated the company’s purchase of a Gulfstream jet used by the Lamb family for beach and golf trips.

Four years later, a panel of Ms. Lamb’s talk show regulars questioned her on air about an accusation by her son, Jonathan, that there had been a coverup of a family member’s sexual molestation of his infant daughter. Ms. Lamb denied that any abuse had occurred, and after an investigation, no charges were filed.

Joni Lynn Trammell was born on July 19, 1960, in Greenville, S.C., where she grew up. Her father, Billy Frank Trammell, worked for a local refrigeration and heating company and would evangelize with friends he made playing basketball. Her mother, Sandra (Hudson) Trammell, competed in the Miss Greenville beauty pageant.

The Lambs met at a Greenville church in 1980, when Mr. Lamb, a traveling Pentecostal preacher, was visiting. They married in 1982.

Their early investments in TV stations came fortuitously, at a time of deregulation that The Star-Telegram would describe as “market bottom.” They later made money buying and selling small broadcast towers, and selling airtime to ministries and churches.

In 2023, Ms. Lamb married Doug Weiss, a sex therapist who became a co-host on Daystar. He survives her; other survivors include her three children and several grandchildren.

On air earlier this year, Ms. Lamb told viewers that the Christian faith guaranteed a posthumous reward.

“When you pray that prayer, and you receive Jesus, he forgives your sins,” she said. “When you die, you’re going to heaven.”



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US consumer price inflation hits 3.8% in April, highest in nearly 3 years as Iran war fuels energy costs – The Times of India

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US consumer price inflation hits 3.8% in April, highest in nearly 3 years as Iran war fuels energy costs – The Times of India


US inflation rose in April to 3.8 per cent as surging fuel costs amid the ongoing Iran-US conflict drove up consumer prices, hitting a three-year high complicating the Federal Reserve’s path on interest rates.Data released by the Labor Department on Tuesday showed the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased 0.6 per cent in April after a 0.9 per cent jump in March, the biggest monthly rise since June 2022. On an annual basis, inflation accelerated to 3.8 per cent, marking the highest year-on-year increase, since May 2023.Petrol prices in the US are now more than 28 per cent higher than a year ago, according to official data. AAA estimates show average gasoline prices have crossed $4.50 per gallon, roughly 44 per cent above year-ago levels, squeezing household budgets and raising concerns about broader economic fallout.The spike in energy prices follows the escalation of hostilities between the US, Israel and Iran earlier this year. Markets were rattled after Tehran blocked access through the Strait of Hormuz — a critical global energy route that handles nearly one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies.Core inflation, which excludes food and energy prices, remained relatively contained. Core CPI rose 0.4 per cent month-on-month and 2.8 per cent annually, suggesting that higher fuel costs have not yet fully spread across the wider economy.Food prices also edged higher in April. Grocery costs rose 0.7 per cent from March, led by increases in meat prices after a slight decline in the previous month.The latest inflation reading adds to uncertainty for the Federal Reserve, which had earlier been expected to begin cutting interest rates in 2026. Policymakers are now signalling caution amid fears that prolonged geopolitical tensions and elevated oil prices could trigger another wave of inflation.US President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticised the Fed for not lowering borrowing costs faster to support economic growth. Attention is now turning to Kevin Warsh, Trump’s nominee to succeed outgoing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, whose Senate confirmation is expected this week.Higher fuel costs are also beginning to weigh on corporate America. Appliance maker Whirlpool Corporation said last week that quarterly revenue fell nearly 10 per cent, warning that the war-driven economic slowdown had severely dented consumer confidence.



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