Updating L Brands Inc. and Yum! Brands Inc.

Article Excerpt

L BRANDS INC. $91 (www.lb.com) reported that its sales rose 6.2% in March 2015, to $981.2 million from $923.7 million in March 2014. Overall same-store sales gained 9%, with this year’s earlier Easter holiday accounting for 3% to 4% of this increase. Same-store sales at Victoria’s Secret rose 9%, but this division’s online and catalogue sales fell 2%, as it cut prices to clear out older merchandise. Successful new home fragrances, soaps and sanitizers also spurred a 9% same-store sales gain at the company’s Bath & Body Works stores. Hold. YUM! BRANDS INC. $84 (www.yum.com) is testing a new upscale restaurant in Shanghai, China. Called Atto Primo, this outlet specializes in Italian dishes. If successful, the company may open more of these restaurants in other Chinese cities. That would help offset lower sales at its Chinese KFC outlets, which continue to suffer in the wake of a 2013 food-safety scare. Yum could also sell some of Atto Primo’s foods at…