Burger King owner Restaurant Brands reports Q1 profit surge as sales rise

(Sharecast News) - The share price of Restaurant Brands slid in New York early on Wednesday after the fast-food conglomerate's first-quarter results revealed that revenue growth was held back by sales declines at Popeyes and Firehouse Subs.

The company, which also owns the Tim Hortons and Burger King chains, reported revenues of $2.26bn for the first three months of 2026, up from $2.11bn the year before.

System-wide sales, which include all owned and franchised stores, increased 6.2% to $11.51bn, with comparable sales growing by 3.2%.

Results were helped by a 2.6% net increase in the number of restaurants in its network to 32,985.

While Tim Hortons and Burger King saw comparable sales rise 2.4% and 5.8%, respectively, that was tempered by a 6.5% drop at Popeyes and a 0.5% decline at Firehouse Subs.

Nevertheless, bottom-line figures came in ahead of market expectations, with net profits more than doubling to $338m from $159m the year before. Adjusted earnings per share of 86cents topped the 83cents consensus forecast.

The company, which resumed share repurchases in March, reiterated expectations to repurchase $500m in stock in 2026.

"We delivered a strong start to the year, converting solid topline results into double-digit earnings growth while returning capital to shareholders through the resumption of share repurchases and our growing dividend," said chief executive Josh Kobza.

"We're executing against the plan we laid out during our Investor Day in February and remain confident in the path ahead."

The stock was down 5.4% at $77.31 by 1517 BST.