A record year for KFC has helped Restaurant Brands increase its profit to almost $20 million in the year to February.

The company’s group net profit after tax for the year excluding non-trading items was $19.9 million, up 70% or $8.2 million compared to last year.

Group revenue was up $8.8 million (2.8%) to $318.3 million and same store sales were up 6.8%.

KFC was the standout performer for the group achieving a record year with sales of $223.2 million, up 9.2% on a same store basis.

Fast food operator Restaurant Brands has upsized its profit guidance thanks to stronger trading conditions and is now forecasting a full year net profit of $19.5 million.

The forecast is a $2 million increase on the guidance given in December by the local owner of the KFC, Pizza Hut and Starbucks brands..

The company said the upgrade was driven by a stronger than expected trading over the last quarter of the year, led by sales at its KFC outlets.

Restaurant Brands is continuing to serve up strong sales at its KFC and rejuvenated Pizza Hut stores, with same store sales up 7.2% in the third quarter for the year.

The fast food group’s total sales for the 12 weeks ended December 7 were $72.9 million, up 4.7% on the same time last year.

That follows steady growth over the year with increases of 4.8% and 4.3% in the previous two quarters, while the total year-to-date sales are up 4.6% to $242.6 million.

Fast food giant Restaurant Brands is starting to see some returns from the slow turnaround of its Pizza Hut business, but coffee sales at its Starbucks stores have fallen over the past six months.

Overall, the company reported a net profit after tax for the half year excluding non-trading items of $9.2 million, up 89.4% on the previous year and above previous market guidance of $8.7 million.