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It may not sound sexy to your average Joe diner, but there was one clear superstar in the latest earnings report from restaurant operator Yum China Holdings Inc. (YUMC.US; 9987.HK): the company’s margins.

Specifically, it was the company’s eye-popping restaurant margin that reached a four-year high that was the pride and joy of top managers of the operator of KFC and Pizza Hut restaurants in China in the company’s third-quarter results released earlier this week. The margin – which came in at 18.8% for the quarter, versus 12.2% a year earlier – was all the more impressive against the backdrop of a difficult operating environment in China lately due to the country’s strict Covid-control measures.