Restaurant Brands International Backs 2028 Outlook, Sets Shareholder Return Targets

By Adriano Marchese

Restaurant Brands International backed its growth targets for the next two years, saying it remains on track to expand its global restaurant network and will return $1.6  billion to shareholders in 2026.

The Canadian-American owner of Tim Hortons and Burger King at its investor day on Thursday reaffirmed its organic adjusted operating income growth target of 8% or more through 2028, noting it already exceeded the mark in 2024 and 2025.

Part of the company's plan is also to grow its restaurant network by 5% each year, which would equate to about 1,800 net new restaurants a year by 2028.

In the U.S. and Canada, it plans to focus its expansion on Tim Hortons, and Popeyes, and Firehouse Subs, which is expected to contribute about half the new stores there.

In China, the company expects to have over 200 net new units in 2028, and said the pace of growth will speed up beyond that. For the its other main markets, including India, the U.K., Mexico, France and Japan, RBI expects to deliver about 700 units per year by 2028.

RBI is aiming for the transition to a 99% franchised model, corporate investment-grade leverage by 2028. It said it is actively working to refranchise the Burger King US company restaurant portfolio to a base of about 300 to 500 home market restaurants and to place Popeyes China and Firehouse Brazil with long-term local partners.

Shareholders can also expect returns. RBI said it will resume share repurchases, with around $500 million expected in 2026.

Share repurchases are expected to grow over time as the company taps into its free cash flow for buybacks, which it says will accelerate as its investment grade improves. In addition, RBI is targeting a payout ratio of around 60% of its excess free cash flow for its dividend.

Write to Adriano Marchese at adriano.marchese@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 26, 2026 09:02 ET (14:02 GMT)