“This increase in CapEx versus the prior year is in line with our expectation of about $300 million to $500 million increases each year through 2027, as we outlined at our December 2023 Investor Day.”

In context

“p more resources to continue to drive long-term growth. We still have significant investment years ahead of us before these efficiencies are realized. Below the operating line, we're projecting interest expense this year to increase between 4% and 6% compared to 2024 due to higher average debt balances and interest rates and expect our full-year effective tax rate to be between 20% and 22%. Turning to restaurant development and capital expenditures, we expect net restaurant expansion in 2025, along with restaurants we opened in 2024, will contribute slightly over 2% to system-wide sales growth as we continue to accelerate our new unit development. We plan to spend between $3 billion and $3.2 billion this year, with the majority invested in new unit openings across our US and IOM segments. This increase in CapEx versus the prior year is in line with our expectation of about $300 million to $500 million increases each year through 2027, as we outlined at our December 2023 Investor Day. Globally, we plan to open approximately 2,200 restaurants this year, with about a quarter of these openings in our US and IOM segments. We expect to open more than 1,600 restaurants in our IDL segment, including about 1,000 in China. Overall, we anticipate slightly over 4% unit growth from the nearly 1,800 net restaurant additions in 2025. Our capital allocation priorities remain unchanged. First, to invest in the business to drive growth, including capital expenditures as well as investments in technology, digital, and GBS. Second, to prioritize our dividend, and third, to repurchase shares with remaining free cash flow over time. In 2025, we expect our net income to free cash flow conversion to be in the low to mid-80% range as we continue to step up strategic investments to drive susta”