Starbucks confident on China turnaround

Starbucks Corp's outgoing Executive Chairman Howard Schultz told Reuters on Monday that a recent slowdown of its business in China would be short-lived, seeking to ease investor concerns that the US coffee chain is under pressure in the fast-growing market.

Starbucks said last month that same-store sales in China would be flat to slightly negative in its second-biggest market in April-June, versus 7 percent growth a year earlier, triggering a sharp drop in the chain's share price.

Schultz, 65, who stepped down in June, said fears of a slowdown in the market were a "false narrative", and that over time the closely watched metric would regain its momentum. "I will say, unequivocally, that anyone who is betting against Starbucks in China is dead wrong."