1130 ET - Restaurant Brands International expects refranchising of its acquired Carrols locations to accelerate in the 2H as buyer interest surges. CFO Sami Siddiqui says that the pace of refranchising started off a little slow in the first half of the year, but appears to be picking up. "The top of the funnel pipeline has more than doubled in terms of folks who are interested in acquiring restaurants," says Siddiqui in an earnings call. He says that the company plans to "do a few hundred refranchising here in 2026 and then the remainder in 2027," with the goal of "sunsetting" the segment by the end of 2027.