segment financial information for prior years has been recast to align with this change in segment reporting . there was no impact to the consolidated financial statements of the company as a result of this change . additional details on our reportable operating segments are included in note17 . 60 2019 form 10-k we intend for this md & a to provide the reader with information that will assist in understanding our results of operations , including metrics that management uses to assess the company 's performance . throughout this md & a , we discuss the following performance metrics : the company provides certain percentage changes excluding the impact of foreign currency translation ( “ f/x ” ) . these amounts are derived by translating current year results at prior year average exchange rates . we believe the elimination of the f/x impact provides better year-to-year comparability without the distortion of foreign currency fluctuations . system sales growth reflects the results of all restaurants regardless of ownership , including company-owned , franchise and unconsolidated affiliate restaurants that operate our concepts , except for sales from non-company-owned restaurants , for which we do not receive a sales-based royalty . sales of franchise and unconsolidated affiliate restaurants typically generate ongoing franchise fees for the company at a rate of approximately 6 % of system sales . franchise and unconsolidated affiliate restaurant sales are not included in company sales in the consolidated statements of income ; however , the franchise fees are included in the company 's revenues . we believe system sales growth is useful to investors as a significant indicator of the overall strength of our business as it incorporates all of our revenue drivers , company and franchise same-store sales as well as net unit growth . effective january 1 , 2018 , the company revised its definition of same-store sales growth to represent the estimated percentage change in sales of food of all restaurants in the company system that have been open prior to the first day of our prior fiscal year . we refer to these as our “ base ” stores . previously , same-store sales growth represented the estimated percentage change in sales of all restaurants in the company system that have been open for one year or more , and the base stores changed on a rolling basis from month to month . this revision was made to align with how management measures performance internally and focuses on trends of a more stable base of stores . prior years have been adjusted accordingly . company restaurant profit ( “ restaurant profit ” ) is defined as company sales less expenses incurred directly by our company-owned restaurants in generating company sales . company restaurant margin percentage is defined as restaurant profit divided by company sales . within the company sales and restaurant profit analysis , store portfolio actions represent the net impact of new-unit openings , acquisitions , refranchising and store closures , and other primarily represents the impact of same-store sales as well as the impact of changes in restaurant operating costs such as inflation/deflation . in addition to the results provided in accordance with gaap throughout this md & a , the company provides measures adjusted for special items , which include adjusted operating profit , adjusted net income , adjusted earnings per common share , adjusted effective tax rate and adjusted ebitda , which we define as net income including noncontrolling interests adjusted for income tax , interest income , net , investment gain or loss , depreciation and amortization , and other items , including store impairment charges and special items . special items for the years ended december 31 , 2019 , 2018 and 2017 consist of impairment on intangible assets and goodwill attributable to the daojia business , impact from the u.s. tax cuts and jobs act ( the “ tax act ” ) , gain recognized from the re-measurement of our previously held equity interest in wuxi kfc at fair value upon acquisition , and income from the reversal of contingent consideration previously recorded for a business combination . the company excludes impact from special items for the purpose of evaluating performance internally . special items are not included in any of our segment results . in addition , the company provides adjusted ebitda because we believe that investors and analysts may find it useful in measuring operating performance without regard to items such as income tax , interest income , net , investment gain or loss , depreciation and amortization , and other items , including store impairment charges and special items . these adjusted measures are not intended to replace the presentation of our financial results in accordance with gaap . rather , the company believes that the presentation of these adjusted measures provides additional information to investors to facilitate the comparison of past and present results , excluding those items that the company does not believe are indicative of our ongoing operations due to their nature . 61 2019 form 10-k results of operations summary all comparisons within this summary are versus the same period a year ago . all system sales growth , same-store sales growth , operating profit and net income comparisons exclude the impact of foreign currency . refer to item 1. business for a discussion on the seasonality of our operations . in 2017 , the company 's total revenues increased 10 % , or 12 % excluding the impact of f/x , attributable to solid sales performance at kfc with same-store sales growth of 5 % and 1 % same-store sales growth at pizza hut . the increase was also attributable to the increase in revenues from transactions with franchisees and unconsolidated affiliates , new-unit openings of 691 or 6 % net unit growth , bringing total store count to 7,983 across more than 1,200 cities . story_separator_special_tag starting january 2020 , the novel coronavirus outbreak originating in wuhan , china has significantly impacted the company 's operations , including the temporary closure of more than 30 % of its restaurants in china during the chinese new year holiday , and a significant decline in sales for restaurants that remained open , which is likely to have a materially adverse impact on the company 's results of operations , cash flows and financial condition for the first quarter of 2020 and full year 2020. at this time , the company can not forecast when ( and at what rate ) the closed restaurants will re-open , which is subject to the local governments ' requirements , and when restaurant guest traffic will be restored ( and at what level ) . the extent to which our operations continue to be impacted by the outbreak will depend largely on future developments , which are highly uncertain and can not be accurately predicted , including new information which may emerge concerning the severity of the outbreak and the actions by the government authorities to contain the outbreak or treat its impact , among other things . insurance may be unavailable to cover any losses we incur as a result of the outbreak . tax examination on transfer pricing we are subject to reviews , examinations and audits by chinese tax authorities , the irs and other taxing authorities with respect to income and non-income based taxes . since 2016 , we have been under a national audit on transfer pricing by the sta in china regarding our related party transactions for the period from 2006 to 2015. the information currently exchanged with tax authorities focuses on our franchise arrangement with yum . we have submitted information to the extent it is available to the company . it is reasonably possible that there could be significant developments , including expert review and assessment by the sta , within the next 12 months . the ultimate assessment will depend upon further review of the information provided and ongoing technical and other discussions with the sta and in-charge local tax authorities , and therefore it is not possible to reasonably estimate the potential impact . we will continue to defend our transfer pricing position . however , if the sta prevails in the assessment of additional tax due based on its ruling , the assessed tax , interest and penalties , if any , could have a material adverse impact on our financial position , results of operations and cash flows . prc value-added tax effective may 1 , 2016 , a 6 % output vat replaced the 5 % business tax ( “ bt ” ) previously applied to certain restaurant sales . input vat would be creditable to the aforementioned 6 % output vat . the latest vat rates imposed on our purchase of materials and services included 13 % , 9 % and 6 % , which were gradually changed from 17 % , 13 % , 11 % and 6 % since 2017. these rate changes impact our input vat on all materials and certain services , mainly including construction , transportation and leasing . however , the impact on our operating results is not expected to be significant . 74 2019 form 10-k entities that are vat general taxpayers are permitted to offset qualified input vat paid to suppliers against their output vat upon receipt of appropriate supplier vat invoices on an entity-by-entity basis . when the output vat exceeds the input vat , the difference is remitted to tax authorities , usually on a monthly basis ; whereas when the input vat exceeds the output vat , the difference is treated as an input vat credit asset which can be carried forward indefinitely to offset future net vat payables . vat related to purchases and sales which have not been settled at the balance sheet date is disclosed separately as an asset and liability , respectively , on the consolidated balance sheets . at each balance sheet date , the company reviews the outstanding balance of any input vat credit asset for recoverability , giving consideration to the indefinite life of the input vat credit assets as well as its forecasted operating results and capital spending , which inherently includes significant assumptions that are subject to change . as of december 31 , 2019 , an input vat credit asset of $ 243 million and payable of $ 5 million were recorded in other assets and accounts payable and other current liabilities , respectively , on the consolidated balance sheets . the company has not made an allowance for the recoverability of the input vat credit asset , as the balance is expected to be utilized to offset against vat payables more than one year from december 31 , 2019. any input vat credit asset would be classified as prepaid expenses and other current assets if the company expected to use the credit within one year . we have been benefiting from the retail tax structure reform since it was implemented on may 1 , 2016. however , the amount of our expected benefit from this vat regime depends on a number of factors , some of which are outside of our control . the interpretation and application of the new vat regime are not settled at some local governmental levels . in addition , the timetable for enacting the prevailing vat regulations into national vat law , including ultimate enacted vat rates , is not clear . as a result , for the foreseeable future , the benefit of this significant and complex vat reform has the potential to fluctuate from quarter to quarter . foreign currency exchange rate the reporting currency of the company is the us $ . most of the revenues , costs , assets and liabilities of the company are denominated in rmb . any significant change in the exchange rate between

net cash used in investing activities was $ 910 million in 2019 as compared to $ 552 million in 2018. the increase was primarily driven by the net impact on cash flow resulting from purchases and maturities of short-term investments , partially offset by lapping the impact from the acquisition of wuxi kfc and investment in meituan 's ordinary shares in 2018. in 2018 , net cash used in investing activities was $ 552 million as compared to $ 557 million in 2017. the decrease was primarily driven by the net impact on cash flow resulting from purchases and maturities of short-term investments , partially offset by the acquisition of wuxi kfc , investment in meituan 's ordinary shares and higher capital spending . 75 2019 form 10-k net cash used in financing activities was $ 480 million in 2019 as compared to $ 518 million in 2018. the decrease was primarily driven by a decrease in the number of shares repurchased , partially offset by an increase in cash dividends paid to stockholders . in 2018 , net cash used in financing activities was $ 518 million as compared to $ 185 million in 2017. the increase was mainly driven by an increase in the number of shares repurchased and cash dividends paid to stockholders in 2018. liquidity and capital resources historically we have funded our operations through cash generated from the operation of our company-owned stores and from our franchise operations and dividend payments from our unconsolidated affiliates . our ability to fund our future operations and capital needs will depend on our ongoing ability to generate cash from operations . we believe our principal uses of cash in the future will be primarily to fund our operations and to make capital expenditures , distributions to our stockholders and share repurchases as well as any acquisition or investment we may make .


 Write a concise suspicious activity report of the following text delimited by triple backquotes. Return your response as a formal report which covers the key points highlighting the location,dates,entity names and account holder information in chronological order of the text.
     ```net cash used in investing activities was $ 910 million in 2019 as compared to $ 552 million in 2018. the increase was primarily driven by the net impact on cash flow resulting from purchases and maturities of short-term investments , partially offset by lapping the impact from the acquisition of wuxi kfc and investment in meituan 's ordinary shares in 2018. in 2018 , net cash used in investing activities was $ 552 million as compared to $ 557 million in 2017. the decrease was primarily driven by the net impact on cash flow resulting from purchases and maturities of short-term investments , partially offset by the acquisition of wuxi kfc , investment in meituan 's ordinary shares and higher capital spending . 75 2019 form 10-k net cash used in financing activities was $ 480 million in 2019 as compared to $ 518 million in 2018. the decrease was primarily driven by a decrease in the number of shares repurchased , partially offset by an increase in cash dividends paid to stockholders . in 2018 , net cash used in financing activities was $ 518 million as compared to $ 185 million in 2017. the increase was mainly driven by an increase in the number of shares repurchased and cash dividends paid to stockholders in 2018. liquidity and capital resources historically we have funded our operations through cash generated from the operation of our company-owned stores and from our franchise operations and dividend payments from our unconsolidated affiliates . our ability to fund our future operations and capital needs will depend on our ongoing ability to generate cash from operations . we believe our principal uses of cash in the future will be primarily to fund our operations and to make capital expenditures , distributions to our stockholders and share repurchases as well as any acquisition or investment we may make .
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 Suspicious Activity Report : segment financial information for prior years has been recast to align with this change in segment reporting . there was no impact to the consolidated financial statements of the company as a result of this change . additional details on our reportable operating segments are included in note17 . 60 2019 form 10-k we intend for this md & a to provide the reader with information that will assist in understanding our results of operations , including metrics that management uses to assess the company 's performance . throughout this md & a , we discuss the following performance metrics : the company provides certain percentage changes excluding the impact of foreign currency translation ( “ f/x ” ) . these amounts are derived by translating current year results at prior year average exchange rates . we believe the elimination of the f/x impact provides better year-to-year comparability without the distortion of foreign currency fluctuations . system sales growth reflects the results of all restaurants regardless of ownership , including company-owned , franchise and unconsolidated affiliate restaurants that operate our concepts , except for sales from non-company-owned restaurants , for which we do not receive a sales-based royalty . sales of franchise and unconsolidated affiliate restaurants typically generate ongoing franchise fees for the company at a rate of approximately 6 % of system sales . franchise and unconsolidated affiliate restaurant sales are not included in company sales in the consolidated statements of income ; however , the franchise fees are included in the company 's revenues . we believe system sales growth is useful to investors as a significant indicator of the overall strength of our business as it incorporates all of our revenue drivers , company and franchise same-store sales as well as net unit growth . effective january 1 , 2018 , the company revised its definition of same-store sales growth to represent the estimated percentage change in sales of food of all restaurants in the company system that have been open prior to the first day of our prior fiscal year . we refer to these as our “ base ” stores . previously , same-store sales growth represented the estimated percentage change in sales of all restaurants in the company system that have been open for one year or more , and the base stores changed on a rolling basis from month to month . this revision was made to align with how management measures performance internally and focuses on trends of a more stable base of stores . prior years have been adjusted accordingly . company restaurant profit ( “ restaurant profit ” ) is defined as company sales less expenses incurred directly by our company-owned restaurants in generating company sales . company restaurant margin percentage is defined as restaurant profit divided by company sales . within the company sales and restaurant profit analysis , store portfolio actions represent the net impact of new-unit openings , acquisitions , refranchising and store closures , and other primarily represents the impact of same-store sales as well as the impact of changes in restaurant operating costs such as inflation/deflation . in addition to the results provided in accordance with gaap throughout this md & a , the company provides measures adjusted for special items , which include adjusted operating profit , adjusted net income , adjusted earnings per common share , adjusted effective tax rate and adjusted ebitda , which we define as net income including noncontrolling interests adjusted for income tax , interest income , net , investment gain or loss , depreciation and amortization , and other items , including store impairment charges and special items . special items for the years ended december 31 , 2019 , 2018 and 2017 consist of impairment on intangible assets and goodwill attributable to the daojia business , impact from the u.s. tax cuts and jobs act ( the “ tax act ” ) , gain recognized from the re-measurement of our previously held equity interest in wuxi kfc at fair value upon acquisition , and income from the reversal of contingent consideration previously recorded for a business combination . the company excludes impact from special items for the purpose of evaluating performance internally . special items are not included in any of our segment results . in addition , the company provides adjusted ebitda because we believe that investors and analysts may find it useful in measuring operating performance without regard to items such as income tax , interest income , net , investment gain or loss , depreciation and amortization , and other items , including store impairment charges and special items . these adjusted measures are not intended to replace the presentation of our financial results in accordance with gaap . rather , the company believes that the presentation of these adjusted measures provides additional information to investors to facilitate the comparison of past and present results , excluding those items that the company does not believe are indicative of our ongoing operations due to their nature . 61 2019 form 10-k results of operations summary all comparisons within this summary are versus the same period a year ago . all system sales growth , same-store sales growth , operating profit and net income comparisons exclude the impact of foreign currency . refer to item 1. business for a discussion on the seasonality of our operations . in 2017 , the company 's total revenues increased 10 % , or 12 % excluding the impact of f/x , attributable to solid sales performance at kfc with same-store sales growth of 5 % and 1 % same-store sales growth at pizza hut . the increase was also attributable to the increase in revenues from transactions with franchisees and unconsolidated affiliates , new-unit openings of 691 or 6 % net unit growth , bringing total store count to 7,983 across more than 1,200 cities . story_separator_special_tag starting january 2020 , the novel coronavirus outbreak originating in wuhan , china has significantly impacted the company 's operations , including the temporary closure of more than 30 % of its restaurants in china during the chinese new year holiday , and a significant decline in sales for restaurants that remained open , which is likely to have a materially adverse impact on the company 's results of operations , cash flows and financial condition for the first quarter of 2020 and full year 2020. at this time , the company can not forecast when ( and at what rate ) the closed restaurants will re-open , which is subject to the local governments ' requirements , and when restaurant guest traffic will be restored ( and at what level ) . the extent to which our operations continue to be impacted by the outbreak will depend largely on future developments , which are highly uncertain and can not be accurately predicted , including new information which may emerge concerning the severity of the outbreak and the actions by the government authorities to contain the outbreak or treat its impact , among other things . insurance may be unavailable to cover any losses we incur as a result of the outbreak . tax examination on transfer pricing we are subject to reviews , examinations and audits by chinese tax authorities , the irs and other taxing authorities with respect to income and non-income based taxes . since 2016 , we have been under a national audit on transfer pricing by the sta in china regarding our related party transactions for the period from 2006 to 2015. the information currently exchanged with tax authorities focuses on our franchise arrangement with yum . we have submitted information to the extent it is available to the company . it is reasonably possible that there could be significant developments , including expert review and assessment by the sta , within the next 12 months . the ultimate assessment will depend upon further review of the information provided and ongoing technical and other discussions with the sta and in-charge local tax authorities , and therefore it is not possible to reasonably estimate the potential impact . we will continue to defend our transfer pricing position . however , if the sta prevails in the assessment of additional tax due based on its ruling , the assessed tax , interest and penalties , if any , could have a material adverse impact on our financial position , results of operations and cash flows . prc value-added tax effective may 1 , 2016 , a 6 % output vat replaced the 5 % business tax ( “ bt ” ) previously applied to certain restaurant sales . input vat would be creditable to the aforementioned 6 % output vat . the latest vat rates imposed on our purchase of materials and services included 13 % , 9 % and 6 % , which were gradually changed from 17 % , 13 % , 11 % and 6 % since 2017. these rate changes impact our input vat on all materials and certain services , mainly including construction , transportation and leasing . however , the impact on our operating results is not expected to be significant . 74 2019 form 10-k entities that are vat general taxpayers are permitted to offset qualified input vat paid to suppliers against their output vat upon receipt of appropriate supplier vat invoices on an entity-by-entity basis . when the output vat exceeds the input vat , the difference is remitted to tax authorities , usually on a monthly basis ; whereas when the input vat exceeds the output vat , the difference is treated as an input vat credit asset which can be carried forward indefinitely to offset future net vat payables . vat related to purchases and sales which have not been settled at the balance sheet date is disclosed separately as an asset and liability , respectively , on the consolidated balance sheets . at each balance sheet date , the company reviews the outstanding balance of any input vat credit asset for recoverability , giving consideration to the indefinite life of the input vat credit assets as well as its forecasted operating results and capital spending , which inherently includes significant assumptions that are subject to change . as of december 31 , 2019 , an input vat credit asset of $ 243 million and payable of $ 5 million were recorded in other assets and accounts payable and other current liabilities , respectively , on the consolidated balance sheets . the company has not made an allowance for the recoverability of the input vat credit asset , as the balance is expected to be utilized to offset against vat payables more than one year from december 31 , 2019. any input vat credit asset would be classified as prepaid expenses and other current assets if the company expected to use the credit within one year . we have been benefiting from the retail tax structure reform since it was implemented on may 1 , 2016. however , the amount of our expected benefit from this vat regime depends on a number of factors , some of which are outside of our control . the interpretation and application of the new vat regime are not settled at some local governmental levels . in addition , the timetable for enacting the prevailing vat regulations into national vat law , including ultimate enacted vat rates , is not clear . as a result , for the foreseeable future , the benefit of this significant and complex vat reform has the potential to fluctuate from quarter to quarter . foreign currency exchange rate the reporting currency of the company is the us $ . most of the revenues , costs , assets and liabilities of the company are denominated in rmb . any significant change in the exchange rate between

