Yum! Brands’ (YUM.NYSE) second-quarter profits showed signs of recovery after a bird flu scare and a probe into the company’s KFC chain hurt sales starting late last year, Bloomberg reported. Profit fell by 15% to US$281 million from US$331 million a year earlier, a smaller drop than analyst were predicting in a Bloomberg survey. Profit was 56 cents per share, compared to an average estimate of 54 cents. Aggressive marketing tactics helped revive sales. “They are discounting, promoting and advertizing pretty heavily to try to get people back into the restaurants” in China, said Peter Saleh, an analyst at Telsey Advisory Group in New York.