Fast food giant McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE:MCD) saw its fourth-quarter earnings and revenues beat forecasts, although US like-for-likes sales declined reflecting tough comparatives after the All-Day Breakfast launch a year earlier, and some harsher weather.
For the fourth-quarter to December 31, McDonald's reported adjusted earnings of US$1.44 per share, beating forecasts of US$1.41 per share, and up from US$1.31 a share for the same period in 2015.
Revenues in the fourth quarter totalled US$6.03bn, down from US$6.34bn in the same quarter of 2015, but just edging forecasts of US$5.99bn.
READ: McDonald's China deal ...
The restaurant firm said its global like-for-likes sales were up 2.7% in the quarter, but same-store sales in the US fell by 1.3% although that was slightly better than forecasts for a 1.4% decline.
McDonald's attributed the US sales decline to a tough comparison against the prior year’s launch of the very successful All-Day Breakfast product and to milder weather in 2015
Analysts were expecting bad weather in the period to hurt McDonald's fourth-quarter US sales, as many others in the restaurant industry have reported a slump in sales during December and January, after a stronger November.
Chinese growth …
Outside of the US, McDonald’s said fourth-quarter same-store sales rose 4.7% in the high growth segment, led by China, where the firm earlier this month agreed a joint venture deal.
State-backed Chinese conglomerate CITIC and US private equity firm Carlyle Group are paying up to US$2.1bn for a 20-year partnership deal with McDonald’s in China and Hong Kong, in a deal designed to beef up expansion without using much of its own capital.
McDonald's president and chief executive officer Steve Easterbrook said: ”We took bold, urgent action in 2015 to reset the business and position McDonald's to deliver sustained profitable growth.”
He added: “We ended the year with momentum, including positive comparable sales across all segments for both the quarter and the year - a testament to the swift changes we made and the early impact of our turnaround efforts."
And Easterbrook concluded: “As we enter 2016, we expect continued positive top-line momentum across all segments."
But he added that "we are mindful of the comparison we face against first quarter 2016 results, which benefited from leap year, favourable weather and continued momentum from All-Day Breakfast in the US."