McDonald's reported lower-than-expected quarterly profit today, hurt by a slowing global economy and the impact of a stronger dollar, and said sales growth at established restaurants would slow this month.
Shares in the world's largest fast-food chain operator fell 2.1 per cent to $89.65 in pre-market trading in the US.
The results come just days after Chipotle Mexican Grill surprised investors by saying the sluggish US economy had cooled same-restaurant sales growth, adding to concerns about how much consumers were cutting back on discretionary spending.
McDonald's net income fell to $1.35 billion, or $1.32 per share, during the second quarter, from $1.41 billion, or $1.35 per share, a year earlier.
The impact of the stronger dollar - which lessens the value of sales overseas for US companies - cut 7 cents a share from earnings in the latest quarter, the company said.Analysts, on average, looked for $1.37 a share, according to Thomson Reuters.
Sales edged up to $6.92 billion from $6.91 billion a year earlier.Sales at restaurants open at least 13 months were up 3.7 per cent in the quarter, exceeding the 2.9 per cent increase expected by analysts polled by Consensus Metrix, but down from a 5.6 per cent increase in June.
Comparable sales growth slowed even more in June - to 4.4 from a 7.7 per cent rise a year ago.
The company said it expects same-restaurant sales to rise in July, but less than they did in the second quarter.Same-restaurant sales rose 3.6 per cent in the United States and 3.8 per cent in Europe in the quarter.
Analysts expected gains of 3.5 per cent in the US and 2.4 per cent for Europe.Comparable sales rose 0.9 per cent in the Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa region, hurt by weakness in Japan. Analysts expected a 0.8 per cent increase in that region.
Reuters
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/VR3765MFOBH2NMV2QNICYDF67M.png)