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