NEW YORK: The American fast-food giant McDonald’s has announced decrease in profits by 2.6 per cent for first quarter from a year ago.
The ubiquitous burger-and-fries chain said US sales, the largest share of global income, fell 2.6 percent for comparable outlets.
Sales in the Asia-Pacific and Middle East region dropped 8.3 percent, helping bring overall global sales down 2.3 percent, “reflecting negative guest traffic in all segments,” the company said.
Total revenue sank 11 percent to $5.96 billion in the quarter to March 31, and net income plunged 32.6 percent to $812 million, or 84 cents a share (-31 percent).
With 36,000 outlets in over 100 countries, McDonald’s has been under pressure from falling customer traffic and revenues for two years, due to a range of challenges including changing consumer tastes and more agile rivals with ostensibly healthier menus.
In January Donald Thompson was replaced as chief executive after just three years in the job.
Successor president and CEO Steve Easterbrook said Wednesday that the company is working to address the challenges, including closing under-performing restaurants and revising and simplifying menus.
“McDonald’s management team is keenly focused on acting more quickly to better address today’s consumer needs, expectations and the competitive marketplace,” he said in a statement.
“We are developing a turnaround plan to improve our performance and deliver enduring profitable growth. We look forward to sharing the initial details of this plan on May 4, 2015.”
