Outside the United States, McDonald’s held up particularly well in Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Japan and Brazil. JOSHUA ROBERTS/REUTERS
The fast-food chain was buoyed in late 2022 by a continued influx of customers and increases in the price of its menus.
McDonald’s was buoyed at the end of 2022 by a continued influx of customers into its restaurants and price hikes on its menus, but warns that inflation continues to weigh on its business. Same-store sales, the industry benchmark, jumped 12.6% in the fourth quarter. In the United States, its largest market, they were driven by price increases and an increase in the number of customers. The group also attributes its progress to promotional operations, such as McRib pork sandwiches, as well as to online and delivery sales.
For Neil Saunders of Global Data, the group is benefiting, as the economy deteriorates, from the arrival of customers who still want to go to a restaurant, but at lower prices, who find it an affordable way to feed their families. or who see it as a way of doinga little pleasure in the face of a gloomy economic outlook“. The group “also has the meritto stand out with its promotional operations, he adds in a note.
Outside the United States, McDonald’s held up particularly well in Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Japan and Brazil, helping to offset lower sales in China where health restrictions continued to apply. to weigh. The company’s overall revenue, however, fell 1% in the fourth quarter to $5.9 billion, due to currency effects. Without taking this element into account, it increased by 5%. Its net profit rose 16% to $1.9 billion. For the year as a whole, like-for-like sales increased by 10.9%.
Sales stagnated at $23.2 billion, but were up 6% excluding currency effects. Net profit fell by 18% to 6.2 billion dollars, the group having in particular had to record a charge of 1.3 billion linked to the sale of its activities in Russia.
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McDonald’s has also faced rising costs and for 2023, “we expect inflationary pressures to continue in the near term“said general manager Chris Kempczinski in the press release. He plans to focus on opening new restaurants. The action fell 1.8% in electronic trading before the opening of the New York Stock Exchange.
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