McDonald's Corp missed Wall Street estimates for quarterly profit and revenue on Thursday as a second round of lockdowns in parts of Europe hurt its business and countered the hamburger chain's sales growth in the U.S. market.
FILE PHOTO: A sign promoting McDonald's"PLT" burger with a Beyond Meat plant-based patty at one of 28 test restaurant locations in Ontario, Canada October 2, 2019. REUTERS/Moe Doiron/File PhotoREUTERS: McDonald's Corp missed Wall Street estimates for quarterly profit and revenue on Thursday as a second round of lockdowns in parts of Europe hurt its business and countered the hamburger chain's sales growth in the U.S. market.
Several European countries announced tough restrictions as the health crisis spiraled out of control late last year, adding to the woes of the restaurant industry, which was already reeling from the impact of the pandemic for much of the year.McDonald's said the restrictions were impacting markets abroad, particularly those with fewer drive-thru locations, and that it was expecting some of them to remain as long as the pandemic's vice-like grip on the world continued.
Fourth-quarter comparable sales for the restaurant chain's international operated markets segment fell 7.4per cent in the fourth quarter, largely due to weakness in France, Germany, Italy and Spain, where the health crisis has been more intense.Comparable sales in the United States, however, rose 5.5per cent, an improvement over the prior quarter and better than the estimate of 5.
Excluding one-time items, the company earned US$1.70 per share, missing the average analyst estimate by 8 cents.Shares of the world's largest fast-food chain fell about 1per cent in trading before the opening bell.