McDonald today reported a 6 per cent drop in quarterly earnings after a tax benefit boosted year-ago results, but sales and operating profit were lifted by stronger markets such as Germany, France and Australia.
Last week, McDonald's said sales of its new Premium Chicken sandwiches, a strong breakfast business and later hours had helped drive sales in the United States during the quarter.
In Europe, McDonald's second largest market, progress has been slow, in part due to economic weakness in Germany.
However, in recent months demand for products such as the premium Big Tasty hamburger in Germany and France's lower-priced Les Petit Plaisir chicken sandwich have boosted sales in those markets, the company said.
Third-quarter net income fell to $735.4 million, or 58 cents per share, compared with $778.4 million, or 61 cents per share, a year earlier.
Last year's results included a tax benefit of 7 cents per share. Excluding a one-time gain for selling a stake in an unnamed foreign market, the world's largest restaurant company earned 56 cents per share.
On that basis, analysts had predicted earnings of 55 cents a share on average before last week's announcement.
During the quarter, revenue rose 8 per cent to $5.33 billion, while operating income climbed 6 per cent to $1.2 billion.
Sales at McDonald's restaurants open at least 13 months, a key retail measure known as same-store sales, were up 4.1 per cent.