McDonald's Corp said today its quarterly earnings rose as a strong euro inflated revenues in its second-largest market of Europe to mask overall weak demand.
The company said it would continue its strategy of slowing down expansion as it updates its menu and focuses on improving basic operations such as service in hopes of reviving sales at existing restaurants in a soft economy.
McDonald's, which operates more than 30,000 worldwide hamburger outlets, said first-quarter net income rose to $327.4 million, or 26 cents a share. That compares with $253.1 million, or 20 cents, in the year-ago period.
Factoring out changes in accounting rules, earnings per share reached 29 cents compared with 27 cents a year ago.
The company, which reported its first-ever loss in the fourth quarter of 2002, was expected to earn 28 cents a share on average in the quarter, according to analysts polled by Thomson First Call.
Systemwide sales, which includes stores owned by the company and franchisees, rose 5 per cent to $10.2 billion, but were flat excluding the benefit of a strong euro, British pound and other currency comparisons.
