McDonald’s Corp. said on Monday that its U.S. same-store sales increased 5.7 percent in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, as better weather and all-day breakfast gave the burger chain its best sales results since 2012.
Global same-store sales rose 5 percent as the company regained momentum in all of its major global markets.
“We took bold, urgent action in 2015 to reset the business and position McDonald’s to deliver sustained profitable growth,” McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook said in a statement. “We ended the year with momentum, including positive comparable sales across all segments for both the quarter and the year, a testament to the swift changes we made and the early impact of our turnaround efforts.”
Net income increased 10 percent to $1.2 billion in the fourth quarter from $1.1 billion, while earnings per share increased 16 percent to $1.31 from $1.13. Factoring out the impact of the strong dollar on foreign earnings, EPS increased 26 percent.
For the year, profits actually fell 5 percent to $4.5 billion from $4.8 billion, but increased 5 percent on a constant currency basis.
Revenues for the quarter declined 4 percent to $6.3 billion from $6.6 billion, and down 7 percent for the year, to $25.4 billion from $27.4 billion.
Investors had been expecting improved McDonald’s results for weeks, with its stock up about 10 percent in the past three months entering Monday, thanks to the company’s expected domestic improvement. The chain started serving breakfast items all day, something consumers long demanded. It also took other steps to improve service, like fixing drive-thru errors, and gave different regions more autonomy to offer unique products.
The company also said that better weather in the quarter, especially in November and December, contributed to the sales improvement.
The company recently started offering a new nationwide value platform, the McPick menu, offering customers two items from a selection of four for $2. It also suggested that the company is focused on “comprehensive simplification efforts” and “core menu enhancements” this year.
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