McDonald's international same-store sales boost July comps

Nation's Restaurant News, August 20, 2007

OAK BROOK, ILL. -- McDonald's Corp. posted a 6.5-percent year-to-year global comparable-sales increase for July, with its two international regions beating a domestic same-store sales gain of 4.3 percent by several percentage points.

Results for McDonald's largest market, the United States, were positive but not as robust, leading at least one analyst to caution that U.S. same-store sales may not improve during the second half of the year because of a weakening consumer environment. In addition, the chain faces difficult year-to-year comparisons for the remainder of 2006 because of last year's successful introduction of the Snack Wrap menu item.

July same-store sales for restaurants open more than 13 months jumped 9.9 percent in the Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa region, 7.7 percent in Europe, and 4.3 percent in the United States.

The company credited breakfast sales, new menu items, late-night hours and new marketing programs for the U.S. sales increase.

The world's largest restaurant chain, which operates or franchises more than 30,000 namesake restaurants, also reported a systemwide sales increase of 11.7 percent for the month, or 7.8 percent in constant currencies.