McDonald's serves up rising sales and profits in turnaround bid

McDonald’s has reported strong restaurant sales in its third quarter, as new burgers helped the company to lure more customers and beat its rivals.

The American fast-food chain eclipsed analyst forecasts, with global sales at restaurants open at least 13 months rising by 6% for the quarter.

SEE ALSO:

• McDonald's McCafé Frappes to hit store shelves
• McDonald’s is giving away Big Mac onesies on McDelivery Day
• McDonald's adopts mobile tech to reverse declining customer base

This translates to a third straight quarterly traffic increase which beats the 4.5% gain predicted by analysts polled by Consensus Metrix.

New and cheaper menu offerings, aggressive promotional strategies, as well as mobile delivery helped to boost sales at the chain.  

In July, McDonald's also expanded the number of US restaurants that offered delivery through UberEats.

Total sales at the world's biggest burger chain fell 10% in the third quarter to US$5.75bn.

This was in line analyst forecasts, given that the company sold several of its restaurant franchises in China which were expected to weigh on revenues.

However, US sales jumped by 4.1% and global sales rose 6% after strong gains in the UK, Canada and Asia.

Net profit soared almost 48% to US$1.9bn compared to the same quarter last year, however, this figure included a significant gain from the sale of the China and Hong Kong business to franchising company.