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McDonald's sales move up
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March 10, 2000: 12:27 p.m. ET
Overseas business, particularly Europe, drives company's year-to-date figures
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Fast food giant McDonald's Corp. on Friday said January and February sales are up 11 percent from a year ago, driven mainly by growth overseas. Year-to-date sales adjusted for currency fluctuations were up 9 percent from a year ago.
The world's No. 1 fast food chain, based in Oak Brook, Ill., said system-wide sales for the first two months of 2000 totaled $6.2 billion.
The report is the first in a series of monthly year-to-date sales reports the company plans to issue this year, instead of just reporting quarterly sales. Anna Rozenich, a company spokeswoman, said McDonald's adopted the new report this year in response to shareholder requests.
Year-to-date sales in the United States totaled $2.9 billion, a 6 percent jump from a year ago.
But overseas growth represented the greatest jump for the company. Year-to-date sales in Europe jumped 14 percent to $1.6 billion, but a weakened Euro meant a reported 3 percent sales increase, the company said.
Sales in Asia also jumped 12 percent in January and February to $1.2 billion, with a currency-adjusted increase of 17 percent.
Latin American sales for January and February also rose 14 percent to $289 million, with a reported 9 percent increase after adjusting for currency.
"Europe was real good," said Joseph Buckley an analyst with Bear Stearns. He said the European numbers are a positive sign for the company, since the region is the biggest contributor to sales outside the United States.
The report comes a day after McDonald's announced it had invested in Food.com, an online food delivery and take-out service.
"This is really our first foray into Internet commerce, and we remain committed and focused on our core business," Rozenich said. "However, this is a new relationship for us with the team at Food.com ... We look forward to sharing and exchanging ideas with the folks at Food.com."
Rozenich said McDonald's plans to open 1,800-to-1,900 new restaurants this year, the majority of which will be located outside the United States.
The company currently operates 27,000 restaurants worldwide that serve more than 43 million people a day.
Shares of McDonald's (MCD: Research, Estimates) were down 1/4 to 31-3/4 early Friday afternoon. 
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