graphic
News > Companies
McDonald's profits fall
January 24, 2001: 12:05 p.m. ET

World's largest restaurant chain earns 34 cents a share in 4Q
graphic
graphic graphic
graphic
NEW YORK (CNNfn) - McDonald's Corp. reported lower quarterly profits Wednesday for the first time in 2-1/2 years as the scare over mad cow disease hurt its results in Europe.

The company's 7 percent decline in fourth-quarter earnings was a bit worse than Wall Street had expected, and its stock sank 4 percent on the news.

The world's largest restaurant chain said it earned $452 million, or 34 cents a share, in the quarter, down from $486 million, or 35 cents a share a year earlier. Wall Street had been looking for profits of 35 cents a share, according to First Call, which tracks analysts' forecasts.

McDonald's (MCD: Research, Estimates) sales rose 6 percent to $3.6 billion in the quarter while systemwide sales including affiliates grew 2 percent to $9.9 billion, the company said in a statement. But sales fell 9 percent in Europe.

`These results were tempered by the recent decline in consumer confidence in the European beef supply," Chairman Jack Greenberg said, according to the Associated Press. The first quarter of 2001, Greenberg said, also is proving "very challenging" due to "continuing consumer confidence issues about European beef."

The recent outbreak of mad cow disease hit McDonald's sales particularly hard in France, where it first surfaced, as well as Germany, Spain and Italy, the Oak Brook, Ill.-based company said.

McDonald's stock, one of 30 in the Dow Jones industrial average, slid $1.25 to $31.63.

-- from staff and wire reports graphic





graphic


Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.