McDonalds & Music
McDonald's fast-food chain said global sales climbed 6.4 percent last month, a 15th straight monthly increase, spurred by free music downloads in the United States.
BLOOMBERG NEWS
McDonald's fast-food chain said global sales climbed 6.4 percent last month, a 15th straight monthly increase, spurred by free music downloads in the United States.
Sales at U.S. restaurants open at least 13 months rose 7.8 percent compared with a year earlier, Oak Brook, Ill.- based McDonald's said in a statement. Sales increased 2.1 percent in Europe and 8.3 percent in a region encompassing Asia, the Pacific, the Middle East and Africa.
Chief executive Charlie Bell, 43, extended U.S. sales gains by offering free downloads of songs such as "The Reason" by Hoobastank with the purchase of a Big Mac Extra Value meal.
McDonald's added the Salads Plus menu in Europe earlier this year to replicate the chain's success in the United States with food other than hamburgers.
Shares of McDonald's fell 18 cents to $26.16 at the close of New York Stock Exchange trading. They had risen 6.1 percent this year.
Systemwide sales increased 11 percent worldwide last month, or 7.2 percent excluding the benefit of currency exchanges.
Renovations and the addition of late-night hours at some restaurants also helped U.S. sales, analyst Howard Penney of Arlington, Va.-based Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co. wrote in a report Friday. He has an "outperform" rating on McDonald's shares.
Comparable- store sales in the year's first seven months rose 8.2 percent worldwide, 11 percent in the United States and 3.7 percent in Europe.
The company expects its Summer Olympics advertising to boost sales this month, Bell said in the statement.
McDonald's serves 47 million customers in more than 100 countries each day. The company has more than 30,000 restaurants, including about 13,000 in the United States.
Bell was promoted from chief operating officer after the death of chief executive James Cantalupo on April 19.
AP PHOTO - McDonald's, which has seen growth for the 15th straight month, has more than 30,000 stores world wide.
August 10, 2004
Chain Leader
Posted by Craig at August 16, 2004 03:00 PM