The increase came as kind of a surprise for the world’s largest fast-food chain, which had been troubled by declining sales worldwide, but particularly in the United States, for years.
Sales at restaurants open at least a year, called same-store sales in the industry, rose 5.7 percent in the U.S. and 5 percent globally, according to the New York Times newspaper.
“We ended the year with momentum, including positive comparable sales across all segments for both the quarter and the year, a testament to the swift changes we made and the early impact of our turnaround efforts,” said McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook in a written statement.
Fourth quarter profits rose 10 percent $1.2 billion, $1.31 a share, from $1.1 billion, or $1.13 a share, in the fourth quarter of 2014.
McDonald’s shares rose more than 2 percent in early trading on Monday, the newspaper said.
Sales at the chain’s 36,000 locations also were boosted by the introduction of its so-called McPick menu, which offered customers a choice of two of four selected menu items for $2.
McDonald’s also benefited from publicity for more environmentally friendly packaging and unusually mild winter weather in the United States, the newspaper said.
“Clearly, All Day Breakfast is helping bring back lapsed customers and may even be bringing in new customers who wouldn’t normally be going to McDonald’s,” said Mark Kalinowski of Nomura Holdings Inc., the investment group that bought Lehman Brothers investment banking operations in Asia and Europe in 2008.
“I’m hearing that from franchisees — and from friends, too,” Kalinowski said.
Even with the fourth-quarter boost, however, McDonald’s profits fell by 5 percent to $4.5 billion and yearly sales slumped to $25.4 billion from $27.4 billion, the newspaper said.
