McDonald’s expects to report its first-ever quarterly loss as it struggles through a year of sluggish sales in the United States and abroad, the fast food giant said today.
The announcement sent shares in the world’s largest restaurant company down 8% in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange – just above the seven year low reached in the autumn.
McDonald’s said it expects to incur after-tax charges of at least €380m in the fourth quarter to pay for the restructuring moves it announced last month, including closing underperforming restaurants and pulling out of several countries.
The announcement comes in the wake of a chief executive change at McDonald’s and an apparently failed effort to jump-start sales by launching a price war with Burger King.