By Julie Jargon 

McDonald's Corp.'s global sales in 2016 were the strongest in five years, but the burger giant's key U.S. market is still struggling.

Chief Executive Steve Easterbrook said he would focus on attracting more customers this year after two years replacing managers, reducing spending and selling restaurants to franchisees.

"We've got to be serving more customers more often," he told investors on Monday. He said he would offer more specifics on how McDonald's planned to find more customers in the U.S. at an investor meeting in March.

One plan will be rolling out more "experience of the future" kiosks that allow people to customize their orders and select table service. The self-ordering kiosks are already popular in Europe. Mr. Easterbrook said McDonald's will also offer more value promotions such as $1 coffees.

McDonald's global same-store sales increased 2.7% in the quarter that ended in December, well above the 1.4% increase anticipated by analysts in a Consensus Metrix survey. Same-store sales fell 1.3% in the U.S., in line with expectations, compared with a year-earlier quarter that included the popular launch of an all-day breakfast menu.

Mr. Easterbrook said the company's performance in the first three months of this year will also fare poorly against early enthusiasm for those breakfast items last year. The company won't provide guidance for the year until its investor meeting in March.

McDonald's recently struck a deal for investors to take over operations of its restaurants in China and said it is inviting bids for a stake in its Japan unit, part of a long-term goal to have 95% of its stores run by franchisees. The company said it would provide more details in March about remaining markets where it expects to transfer ownership to franchisees.

Fourth-quarter revenue from franchised restaurants rose 3% as sales from company-operated restaurants declined 9%. Overall, revenue fell 5% to $6.03 billion, which the company said was due to selling more restaurants to franchisees.

McDonald's reported net income of $1.19 billion, compared with $1.21 billion in the year-ago quarter. On a per-share basis, earnings rose to $1.44 from $1.31, thanks to a lower outstanding share count. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected $1.41 a share on $5.99 billion in revenue.

Joshua Jamerson contributed to this article.

Write to Julie Jargon at julie.jargon@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 23, 2017 15:16 ET (20:16 GMT)

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