China, Japan drag down McDonald’s January sales

McDonald's Corp's worldwide same-restaurant sales declined a sharper than the expected 1.2 per cent in January, as the company struggled to live down the after-effects of food scandals in China and Japan, chinatopix.com reported. The company's sales were down 1.8 per cent.

January came as the eighth straight month of worldwide same-restaurant sales declines at McDonald's, which is battling changing consumer tastes, tough competition in the US and economic and political turmoil in Europe, its top sales market.

Shares of the world's largest fast-food chain were down over 1 per cent to $92.95 in premarket trading.

Comparable restaurant sales in Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa were down 12.6 per cent in January, even as analysts on average expected a fall of 8.4 per cent, according to research firm Consensus Metrix.

According to projections of analysts, same-restaurant sales worldwide were expected to decline 1.2 per cent.

Sales at US restaurants that had been open for at least 13 months, a closely watched gauge of performance, were up 0.4 per cent, aided by higher demand of its breakfast items, which was marginally better than analysts' projection of a 0.3 per cent increase.

December saw sales increase for the first time since October 2013 amid competition from smaller and more nimble direct rivals ranging from Burger King to Chick-fil-A.

Meanwhile, csmonitor.com reported that McDonald's worse-than-expected January sales, were dragged down by its Asian restaurants.

The sales last month suffered amid food safety scandals in China and Japan. 

McDonald's meat supplier in China, Shanghai Husi Food Co, faced accusations of using expired meat, which prompted McDonald's to take meat products off its menus in China.

December saw, McDonald's forced to ration fries after a labour dispute in the US ports led to a shortage of potato supply. There were also reports in the same month, of a human tooth in fries, while plastic was found in its chicken nuggets.

McDonald's looking to win back its customers. said "brand recovery" was its top priority in Asia. According to the fast food chain, it had suspended ties with Shanghai Husi parent OSI Group LLC, even as its Japan unit placed supply chain monitoring under its chief financial officer.