McDonald’s Chief Financial Officer, Ian Borden, announced on Wednesday that international sales are expected to decline further in the current quarter due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and sluggish demand in China, causing the company’s shares to drop by 2% in early trading.
Speaking at the UBS Global Consumer and Retail Conference, Borden stated that comparable sales for the first quarter in McDonald’s international franchised markets are expected to be “slightly below” the previous three-month period.
The company’s February sales fell short of Wall Street estimates for the fourth quarter in this segment, partly due to protests and boycott campaigns against many Western brands over their stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“We continue to deal with the impact of the war in the Middle East,” Borden said. “But we are also seeing what I would call a slow start in China this year.”
Global companies like McDonald’s are also facing weak demand in China, where employment challenges, the deepening real estate crisis, and economic uncertainties have dampened consumer sentiment.
