McDonald's reported third-quarter earnings of $547.4 million, or 43 cents per share, up from its year-ago profit of $486.7 million, or 38 cents per share, and 3 cents ahead of the average estimate of 18 analysts.
The hamburger purveyor attributed the better than expected results to its re-vitalization plan, strong sales and profitability initiatives at its US locations, and improved trends in some international markets.
Total revenue rose in the latest three months to $4.5 billion from $4.05 billion in the same period a year earlier. Same-unit sales for McDonald's brand restaurants rose 3.9 percent worldwide, and 9.5 percent in the US for the quarter.
Looking ahead, the Dow component said it expects sales from new restaurants to add two to three percentage points to system-wide sales growth in 2003, that it believes its net debt payments for the year will run to the higher end of its range of $300 million to $700 million. The stock closed yestersday at $23.74, down 1.8 per cent.