McDonald's quarterly net higher on sales growth

CHICAGO - Fast-food leader McDonald's Corp. said Thursday first-quarter earnings rose 42 percent from a year ago, helped by solid sales and a tax benefit.
The Oak Brook, Illinois restaurant giant recorded net income of 727.9 million dollars, or 56 cents a share, up from the 511.5 million dollars, or 40 cents per share, earned in the first quarter of last year.
Excluding a one-time tax gain, the profit amounted to 43 cents a share, in line with most analysts' forecasts.
Revenue rose nine percent in the latest quarter, reaching 4.8 billion dollars from 4.4 billion in the same period a year earlier.
McDonald's, a Dow Industrials component, attributed the improved quarterly results to a global same-store sales increase of 4.6 percent, offsetting higher commodity costs.
"We continued our positive momentum in the quarter, with solid revenue and operating income growth, on top of last year's outstanding double-digit growth that included one additional day due to leap year," said chief executive Jim Skinner.

04/21/2005 13:28 GMT