All-Day Breakfast Lifts McDonald's US Sales

Americans' appetite for all-day breakfasts helped McDonald’s post beefed-up US sales in the final three months of last year.

The fast food giant, which is seeking to turn around its fortunes under British boss Steve Easterbrook, also credited unseasonably warm weather.

Comparable sales rose 5.7%. It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) was McDonald's second straight quarter of domestic growth as it fights to win back customers, and the best showing since early 2012. Executives had previously admitted they had failed to keep up with changing tastes.

Meanwhile global comparable sales rose by 5%, with the UK seeing strong growth though economic concerns dragged on performance elsewhere, particularly in France.

For the full year, profit fell 5% to $4.5bn (£3.2bn) while revenues were 7% lower at $25.4bn (£17.8bn).

Mr Easterbrook took charge of McDonald's last March. One of his biggest changes was to respond to demand to serve the Egg McMuffin and other selected breakfast foods outside normal breakfast hours.

The chief executive said: "We took bold, urgent action in 2015 to reset the business and position McDonald's to deliver sustainable profitable growth.

"We ended the year with momentum, including positive comparable sales across all segments for both the quarter and the year – a testament to the swift changes we made and the early impact of our turnaround efforts."

UK chief executive Paul Pomroy said the chain had seen strong growth in Britain last year "fuelled by a relentless focus on our customers' evolving expectations and tastes".

He said the fourth quarter of last year was the busiest quarter ever while December saw the highest monthly sales on record. McDonald's opened 26 new UK restaurants last year.

Innovations include a trial of table service at 14 sites – to be expanded next month – as well as a premium range of burgers.

A spokeswoman said there were no plans to introduce all-day breakfasts in the UK.

The chain has more than 1,200 locations in the UK and employs around 97,000 people.