McDonald's creates 5,000 jobs in UK after record sales in 2009

Mr Easterbrook said that McDonald's had increased UK like-for-like sales by 30pc on a four-year basis. He said the new jobs would come from the opening of up to 15 new branches in 2010 and the extension of opening hours in existing outlets.

The strong UK figures came as parent company McDonald's Corporation said global sales rose by 3.8pc last year. Sales in the US increased by 2.6pc, European sales rose by 5.2pc and sales in Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa rose by 3.4pc. The company said that it served 60m customers a day in 2009.
Mr Easterbrook said that the UK jobs being created would take McDonald's workforce to 85,000 in this country.
"In 2009 we thought we'd create 4,000 new jobs, in fact we created 6,000. This year we expect our growth to create another 5,000 new jobs," he said.
He said that the company had responded well to the recession by tweaking its menu, improving the quality of its products and continuing to roll out a new restaurant format. The launch of freshly-ground coffee increased the number of cups of coffee that McDonald's sold by 9m compared to 2008, Mr Easterbrook said.
He said that the chain's performance over 2009 exceeded his expectations.
"The year started out strong and carried on throughout. The encouraging thing is that we think the job is only half way done," he said.
McDonald's UK has only refurbished half of its chain, with another 550 restaurants to go.
Jim Skinner, McDonald's Corporation's chief executive, said that the 2009 results reflected the "broad-based strength" of its global business.
"Our in-demand food and beverages, unparalleled convenience and superior value at every level of our menu enabled us to serve 60m customers per day during 2009, up 2m per day over the prior year. In addition, McDonald's profitability increased as we marked our sixth consecutive year of positive comparable sales in every geographic segment and generated higher global revenues, operating income and earnings per share in constant currencies – all tremendous accomplishments given the tough global economy," he said.
He added that the company's sales trend has remained positive over the opening weeks of 2010.
"We will continue our fiscal discipline by investing prudently and returning excess cash to shareholders," he said.
Источник: http://www.telegraph.co.uk