McDonalds cuts back on restaurant openings

Fast food giant McDonald’s is cutting back plans to open new restaurants after seeing profits slide 11% during the last quarter, it was announced today.

The group, which has 1,200 restaurants in the UK employing around 68,000 people, was hit by problems including competition from rival restaurant chains.

Its figures showed earnings for the three months to September 30 came in at $486.7m (€497.1m) down from $545.5m (€557.1m) a year earlier.

Turnover was up 4%.

McDonald’s said it needed a “significant improvement” in sales if it was to meet its full-year earnings target.

The US-based company is now planning to open 600 McDonald’s restaurants worldwide next year, a sharp fall from the 1,050 opened in 2002.

Chairman and chief executive Jack Greenberg said: “This year certainly has proven to be even more challenging than we had anticipated.”