Business briefs: McDonald’s tasty resuls | Nestlé toasts UK sales

PROFITS at fast food giant McDonald’s rose 5 per cent in the first quarter to just below $1.3 billion (£810 million), helped by a makeover of its restaurants.

The figure was also boosted by longer operating hours and new menu items, results yesterday revealed.

Sales at restaurants open at least 13 months were up 7.3 per cent, ahead of the 6.7 per cent increase expected by Wall Street analysts.

Like-for-like sales rose 5 per cent in Europe and by 8.9 per cent in the United States where mild weather has helped lift takings.

Jill McDonald, the head of McDonald’s UK arm, said: “We have been consistently investing to offer customers quality food at affordable prices. We have re-imaged over 90 per cent of our UK restaurants.”

Nestlé toasts dynamic growth in its UK sales

Nestlé, the food and drink giant behind the Kit Kat and Quality Street brands, yesterday said it was pleased with UK trading as it toasted more strong growth in “dynamic” emerging markets.

The group reported worldwide first-quarter sales of SFr 21.4 billion (£14.6bn), up 5.6 per cent from a year ago.

Chief executive Paul Bulcke said: “In many developed markets where consumer confidence is low, the trading environment is subdued while in most emerging markets, conditions remain dynamic and rich in growth opportunities.”

European sales grew by 6.2 per cent, or 0.2 per cent stripping out inflation, compared with the first quarter of 2011. Across Asia, Oceania and Africa there was growth of 11.4 per cent, or 7.2 per cent without inflation, on last year.

The company’s recent launch of chocolate bar Rolo Blocks and instant coffee blend Nescafe Azera helped boost UK sales.