McDonald's unveils record year and more jobs

Fast food giant McDonald's has hailed a record year in the UK and confirmed plans to create a further 3,000 posts in 2011.

The US group, which yesterday reported a 9 per cent rise in worldwide profits during 2010, said its UK business grew in the fourth quarter despite a "tough market" - marking its 18th quarter of growth in a row.

Last month's snow chaos in Britain and other countries such as Germany saw a more challenging fourth quarter in Europe, with comparable sales growth slowing to 3.4 per cent from 4.1 per cent in the previous three months. Europe accounts for about 40 per cent of group revenues.

Jill McDonald, chief executive of McDonald's UK, but not related to the firm, said: "We succeeded in growing our business and gaining market share from competitors in a tough market."

The group made 80 million more UK customer servings than in 2009 and opened another six restaurants. It plans further expansion in 2011, including new motorway sites, that will see some 3,000 jobs created.

Annual figures showed the world's biggest burger chain made net annual profits of $4.95 billion (3.1bn), up from $4.55bn in 2009.

Fourth-quarter profits and sales growth slowed sharply, although McDonald's maintained growth.