McDonald's China going ahead with 400 restaurant openings this year

The fast food giant also has plans to reduce their stake in their Japan business.

McDonald’s is going ahead with plans to open 400 restaurants in China this year amidst uncertainty and depressed consumer sentiment due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“While we expect recovery to continue to be somewhat gradual and uneven for many markets around the globe in the near term, we're proud of our teams and the way we've responded to the pandemic,” Kevin Ozan, McDonald’s Corporation vice president and chief financial officer said in an earnings call for their latest quarterly report.

McDonald’s China has opened about 150 restaurants through June in terms of new unit development.

Despite early signs that point to a solid recovery, McDonald’s describe their pace of improvement in the market as having slowed as customers remain wary of social activities, expecting this “more subdued pattern” to continue into 2021.

The fast food giant also revealed plans to gradually reduce their ownership stake in their Japanese business due to its strong performance over the past years.

McDonald’s currently owns about 49% of the business and plans to retain at least 35% ownership, aimed to provide them with additional financial flexibility to execute our capital allocation strategy.

Of the chain's 39,000 restaurants worldwide, 96 percent are now open, compared with 75 percent at the start of the second quarter. Comparable store sales that were down 39 percent in April were down only 12 percent by June.

Second-quarter net income fell 68 percent to US$484 million. Earnings, adjusted for one-time items, were 66 cents per share. Same-store sales fell 24 percent for the entire quarter.

Revenue fell 30 percent to US$3.76 billion.