'BTS Effect' McDonald's Earnings Surprise

[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min] The hamburger chain McDonald's, which attracted global 'ARMY' customers, recorded astonishing results.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

McDonald's announced on the 28th (local time) through its Q2 earnings that net sales surged 57% year-on-year to $5.89 billion (approximately 6.8 trillion KRW). This exceeded experts' estimated forecast of $5.6 billion.

Store-level performance was also strong. Same-store sales jumped 40.5% compared to the same period last year. It also recorded a 6.9% growth compared to Q2 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic. In effect, it surpassed pre-pandemic sales.

Net profit was $2.22 billion (approximately 2.6 trillion KRW), overwhelming the $483.8 million from the same period last year.

McDonald's strong performance is interpreted as being due to the global hit of the BTS set menu released last May together with BTS (Bangtan Sonyeondan), as well as the popularity of the new menu item, the Crispy Chicken Sandwich, launched in February.

McDonald's strengthened aggressive marketing activities such as TV advertisements along with the BTS menu launch and ultimately hit a 'home run.'

Right after the BTS menu sales started, in Indonesia, BTS fans flocked to stores all at once, causing some stores to close due to concerns over COVID-19 cluster infections.

McDonald's acknowledged that the sales of McNuggets included in the BTS set drove the strong performance. Customers placed larger orders per visit, expensive menu items sold well, and growth was driven by increased delivery and online orders.

Despite the strong earnings announcement, McDonald's stock price was down about 2% on the day.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.