McDonald's plans 1,000 more restaurants in 2010

During its investors meeting today, McDonald's Corp. Chief Executive Officer Jim Skinner and other senior management said they plan more growth and will open about 1,000 new restaurants and remodel 2,300 existing locations worldwide in 2010.

"Over the last seven years, we have stayed committed to the Plan to Win and our focus on being better, not just bigger," Skinner said. "This focus has delivered results as we have consistently exceeded our growth targets."

McDonald's said its growth targets are: average annual sales growth of 3 percent to 5 percent; and average annual operating income growth of 6 percent to 7 percent.

"These targets have aligned our System behind growing sales and profitability to generate strong returns," Skinner told investors. "They are realistic and sustainable for a company our size and keep us focused on making the best decisions for the long term."

Chief Operating Officer Ralph Alvarez said, "We will continue to pursue opportunities to extend our relevance with a particular emphasis on three key areas: service enhancements, restaurant reimaging and menu innovation. With service, we will leverage technology to make it easier for managers and crew to quickly and accurately serve the customer. To enhance brand perceptions and drive higher sales and returns, we're accelerating our interior and exterior reimaging efforts around the world. And we are innovating at every tier of our menu to sustain our momentum and create excitement for our customers."

Chief Financial Officer Pete Bensen said, "We continue to achieve returns on incremental invested capital that are significantly above our high-teens target, enabling further reinvestment in our business. Our future opportunities are significant and, given our strong competitive position, we are increasing capital expenditures in 2010 to $2.4 billion for strategic brand differentiating investments, like reimaging."

The company's preliminary 2010 outlook is for its overall basket of goods cost to be relatively flat in the United States and Europe. In addition, the company said that currency translation is expected to benefit 2010 earnings per share by 10 to 13 cents based on current exchange rates.

"The time is ideal for us to further differentiate our brand and grow market share," Skinner said. "We are determined to keep stretching our business, increasing traffic and becoming more relevant to a growing number of customers around the world."