McDonald’s Restaurants Limited, the UK arm of the fast food giant, saw turnover for 2013 grow 13.7% to reach £1.5bn in 2013, as pre-tax profits rose 21.1% to £244.9m.
The company said it delivered “sound results in a difficult business climate” and it attributed the increase in turnover to “strong sales growth from all store types”.
Gross profits rose from £339.3m to £377.8m and operating profit increased by 18.4% to £233.8m. McDonald’s put this down to higher sales and margins within company-owned restaurants and “positive sales growth” from franchisee restaurants.
“The increased profitability in recent years has left the company in a sound financial position at the end of the year and this is in line with the directors’ expectations.”
During the year directors exercised share options in parent company McDonald’s Corporation, with the highest paid director, believed to be chief executive Jill McDonald, receiving £453,597 from this. However, her remuneration (excluding pension contributions) fell overall from £1.1m to £951,000.
Staff costs in the year grew from £319.2m to £320.4m as average employee numbers increased from 37,133 to 37,796.
