The conflict between Israel and Palestinian freedom fighters in Gaza has hurt McDonald’s sales in the Middle East, the American fast-food chain has confirmed.
The company’s fourth-quarter revenues released on Monday were below market expectations, with the burger giant citing the impact of the conflict in the Middle East.
Sales growth in the licensed franchise markets was also weaker than expected. McDonald’s shares fell nearly 4% following the report.
Another American company, coffee franchise Starbucks, also revealed last week that it missed Wall Street revenue forecasts in the fourth quarter of 2023 amid a decline in domestic and international sales.
The coffeehouse chain also cited the impact of the conflict in Gaza, as well as increased discounting by rivals in overseas markets.
The two restaurant giants are among several Western brands that have seen boycott campaigns against them over their perceived pro-Israeli stance.
McDonald’s said the company saw weaker sales in majority-Muslim countries, like Malaysia and Indonesia, and in France, which has the largest Muslim population in Western Europe. McDonald’s did not note any effect on its domestic sales.
Starbucks admitted last week that boycotts had not only hurt its sales in the Middle East but also in the USA.
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Numerous major Western brands have shed customers and seen profits dented due to boycott campaigns in the Middle East targeting companies seen as supporting Israel in the war in Gaza, Bloomberg reported on Friday.
The shares of Americana Restaurants International, which operates KFC, Pizza Hut, Krispy Kreme, and Hardee’s franchises in the Middle East, have dropped by 27% on the Saudi stock exchange in the past three months.
Analysts expect the companies’ first-quarter profits to plunge on account of the boycotts.
Coca-Cola’s Turkish distributor saw sales volumes drop by 22% in the fourth quarter of 2023 against the previous three months, after the country’s parliament joined the boycott movement in November and said it would remove the soft drink from its cafeterias.
Meanwhile, local brands have seen a boost in business due to the boycotts. According to Bloomberg, in Kuwait, homegrown coffee stores saw earnings soar over the past three months, as customers largely stopped visiting Starbucks.
Jordanian coffee chain Astrolabe saw sales jump by 30%, according to founder Moath Fauri. He noted that the chain has dropped American and French products across its branches and instead buys from local sources.
In Egypt, the local soda brand Spiro Spathis has seen sales skyrocket, according to commercial director Youssef Atwan.
Suddenly we were bombarded with orders from supermarkets, restaurants, we were trying hard to cope with the demand. Clients would go to restaurants and either ask for our brand or at least refuse to drink those on the boycott list.
RT. com / ABC Flash Point News 2024.
Look at ingredients of star fukks and see what their feeding you?!! is MacDonald’s still putting human meat (pink slime) in your buggers? If you ate at mac you were a cannibal. !!!!!!!!!!!! They were caught red handed Oklahoma city. with 6 semi’s full of human meat.
It’s Eating crap on crap that just so happened to be cooked in crap. And if you eat it. your crap too!
People are dying and they are concerned with lower sales………….
Well, the weapon sales to Israel will make up for this?