McDonald's CFO says overseas sales to weaken more on Middle East, China hit

McDonald's international sales will fall sequentially in the current quarter, pressured by the conflict in the Middle East and demand weakness in China, CFO Ian Borden said on Wednesday, sending its shares down 2% in early trade.

First-quarter comparable sales in McDonald's International Developmental Licensed Markets segment will be "slightly lower" than the prior three-month period, Borden said at the UBS Global Consumer and Retail Conference.

The company in February widely missed Wall Street estimates for fourth-quarter sales in the segment, partly due to protests and boycott campaigns against several Western brands over their perceived pro-Israeli stance in the Israel-Hamas conflict.

"We continue to deal with the impacts of the war in the Middle East. But we're also seeing what I would call a sluggish start in China this year," Borden said.

Global businesses such as McDonald's are also grappling with weak demand in China as employment issues, a deepening property crisis and economic uncertainties put a damper on consumer sentiment.