McDonald's Corporation

Hello and welcome to McDonald's 4th Quarter 2024 Investor Conference Call. At the request of McDonald's Corporation, this conference is being recorded. Following today's presentation, there will be a question and answer session for investors. At that time, investors only may ask a question by pressing star 1 on their touchtone phone. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Scott Meter, Interim Treasurer for McDonald's Corporation. Mr. Meter, you may begin.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. With me on the call today are Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Chris Kamczynski and Chief Financial Officer Ian Borden. As a reminder, the forward-looking statements in our earnings release and 8-K filing also apply to our comments on the call today. Both of those documents are available on our website, as are reconciliations of any non-GAAP financial measures mentioned on today's call along with their corresponding gap measures. Following prepared remarks this morning, we will take your questions. Please limit yourself to one question and then re-enter the queue for any additional questions. Today's conference call is being webcast and is also being recorded for replay via our website. And now, I'll turn it over to Chris.

Thanks, Scott, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today to review our fourth quarter and fiscal year results. Obviously, our performance in 2024 did not meet our expectations, but I'm still immensely proud of our McDonald's system. It was a busy year, and at times it felt like McDonald's was a part of almost every major news story reflecting the reach and visibility of our brand. Throughout it all, McDonald's people were resilient and responsive. We stayed focused on our customers, acted swiftly when needed, and continued to run our restaurants at a high level. To our employees, franchisees, and suppliers, I want to say thank you. In 2024, global comp sales decreased 0.1% for the full year, with comps up 0.4% in the fourth quarter, including positive comps across our IDL and IOM segments. In the U.S., comp sales were down 1.4% for Q4 amidst the impact of the E. coli outbreak linked to slivered onions on our quarter pounders. and we'll provide you with more texture on these results in just a minute. As we transition into 2025, several factors give me confidence that our performance will return to proper form over the next several quarters. First, we have the right strategy, accelerating the arches. Our MCD growth pillars still offer significant growth opportunities, and I'm pleased with the 2025 market plans, particularly their balance of value and full margin food innovation. Second, the U.S. food safety issue is now largely behind us and we expect to have fully recovered by the beginning of Q2. At McDonald's, we always say that food safety is our number one priority and this unfortunate incident is an important reminder of that fact. The strength of our brand depends upon the absolute trust of our customers and I'm pleased by the positive feedback we've received from so many regarding our rapid and transparent handling of this issue. And third, We'll continue to realize incremental benefits as more markets deploy new solutions from each of our three strategic technology platforms, consumer, restaurant, and company. Later, I'll come back and provide more visibility into our 2025 plans. But for now, let's move on to Ian, who will discuss Q4 and full year results.