McDonald's faces quarterly sales slump amid boycotts, report says

McDonald's experienced its first quarterly sales deficit in almost four years, stemming from poor growth in its international business unit and due to customers boycotting the firm for its perceived support of Israel, the BBC has reported.

Sales growth in the division covering the Middle East, China, and India was just 0.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2023, significantly underperforming market forecasts.

The company's operations in Malaysia, Indonesia, and France were impacted, with the most substantial effects observed in the Middle East, according to chief executive Chris Kempczinski, said on Monday.

"So long as this war is going on... we're not expecting to see any significant improvement [in these markets]," Kempczinski said.