Ralph Alvarez, CEO, said in a conference call with financial analysts that the worldwide chain in the past 12 months has reduced the number of company-owned restaurants by 1,200, or 5%, and that the chain's company-owned stores now account for 22% of its locations, down from 27% before the reduction. "As we look to optimize our business, we will continue to evolve our ownership mix," Alvarez told the analysts.

The McDonald's CEO noted that the company closed a transaction during the third quarter in which it switched restaurants to franchise ownership in 18 Latin American countries. At the same time, the company's Latin American operations posted an 18.3% increase in comparable sales, one of a number of strong comp sales figures in the various geographic divisions of the company's operations.

"Each area of the world contributed to our success," Alvarez said, pointing out that comp store sales rose 6.5% in Europe, 5.1% in the US and 11.4% in the Middle East, Asia and Africa division, the highest quarterly comp figure in 10 years for that division.