Official figures shared by the company have revealed that for the month of January, McDonald's Corp. managed to record a 2.6% rise in sales during the month of January at eating joints that had been operational for over a year, mainly as strengthening international sales managed to overshadow weakness in the US sector.

Across the US, same-store sales declined by 0.7%, falling back into negative territory after surging marginally during December. While high rate of unemployment continues to pose a challenge to the industry as a whole, McDonald's has recently started a $1 breakfast menu with the aim to kick-start the sluggish sales during morning hours.

Other regions, on the other hand, recorded a rise of 4% in same-store sales, including outlets across Europe and Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa.

The company has named France, US, Japan and Australia as some of its stronger markets, and results from China, on the other hand, showed a difficult comparison with last year's much stronger sales.

"While we might think that unemployment is getting less bad, that's not enough to get us to positive growth in the quick-service restaurant segment", Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Matthew DiFrisco said.