(Reuters) - McDonald's Corp reported a lower-than-expected fall in worldwide sales at its established restaurants in April, helped by a stronger performance in Europe.
The world's biggest restaurant chain's shares rose 0.8 percent to $97.55 in premarket trading on Friday.
Same-store sales at McDonald's restaurants globally fell 0.6 percent in April, marking its 11th straight monthly decline.
That was better than analysts' average estimate of a 1.8 percent fall, according to analysts polled by research firm Consensus Metrix.
Same-restaurant sales rose 1 percent in Europe, boosted by the United Kingdom and Germany.
Sales at the company's U.S. restaurants open at least 13 months fell 2.3 percent last month, their third straight decline. The United States is McDonald's top region for profit.
Same-restaurant sales were down 3.8 percent in McDonald's Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa (APMEA) business, which includes China, as the company fights to recover from food scandals in China and Japan.
Analysts on average had estimated a 0.2 percent uptick in Europe, a 2.3 percent drop in the United States and a 5.8 percent decline in APMEA.
McDonald's Chief Executive Steve Easterbrook announced a plan on Monday to reorganize business units, sell restaurants to franchisees and cut costs in a bid to turn the fast-food giant into a "modern, progressive burger company."
(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles and Sruthi Ramakrishnan in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)
