经营困难 麦当劳退出冰岛

Iceland edged further towards the margins of the global economy yesterday when McDonald's announced the closure of its three restaurants in the crisis-hit country and said that it had no plans to return.

受危机重创的冰岛进一步滑向了全球经济的边缘。麦当劳(McDonald's)昨日宣布，关闭在该国的三家餐厅，并表示没有重新开张的计划。

The move will see Iceland, one of the world's wealthiest nations per capita until the collapse of its banking sector last year, join Albania, Armenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina in a small band of European countries without a McDonald's.

此举将使冰岛加入阿尔巴尼亚、亚美尼亚和波黑的行列，成为少数几个没有麦当劳的欧洲国家。而在去年该国银行业崩溃之前，冰岛是近年全球人均最富有的国家之一。

The loss of the Golden Arches highlights the extent of Iceland's economic demise since the pre-crisis boom years when its “Viking Raider” entrepreneurs turned Reykjavik into an international finance centre and launched a buying spree of high-profile European assets.

失去金色M标志凸显出冰岛经济瘫痪的程度。在危机前的景气时期，有“维京掠夺者”之称的冰岛企业家将雷克雅未克变成了国际金融中心，并掀起了一股抢购引人瞩目的欧洲资产的狂潮。

McDonald's blamed the closures on the “very challenging economic climate” and the “unique operational complexity” of doing business in an island nation of just 300,000 people on the edge of the Arctic Circle.

麦当劳将关闭餐厅归咎于在冰岛开展业务“极具挑战性的经济环境”，以及“独特的运作复杂性”。地处北极圈边缘的冰岛，仅有30万人口。

Most ingredients used by McDonald's in Iceland are imported from Germany – leading to a doubling in costs as the krona has collapsed while the euro has strengthened.

麦当劳在冰岛使用的大部分配料均进口自德国，由于克朗大幅贬值，而欧元逐渐走强，其成本翻了一倍。

Magnus Ogmundsson, managing director of Lyst, the McDonald's franchise holder in Iceland, said that price rises of at least 20 per cent were needed to produce an acceptable profit. That would have pushed the price of a Big Mac burger well above the $5.75 it costs to buy one in Switzerland, home to the world's most expensive McDonald's, according to the Big Mac index.

Lyst公司是麦当劳在冰岛的特许经营商，该公司董事总经理Magnus Ogmundsson表示，要想获得可以接受的利润，至少需要涨价20%。这将使一只巨无霸汉堡的价格远远高于在瑞士的5.75美元——根据巨无霸指数，瑞士的麦当劳售价位居全球之首。