McDonald's Corp posted a lower quarterly profit and lower-than-expected sales on Thursday as the recession has pushed U.S. unemployment to the highest level in more than two decades.

The world's largest hamburger chain said second-quarter net income fell to $1.09 billion, or 98 cents a share, from $1.19 billion, or $1.04 a share, a year earlier.

Excluding a 1 cent per share gain from a license deal in Indonesia and the sale of Redbox Automated Retail, McDonald's earned 97 cents a share, matching what analysts polled by Reuters Estimates had expected.

Revenue fell 7 percent from a year before to $5.65 billion, below the almost $5.7 billion analysts had forecast. Sales at restaurants open at least 13 months rose 4.8 percent globally.

Shares of McDonald's fell to $58.36 in premarket trading from Wednesday's closing price on the New York Stock Exchange of $58.82.

(Reporting by Ben Klayman in Chicago, with additional reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles)