McDonald¡¯s Corp. said it¡¯s shelving plans to sell a stake in its Japan unit that has seen a turnaround since the company announced it was looking for a buyer more than a year ago.

After a review, the world¡¯s largest restaurant chain has ¡°made the decision to not proceed with the transaction at this time,¡± said Chief Financial Officer Kevin Ozan on an earnings call with analysts Tuesday. The decision to keep McDonald¡¯s Holdings Co. Japan won¡¯t impact long-term financial targets or its intention to reach its goal of having 95 percent of restaurants franchised over the long term, he said.

¡°We¡¯re confident that we have the right capabilities and customer-focused plans to grow our business in Japan, and we believe the market is poised to maintain its strong momentum,¡± said Ozan.

When McDonald¡¯s announced it was studying the prospect of a sale in January 2016, the Japan unit had posted quarterly losses since mid-2014 in the wake of a series of food scandals. Since then, the unit has rebounded and forecast in February that net income for 2017 will probably be ?8.5 billion ($76 million).

In March, the unit reported same-store sales rose almost 17 percent from a year ago, extending its monthly sales growth to 16 consecutive months. It has lured customers by bringing back popular menu items and maintained momentum in the wake of a worldwide mobile game frenzy sparked by Nintendo Co.¡¯s ¡°Pokemon Go.¡± The restaurant gave away figurines of the game¡¯s characters.

Japan was the biggest contributor to growth in McDonald¡¯s so-called foundational market segment where it¡¯s focused on increasing franchises, with ¡°double-digit comparable sales on top of double-digit performance in the first quarter of 2016,¡± according to the company.

McDonald¡¯s was seeking to sell as much as 33 percent of outstanding shares in the Japan unit, the Nikkei newspaper had reported.

Shares of McDonald¡¯s Japan have risen about 12 percent this year, compared to the 0.8 percent gain in the benchmark Topix index.