Darden Restaurants Reports Fiscal 2024 Second Quarter Results; Declares Quarterly Dividend; And Updates Fiscal 2024 Financial Outlook

ORLANDO, Fla., Dec. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) today reported its financial results for the second quarter ended November 26, 2023.

Second Quarter 2024 Financial Highlights, Comparisons Versus Same Fiscal Quarter Last Year

• Total sales increased 9.7% to $2.7 billion, driven by a blended same-restaurant sales* increase of 2.8% and sales from the addition of 78 company-owned Ruth's Chris Steak House (Ruth's Chris) restaurants and 45 other net new restaurants
• Same-restaurant sales

• Reported diluted net earnings per share from continuing operations were $1.76
• Excluding $0.08 of Ruth's Chris transaction and integration related costs, adjusted diluted net earnings per share from continuing operations were $1.84, an increase of 21.1%**
• The Company repurchased $181 million of its outstanding common stock

"We continued to profitably grow market share again this quarter as we outperformed industry same-restaurant sales and traffic," said Darden President & CEO Rick Cardenas.  "We remain focused on managing our business for the long term and driving strong operating fundamentals in our restaurants. The holidays are the busiest time of year for our restaurant teams, and I would like to thank them for everything they do to delight our guests and help create special holiday memories."

Segment Performance
Segment profit represents sales, less costs for food and beverage, restaurant labor, restaurant expenses and marketing expenses. Segment profit excludes non-cash real estate related expenses. From the date of acquisition forward, sales and profits from Ruth's Chris company-owned restaurants are included within the Fine Dining segment. Royalties from Ruth's Chris franchise and managed locations reside in the Other Business segment.

Dividend Declared
Darden's Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $1.31 per share on the Company's outstanding common stock. The dividend is payable on February 1, 2024 to shareholders of record at the close of business on January 10, 2024.

Share Repurchase Program
During the quarter, the Company repurchased approximately 1.2 million shares of its common stock for a total of approximately $181 million.  As of the end of the fiscal second quarter, the Company had approximately $328 million remaining under the current $1 billion repurchase authorization.

Updated Fiscal 2024 Financial Outlook
The Company updated its full year financial outlook for fiscal 2024 which includes Ruth's Chris operating results, but excludes approximately $55 million, pre-tax, of expected transaction and integration related costs associated with the acquisition. We will provide additional details during our investor conference call scheduled for this morning at 8:30 am ET.

• Total sales of approximately $11.5 billion
• Same-restaurant sales growth of 2.5% to 3.0%
• New restaurant openings of 50 to 55
• Total capital spending of approximately $600 million
• Total inflation of 3.0% to 3.5%
• An effective tax rate of approximately 12% to 12.5%
• Adjusted diluted net earnings per share from continuing operations of $8.75 to $8.90, excluding approximately $0.37, after-tax, of Ruth's Chris transaction and integration related costs*
• Approximately 121.0 million weighted average diluted shares outstanding

Investor Conference Call
The Company will host a conference call and slide presentation today, Friday, December 15, 2023 at 8:30 am ET to review its recent financial performance. The call will be webcast live at:  https://event.choruscall.com/mediaframe/webcast.html?webcastid=qByV89OK. Please allow extra time prior to the call to visit the site and download any software required to listen to the webcast. Prior to the call, a slide presentation will be posted on the Investor Relations section of our website at: www.darden.com. For those who cannot access the Internet, please dial 1-877-407-9219. For those who cannot listen to the live broadcast, a replay will be available shortly after the call.

About Darden
Darden is a restaurant company featuring a portfolio of differentiated brands that include Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Yard House, Ruth's Chris Steak House, Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen, The Capital Grille, Seasons 52, Eddie V's and Bahama Breeze. For more information, please visit www.darden.com.

Information About Forward-Looking Statements
Forward-looking statements in this communication regarding our expected earnings performance and all other statements that are not historical facts, including without limitation statements concerning our future economic performance, are made under the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which such statements are first made, and we undertake no obligation to update such statements to reflect events or circumstances arising after such date. We wish to caution investors not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to materially differ from those anticipated in the statements. The most significant of these uncertainties are described in Darden's Form 10-K, Form 10-Q and Form 8-K reports. These risks and uncertainties include: a failure to address cost pressures and a failure to effectively deliver cost management activities, economic factors and their impacts on the restaurant industry and general macroeconomic factors including unemployment, energy prices and interest rates, the inability to hire, train, reward and retain restaurant team members, a failure to develop and recruit effective leaders,  labor and insurance costs, health concerns including food-related pandemics or outbreaks of flu or other viruses, food safety and food-borne illness concerns, technology failures including failure to maintain a secure cyber network, compliance with privacy and data protection laws and risks of failures or breaches of our data protection systems, the inability to successfully integrate Ruth's Chris Steak House operations into our business, risks relating to public policy changes and federal, state and local regulation of our business, intense competition, changing consumer preferences, an inability or failure to manage the accelerated impact of social media, a failure to execute innovative marketing and guest relationship tactics, climate change, adverse weather conditions and natural disasters, long-term and non-cancelable property leases, failure to execute a business continuity plan following a disaster, shortages or interruptions in the delivery of food and other products and services, failure to drive profitable sales growth, a lack of availability of suitable locations for new restaurants, higher-than-anticipated costs to open, close, relocate or remodel restaurants, risks of doing business with franchisees, licensees and vendors in foreign markets, volatility in the market value of derivatives, volatility leading to the inability to hedge equity compensation market exposure, failure to protect our intellectual property, litigation, unfavorable publicity, disruptions in the financial markets, impairment in the carrying value of our goodwill or other intangible assets, changes in tax laws or unanticipated tax liabilities, failure of our internal controls over financial reporting and other factors and uncertainties discussed from time to time in reports filed by Darden with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Non-GAAP Information
The information in this press release includes financial information determined by methods other than in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"), such as adjusted diluted net earnings per share from continuing operations. The Company's management uses these non-GAAP measures in its analysis of the Company's performance. The Company believes that the presentation of certain non-GAAP measures provides useful supplemental information that is essential to a proper understanding of the operating results of the Company's businesses. These non-GAAP disclosures should not be viewed as a substitute for operating results determined in accordance with GAAP, nor are they necessarily comparable to non-GAAP performance measures that may be presented by other companies. Reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures are included in this release.

SOURCE Darden Restaurants, Inc.: Financial