Darden Restaurants Reports Fiscal 2025 First Quarter Results; Declares Quarterly Dividend; And Reiterates Fiscal 2025 Financial Outlook

ORLANDO, Fla., Sept. 19, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE: DRI) today reported its financial results for the first quarter ended August 25, 2024.

First Quarter 2025 Financial Highlights, Comparisons Versus Same Fiscal Quarter Last Year

• Total sales increased 1.0% to $2.8 billion, driven by sales from 42 net new restaurants, partially offset by a blended same-restaurant sales* decrease of (1.1)%
• Same-restaurant sales:

• Reported diluted net earnings per share from continuing operations were $1.74
• Excluding $0.01 of Chuy's transaction and integration related costs, adjusted diluted net earnings per share from continuing operations were $1.75, a decrease of (1.7)%**
• The Company repurchased $172 million of its outstanding common stock

"We operate in a very dynamic, competitive industry and we have proven we can successfully navigate challenging environments due to our strategy," said Darden President & CEO Rick Cardenas. "While we fell short of our expectations for the first quarter, I firmly believe in the strength of our business. I am confident in the actions all our brand teams are taking to address their guests' needs, which do not compromise the long-term health of our business for short-term benefits."

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 $1.40 per share on the Company's outstanding common stock. The dividend is payable on November 1, 2024 to shareholders of record at the close of business on October 10, 2024.

Share Repurchase Program
During the quarter, the Company repurchased approximately 1.2 million shares of its common stock for a total of  $172 million.  As of the end of the fiscal first quarter, the Company had $743 million remaining under the current $1 billion repurchase authorization.

Fiscal 2025 Financial Outlook
The Company reiterated all aspects of its full year financial outlook for fiscal 2025, culminating in diluted net earnings per share from continuing operations of $9.40 to $9.60, which does not include any impact from Chuy's operations, transaction, financing and integration related costs associated with the pending acquisition.

"The significant step down in traffic during July, led to our first quarter earnings being lower than expected," said Darden CFO Raj Vennam. "Following the softness in July, our sales trend has continued to improve.  Considering this recovery as well as the planned initiatives to support the remainder of the fiscal year, we are reiterating our guidance for fiscal 2025."

Investor Conference Call
The Company will host a conference call and slide presentation today, Thursday, September 19, 2024 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=PaNJ6RaT. 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 complete our acquisition and integration of Chuy's Holdings 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, environmental, social and governance risk, including disclosure expectations and the impacts of third party ratings, 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.

(Analysts) Courtney Aquilla, (407) 245-5054; (Media) Rich Jeffers, (407) 245-4189

SOURCE Darden Restaurants, Inc.: Financial