Darden Restaurants Reports Fiscal 2024 First Quarter Results; Declares Quarterly Dividend; Reiterates Fiscal 2024 Outlook; And Announces Election of New Board Chair.

ORLANDO, Fla: Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) today reported its financial results for the first quarter ended August 27, 2023.

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

Total sales increased 11.6% to $2.7 billion, driven by a blended same-restaurant sales* increase of 5.0% and sales from the addition of 77 company-owned Ruth's Chris Steak House (Ruth's Chris) restaurants and 46 other net new restaurants

Same-restaurant sales:

Consolidated Darden*

5.0 %

Olive Garden

6.1 %

LongHorn Steakhouse

8.1 %

Fine Dining*

(2.8) %

Other Business

1.7 %

Reported diluted net earnings per share from continuing operations were $1.60

Excluding $0.18 of Ruth's Chris transaction and integration related costs, adjusted diluted net earnings per share from continuing operations were $1.78, an increase of 14.1%**

The Company repurchased $143 million of its outstanding common stock

* Will not include Ruth's Chris Steak House until they have been owned and operated by Darden for a 16-month period

** See the "Non-GAAP Information" below for more details

"Looking across our entire portfolio, I am pleased with our first quarter results," said Darden President & CEO Rick Cardenas. "Our strategy is working. We continue to grow share, strengthen margins, and make meaningful investments in our business while returning capital to shareholders."

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.

Q1 Sales

Q1 Segment Profit

($ in millions)

2024

2023

2024

2023

Consolidated Darden

$2,730.6

$2,446.1

Olive Garden

$1,227.9

$1,130.7

$262.3

$216.1

LongHorn Steakhouse

$669.8

$604.6

$117.4

$92.0

Fine Dining

$273.5

$183.4

$39.7

$30.0

Other Business

$559.4

$527.4

$84.3

$72.3

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 November 1, 2023 to shareholders of record at the close of business on October 10, 2023.

Share Repurchase Program

During the quarter, the Company repurchased approximately 0.9 million shares of its...