Darden Increases Fiscal Year Earnings Outlook; Announces Share Repurchase

(RTTNews) - Darden Restaurants, Inc., (DRI) increased the outlook for fiscal 2016 same-restaurant sales to 2.5% to 3.0% and adjusted net earnings per share to $3.25 to $3.35. The company's prior earnings per share expectation was in the range of $3.15 - $3.30. Darden said its updated guidance takes into account an expected reduction of earnings per share of approximately $0.08 related to the recently completed real estate transactions, excluding advisory fees and other one-time expenses.

The Board of Darden has declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.50 per common share, a 14% increase, compared to the minimum quarterly dividend of $0.4375 disclosed on November 9, 2015. The dividend is payable February 1, 2016 to shareholders of record at the close of business on January 8, 2016.

Darden's Board authorized a new share repurchase program under which the company may repurchase up to $500 million of its outstanding common stock. The repurchase program does not have an expiration and replaces all other outstanding share repurchase authorizations.

For the second-quarter, the company's total sales from continuing operations increased 3.2% to $1.61 billion. Same-restaurant sales increased 1.6%. On a reported basis, earnings per share from continuing operations were $0.23 and were negatively impacted by approximately $0.31, primarily related to the implementation of the company's strategic real estate plan. Adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations increased 92.9% to $0.54.