Darden Raises FY19 Financial Outlook - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Darden Restaurants, Inc., (DRI) announced, for fiscal 2019, the company now expects net earnings per share from continuing operations in a range of $5.52 - $5.65, up from prior guidance range of $5.40 - $5.56. Same-restaurant sales growth are now projected to be in a range of 2.0% to 2.5%, revised from prior outlook range of 1.0% to 2.0%.

For the first-quarter, reported net earnings per share from continuing operations increased 41.1% to $1.34 and increased 35.4% from last year's adjusted diluted net earnings per share. Total sales increased 6.5% to $2.06 billion, including 3.2% growth from the addition of 52 net new restaurants. Blended same-restaurant sales increased 3.3%, for the quarter.

Darden's Board declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.75 per share on the company's outstanding common stock. The dividend is payable on November 1, 2018 to shareholders of record at the close of business on October 10, 2018.