Darden Restaurants Reports Fiscal 2025 Fourth Quarter and Full Year Results; Increases Quarterly Dividend; Authorizes New $1 Billion Share Repurchase Program; And Provides Fiscal 2026 Outlook

About this update from Darden Restaurants, Inc.

ORLANDO, Fla. , June 20, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) today reported its financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended May 25, 2025 . Fourth Quarter 2025 Financial Highlights Fiscal 2025 Financial Highlights "We had a strong quarter with same-restaurant sales and earnings growth that exceeded our expectations," said Darden President & CEO Rick Cardenas . "Our adherence to our winning strategy, anchored in our four competitive advantages and being brilliant with the basics, led to a successful year. Our strategy remains the right one for the company, and we will continue to execute it to drive growth and long-term shareholder value." Segment Performance During the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, the Company changed its reporting of segment profit to exclude pre-opening costs. Fiscal 2024 figures were recast for comparability. 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.  Sales and profits from Chuy's restaurants are included within the Other Business segment from the date of acquisition forward. Dividend Declared Darden's Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $1.50 per share on the Company's outstanding common stock, a 7.1% increase from third quarter fiscal 2025. The dividend is payable on August 1, 2025 to shareholders of record at the close of business on July 10, 2025. Share Repurchase Program During the quarter, the Company repurchased approximately 0.2 million shares of its common stock for a total of $51 million . In addition, on Wednesday, June 18, 2025 , Darden's Board of Directors authorized a new share repurchase program under which the Company may repurchase up to $1 billion of its outstanding common stock. This repurchase program does not have an expiration and replaces the previously existing share repurchase authorization. "Our long-term framework calls for 10-15% Total Shareholder Return over time," said Darden CFO Raj Vennam. "Over our 30-year history as a public company, Darden has achieved an annualized total shareholder return of 10% or greater over any 10 fiscal-year period. This level of performance reflects the strength of our operating model and the durability of the cash flows it generates." Fiscal 2026 Financial Outlook Below is the full year financial outlook for fiscal 2026, which includes a 53rd week. This outlook includes the impact of the additional week. We will provide more details during our investor conference call scheduled for this morning at 8:30 am ET . Annual Meeting of Shareholders Darden will hold its Annual Meeting of Shareholders on September 17, 2025. The meeting will be held in a virtual format only. The record date for shareholders to vote in the Annual Meeting is July 23, 2025. Investor Conference Call The Company will host a conference call and slide presentation on Friday, June 20, 2025 at 8:30 am ET to review its recent financial performance. To listen to the call live, please go to https://event.choruscall.com/mediaframe/webcast.html?webcastid=7QyRH4t8 . 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, Chuy's, 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, tariffs 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 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               View original content: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/darden-restaurants-reports-fiscal-2025-fourth-quarter-and-full-year-results-increases-quarterly-dividend-authorizes-new-1-billion-share-repurchase-program-and-provides-fiscal-2026-outlook-302486530.html SOURCE Darden Restaurants, Inc.: Financial

View stock analysis, news, and events for Darden Restaurants, Inc.