Darden Restaurants Reports Fiscal 2026 Fourth Quarter and Full Year Results; Increases Quarterly Dividend; Authorizes New $1.5 Billion Share Repurchase Program; and Provides Fiscal 2027 Outlook

ORLANDO, Fla., June 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) today reported its financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended May 31, 2026, which included a 53rd week of operations compared to 52 weeks last year.

Fourth Quarter 2026 Financial Highlights

• Total sales increased 13.7% to $3.72 billion driven by 7.6% in additional sales from an extra week of operations, a blended same-restaurant sales¹ increase of 4.6%, and sales from 43 net new restaurants
• Same-restaurant sales:

• Reported diluted net earnings per share from continuing operations were $3.54
• Excluding $0.12 of costs primarily related to restaurant closures and associated impairments and the Chuy's integration, adjusted diluted net earnings per share from continuing operations were $3.66, an increase of 22.8%²
• The extra week of operations contributed $0.25 to both reported and adjusted diluted net earnings per share from continuing operations
• The Company repurchased $138 million³ of its outstanding common stock

Fiscal 2026 Financial Highlights

• Total sales increased 9.4% to $13.21 billion driven by 2.1% in additional sales from an extra week of operations, a blended same-restaurant sales⁴ increase of 4.5%, and sales from 43 net new restaurants
• Same-restaurant sales:

• Reported diluted net earnings per share from continuing operations were $10.44
• Excluding $0.20 primarily related to restaurant closures and associated impairments, income tax adjustments and benefits, the Chuy's integration, and the Olive Garden Canada sale, adjusted diluted net earnings per share from continuing operations were $10.64, an increase of 11.4%²
• The extra week of operations contributed $0.25 to both reported and adjusted diluted net earnings per share from continuing operations

"The fourth quarter was a strong finish to an excellent year, one in which we significantly outperformed the industry," said Darden President & CEO Rick Cardenas. "Our restaurant teams continued to execute at a high level and that consistent execution helped each of our brands deliver positive same-restaurant sales for the quarter.

"Our performance throughout the fiscal year reflects the strength of our brands, the discipline of our strategy, and the quality of our teams. With the right brands, strategy, and team in place, I am confident we are well positioned to continue growing the business and creating long-term shareholder value."

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. 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 $1.62 per share on the Company's outstanding common stock, an 8.0% increase from the third quarter of fiscal 2026. The dividend is payable on August 3, 2026 to shareholders of record at the close of business on July 10, 2026.

Share Repurchase Program

During the quarter, the Company repurchased approximately 0.7 million shares of its common stock for a total of $138 million⁴. In addition, on Wednesday, June 24, 2026, Darden's Board of Directors authorized a new share repurchase program under which the Company may repurchase up to $1.5 billion of its outstanding common stock. This repurchase program does not have an expiration and replaces the previously existing share repurchase authorization.

"Our strong operating model generates significant and durable cash flows," said Darden CFO Raj Vennam. "Since 2019, we have delivered 9% annualized adjusted EBITDA growth. This consistent cash generation provides more than sufficient capacity each year to fund the core requirements of the business, including maintenance capital to sustain our existing asset base, continued growth of our dividend, and investment in new restaurant development."

Fiscal 2027 Financial Outlook

Below is the full year financial outlook for fiscal 2027. We will provide more details during our investor conference call scheduled for this morning at 8:30 am ET.

• Total sales of $13.60 billion to $13.75 billion
• Same-restaurant sales⁵ growth of 2.5% to 3.5%
• New restaurant openings of 75 to 80
• Total capital spending of approximately $875 million
• Total inflation of approximately 3.0%
• An effective tax rate of approximately 13.5%
• Diluted net earnings per share from continuing operations of $11.10 to $11.35
• EBITDA of $2.26 to $2.29 billion²
• Approximately 114 million weighted average diluted shares outstanding

Annual Meeting of Shareholders

Darden will hold its Annual Meeting of Shareholders on September 23, 2026. The meeting will be held in a virtual format only. The record date for shareholders to vote in the Annual Meeting is July 29, 2026.

Investor Conference Call

The Company will host a conference call today, Thursday, June 25, 2026 at 8:30 am ET to review its recent financial performance, which will be available via a live webcast through the Company's Investor Relations website at investor.darden.com.  Please allow extra time prior to the call to visit the site and download any software required to listen to the webcast. Supplemental materials will be available on the Investor Relations website prior to the start of the conference call. For those who are unable to 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, and Eddie V's. 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. These forward-looking statements are generally identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including the terms "may," "will," "expect," "intend," "focus," "anticipate," "continue," "could," "estimate," "project," "believe," "plan," "outlook," or similar expressions. 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 and achieve some economies of scale in purchasing, certain economic and business factors and their impacts on the restaurant industry and other general macroeconomic factors including unemployment, energy prices, tariffs and interest rates, the inability to hire, train, reward and retain restaurant team members and determine and maintain adequate staffing, a failure to recruit, develop and retain effective leaders or the loss or shortage of personnel with key capacities and skills that could impact our strategic direction, increased labor and insurance costs, health concerns arising from food-related pandemics, outbreaks of flu, viruses or other diseases, food safety and food-borne illness concerns, insufficient guest or employee facing technology or a failure to maintain a continuous and secure cyber network, compliance with privacy and data protection laws and risks of failures or breaches of our data protection systems,  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 recognize, respond to and effectively manage the accelerated impact of social media, a failure to identify and execute innovative marketing and guest relationship tactics, ineffective or improper use of other marketing initiatives and increased advertising and marketing costs, climate change, adverse weather conditions and natural disasters, long-term and non-cancelable property leases, inability or failure to execute a business continuity plan following a major natural disaster, shortages, delays or interruptions in the delivery of food and other products and services from our third-party vendors and suppliers, failure to drive profitable sales growth, a lack of availability of suitable locations for new restaurants or a decline in the quality of locations of our current restaurants, higher-than-anticipated costs associated with the opening of new restaurants or with the closing, relocating or remodeling of existing restaurants, risks associated with doing business with franchisees, licensees and vendors in foreign markets, volatility in the market value of derivatives, volatility in the U.S. equity markets affecting our ability to efficiently hedge exposures, failure to protect our intellectual property, our reporting on environmental, social and governance matters or our sustainability ratings, litigation, unfavorable publicity or failure to respond effectively to adverse publicity, disruptions in the financial and credit markets, impairment of 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 future changes in accounting standards, 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 and Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization ("EBITDA"). 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

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SOURCE Darden Restaurants, Inc.: Financial