Darden Restaurants today reported its results for the first quarter ending Aug. 24, including net earnings of $82.4 million and a 21 percent increase in sales from continuing operations to $1.77 billion, compared to $1.47 billion last year.
The Orlando, Fla., company's diluted net earnings per share from continuing operations decreased 21 percent to 58 cents, compared to 73 cents last year. The company identifies its October 2007 acquisition of RARE Hospitality International for reducing the per share earnings by approximately 3 cents.
"Despite the challenging environment this quarter, our brands produced results that were competitively strong given year-ago same-restaurant comparisons that were well above industry averages," says Drew Madsen, president and COO.
Red Lobster's first quarter sales were down 3.5 percent from last year, to $646 million, and U.S. same-restaurant sales were down 3.7 percent.
