Reuters: Global Markets: Darden sees slow same-store sales growth at Olive Garden

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Darden sees slow same-store sales growth at Olive Garden Jun 22nd 2012, 12:50 Tweet Share this Email Print Related News UPDATE 2-Darden sees slow same-store sales growth at Olive Garden 8:49am EDT Retailer Body Central loses half its value - again Mon, Jun 18 2012 Smithfield profit down; grocers, pink slime blamed Thu, Jun 14 2012 FactSet revenue outlook disappoints investors Tue, Jun 12 2012 Analysis & Opinion Corporate earnings hopes are still too high Related Topics Hot Stocks » Asian Markets » A man talks on his mobile phone in front of the Times Square Olive Garden in New York, June 23, 2010. Credit: Reuters/Keith Bedford Fri Jun 22, 2012 8:50am EDT (Reuters) - Darden Restaurants Inc (DRI.N) reported a quarterly profit that met expectations but forecast lackluster same-store sales growth at its main casual dining brands, Olive Garden, Red Lobster and LongHorn Steakhouse, sending its shares down more than 3 percent in premarket trade. "Given our expectation that economic recovery will continue to be frustratingly slow in fiscal 2013, we are assuming blended same-restaurant sales growth for the year for our three large casual dining brands," Brad Richmond, Darden's chief financial officer said in a statement. The casual dining chain, which has been less hit than rivals, has also been concerned about dwindling consumer spending and gas prices. Combined restaurant same-store sales at Olive Garden, Red Lobster and LongHorn Steakhouse fell 1.9 percent. "We expect the shares to trade off on the news as same store sales were below expectations and deteriorated through the course of the quarter," analysts at Goldman Sachs said in a note. Darden reported earnings of $151.6 million, or $1.15 per share from continuing operations for the fourth quarter, up from $138.0 million, or $ 1.00 per share, a year earlier. Overall sales rose 3.8 percent to $2.07 billion. Analysts on average expected earnings of $1.15 on revenue of $2.11 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Darden said it expects fiscal 2013 sales to grow by $480 million to $560 million and earnings to increase 8 to 12 percent. Darden shares closed at $50.39 on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday. They were down about 3.25 percent in premarket trading. (Reporting by Aditi Shrivastava in Bangalore; Editing by Viraj Nair, Supriya Kurane) Related Quotes and News Company Price Related News Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints Comments (0) This discussion is now closed. We welcome comments on our articles for a limited period after their publication.

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