As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 18, 2003.
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 8-K
CURRENT REPORT
Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934
Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported):
February 18, 2003
Darden Restaurants, Inc.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
Florida 1-13666 59-3305930
(State or other jurisdiction (Commission file number) IRS employer
of incorporation) identification No.)
5900 Lake Ellenor Drive, Orlando, Florida 32809
(Address of principal executive offices)
Registrant's telephone number, including area code:
(407) 245-4000
Not Applicable
(Former name or former address, if changed since last report)
Item 5. Other Events.
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On February 18, 2003, the Company issued a news release
entitled "Darden Restaurants Announces Third Quarter Financial
Outlook," a copy of which is being filed herewith as Exhibit
99.
Item 7. Financial Statements and Exhibits.
(c) Exhibits.
Exhibit Number
(by reference to
Item 601 of
Regulation S-K) Description
99 Press Release dated February 18, 2003,
entitled "Darden Restaurants Announces
Third Quarter Financial Outlook."
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SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the
Registrant has duly caused this Report to be signed on its behalf by the
undersigned hereunto duly authorized.
Dated: February 18, 2003 DARDEN RESTAURANTS, INC.
By: /s/ Paula J. Shives
--------------------------
Paula J. Shives
Senior Vice President
General Counsel and Secretary
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INDEX TO EXHIBITS
Exhibit Number Description of Exhibit
99 Press Release dated February 18, 2003, entitled "Darden
Restaurants Announces Third Quarter Financial Outlook."
4
EXHIBIT 99
DARDEN RESTAURANTS
Red Lobster(R)Olive Garden(R)Bahama Breeze(R)Smokey Bones(R)
www.darden.com
NEWS/INFORMATION
Corporate Relations
P.O. Box 593330
Orlando, FL 32859
Contacts:
(Analysts) Matthew Stroud (407) 245-6458
(Media) Jim DeSimone (407) 245-5192
FOR RELEASE
February 18, 2003
8:00 AM EST
DARDEN RESTAURANTS ANNOUNCES
THIRD QUARTER FINANCIAL OUTLOOK
ORLANDO, FL., Feb. 18 - Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE: DRI) today announced
that it expects diluted earnings per share to be in the range of 34 to 36 cents
for its fiscal third quarter ending February 23, 2003. Total sales for the
quarter are expected to increase 5% to 6% and same-restaurant sales for Red
Lobster and Olive Garden are expected to be up approximately 1% on a blended
basis.
"We knew this was going to be a challenging quarter based upon our strong
performance in the third quarter of last year," said Joe Lee, Darden's Chairman
and Chief Executive Officer. "Nevertheless, we are disappointed with our
performance because we had expected to surpass our results from last year. As we
move forward, we know we have two of the strongest companies in casual dining
with Red Lobster and Olive Garden, and two exciting growth companies with Bahama
Breeze and Smokey Bones. We are focused on making the changes that will allow
our Company to resume solid earnings growth."
"We expect our third quarter earnings results to be adversely affected by
several factors," said Linda Dimopoulos, Darden's Chief Financial Officer. "As
we previously announced, worker's compensation and insurance costs will be
higher than anticipated this quarter. Results are also being negatively impacted
by our decision to significantly increase marketing expense in response to the
challenging economic and competitive environment, more severe winter weather
than expected and higher utility expense, and planned incremental pre-opening
expenses are higher than prior year as a result of the ramp-up of new
restaurants."
"We expect combined same-restaurant sales growth for Red Lobster and Olive
Garden for the full fiscal year to be at the low end of our 3% to 5% long-term
target. However, as a result of the softer than expected third quarter results,
continued weakness in consumer confidence and possible weather risks in the
fourth quarter, the diluted earnings per share growth we expect for this fiscal
year has changed. We now anticipate that earnings per share growth this fiscal
year will be between 5% and 10%, which is below our long-term target. We will
provide additional information in our upcoming third quarter conference call
scheduled for March 21, 2003 at 8:30 a.m., EST."
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Darden Restaurants, Inc., headquartered in Orlando, FL, owns and operates over
1,200 Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Bahama Breeze and Smokey Bones restaurants with
annual sales of $4.4 billion.
Forward-looking statements in this news release, if any, are made under the Safe
Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Certain important factors could cause results to differ materially from those
anticipated by the forward-looking statements, including the impact of changing
economic or business conditions, the impact of competition, the availability of
favorable credit and trade terms, the impact of changes in the cost or
availability of food and real estate, government regulation, construction costs,
weather conditions and other factors discussed from time to time in reports
filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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