Darden Restaurants (DRI) Reports December Same-Restaurant Sales Results

Darden Restaurants, Inc., (NYSE: DRI) reported U.S. same-restaurant sales results for the five-week December fiscal month ended December 31, 2006. This period is the first month of Darden's fiscal 2007 third quarter.

Same-restaurant sales at Red Lobster increased approximately 8% for fiscal December, which reflected a 2% to 3% increase in guest counts and a 5% to 6% increase in check average.

Same-restaurant sales at Olive Garden increased 0% to 1% for fiscal December, which reflected an approximate 2% decrease in guest counts and a 2% to 3% increase in check average.

Darden estimates that approximately 1.0 percentage point of the growth in same-restaurant sales at both Olive Garden and Red Lobster reflected a favorable holiday impact as Christmas Day fell on Monday in fiscal 2007 versus Sunday in fiscal 2006. Nearly all of Darden's restaurants are closed on Christmas Day.

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