Finance

Olive Garden parent’s quarterly revenue falls by 28% as pandemic weighs on sales

A customer carries a to-go bag outside a Darden Restaurants Inc. Olive Garden restaurant in Clarksville, Indiana, U.S., on Thursday, March 5, 2020.

Luke Sharrett | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Darden Restaurants on Thursday reported that its revenue fell by more than 28% in its fiscal first quarter as the company’s business slowly recovers from the coronavirus pandemic.

Shares of the company fell 2% in premarket trading.

Here’s what the company reported compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by Refinitiv:

  • Earnings per share: 28 cents vs. 5 cents expected
  • Revenue: $1.53 billion vs. $1.56 billion expected

The Olive Garden parent reported fiscal first-quarter net income of $36.1 million, or 28 cents per share, down from $170.6  million, or $1.37 cents per share, a year earlier. Analysts surveyed by Refinitiv were expecting earnings of 5 cents per share.

Excluding losses from discontinued operations, Darden earned $37.3 million in the latest period, compared with $171.8 million a year ago.

Net sales dropped 28.4% to $1.53 billion, missing expectations of $1.56 billion.

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