DRI - Darden Restaurants Inc. (DRI) Q4 2024 Earnings Call Transcript
2024-06-20 12:49:07 ET
Darden Restaurants, Inc. (DRI)
Q4 2024 Earnings Conference Call
June 20, 2024 8:30 AM ET
Company Participants
Courtney Aquilla - Investor Relations
Rick Cardenas - President and Chief Executive Officer
Raj Vennam - Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Conference Call Participants
Brian Harbour - Morgan Stanley
Lauren Silberman - Deutsche Bank
Eric Gonzalez - KeyBanc Capital Markets
Andrew Charles - TD Cowen
David Tarantino - Baird
Jim Salera - Stephens
Sara Senatore - Bank of America
Jeffrey Bernstein - Barclays
David Palmer - Evercore ISI
Dennis Geiger - UBS
Peter Saleh - BTIG
Jeff Farmer - Gordon Haskett
Jon Tower - Citi
Chris O'Cull - Stifel
Danilo Gargiulo - Bernstein
Andy Barish - Jefferies
Brian Vaccaro - Raymond James
Jake Bartlett - Truist Securities
Gregory Francfort - Guggenheim Securities
Andrew Strelzick - BMO Capital Markets
Presentation
Operator
Welcome to the Darden Fiscal Year 2024 Fourth Quarter Earnings Call. Your lines have been placed on listen-only mode until the question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] This conference is being recorded. If you have any objections, please disconnect at this time.
I'll now turn the call over to Mr. Courtney Aquilla. Thank you. You may begin.
Courtney Aquilla
Thank you, Darrell. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for participating on today's call. Joining me today are Rick Cardenas, Darden’s President and CEO; and Raj Vennam, CFO.
As a reminder, comments made during this call will include forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations and projections. Those risks are described in the company's press release, which was distributed this morning and in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We are simultaneously broadcasting a presentation during this call, which is posted in the investor relations section of our website at darden.com.
Today's discussion and presentation include non-GAAP measurements and reconciliations of these measurements are included in the presentation. Looking ahead, we plan to release fiscal 2025 first quarter earnings on Thursday, September 19th before the market opens followed by a conference call.
During today's call any reference to pre-COVID when discussing fourth quarter performance is a comparison to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2019 and any reference to annual pre-COVID performance is the trailing 12-months ending February of fiscal year 2020. Additionally, all references to industry results during today's call refer to Black Box Intelligence's casual dining benchmark, excluding Darden's casual dining brands.
During our fiscal fourth quarter, industry same restaurant sales decreased 0.8% and industry same restaurant guest counts decreased 3.5%. And during our full fiscal year 2024, industry same restaurant sales decreased 1.4% and industry same restaurant guest counts decreased 4.7%.
This morning Rick will share some brief remarks recapping the fiscal year. Raj will provide details on the fourth quarter and full-year financial results and share our fiscal 2025 financial outlook. And then Rick will close with some final comments.
Now I will turn it over to Rick.
Rick Cardenas
Thank you, Courtney. Before I begin, I would like to thank Kevin Kalicak for his leadership of Investor Relations for close to 10-years. As many of you know, Kevin has moved to Lead Finance for Olive Garden. We are excited for his new opportunity and equally excited to have Courtney transition into leading investor relations. I'm confident you will find Courtney a worthy successor. Thank you, Kevin, and good morning, everyone....
Darden Restaurants, Inc. (DRI) Q4 2024 Earnings Call Transcript