Darden Restaurants Inc, battling an activist investor that wants to replace its entire board of directors, on Friday reported lackluster results at its flagship Olive Garden chain as it prepares to complete the sale of Red Lobster next month.Starboard Value LP launched its effort to replace Darden's board shortly after the restaurant operator's May 16 announcement that it planned to sell Red Lobster to Golden Gate Capital for $2.1 billion.Starboard, which sought a shareholder vote on the Red Lobster sale, called the deal a "destructive transaction" that ignored shareholder rights. It nominated a full 12-candidate slate for election at the company's annual meeting, scheduled for Sept. 30.Starboard, backed by fellow activist investor Barington Capital Group, has said it had identified other ways to save costs, boost revenue and improve profits at Darden.
Darden Restaurants, Inc. is a full service restaurant company. Shares of DRI fell by 2.65% or $-1.31/share to $48.21. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $44.78 and as high as $54.89. On average, 1203670 shares of DRI exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 3128302.
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