Encouraging signs of an accelerating economic recovery are emerging and we believe operating conditions for the restaurant industry's casual dining segment are improving. We believe this will support a faster recovery than previously anticipated for Darden Restaurants Inc.'s operating results and credit metrics. Therefore, we revised our outlook to positive from negative and affirmed our ratings on the company, including the 'BBB-' issuer credit rating. The positive outlook reflects that we could raise our rating on Darden if it demonstrates consistent performance gains across its restaurant portfolio, resulting in adjusted leverage of around 3.5x or less and free operating cash flow approaching $800 million. Darden operates across eight concepts but is concentrated in its Olive Garden banner, which contributed approximately
