U.S. restaurant operator Darden Restaurants Inc. reported continued positive operating performance for the fiscal second quarter of 2016 and the retirement of $1 billion debt following the completion of its real estate transactions. We are affirming all ratings, include our 'BBB-' corporate credit rating on Darden. At the same time, we are revising outlook to stable from negative, reflecting our expectation that continued operating performance improvement and recent meaningful debt repayment will result in leverage in the low-2x area following the completion of the REIT transaction. The stable outlook reflects our expectation that operating performance will continue to gradually improve in fiscal 2016, reflecting the company's operating initiatives. We also expect the company's financial policy will continue to support credit
