Darden’s net up prior to Olive Garden tweak

NEW YORK » Darden Restaurants Inc. reported Friday a better-than-expected profit for its fiscal first quarter as it prepared to revamp the menus for its struggling Olive Garden and Red Lobster chains.

The company also declared a quarterly dividend, sending shares up $2.49, or 4.6 percent, to $57.21.

At Olive Garden, the company’s biggest chain, Darden has been trying to boost traffic by focusing on value and adding lighter options to the menu.

Drew Madsen, the company’s chief operating officer, said the desire for smaller portion sizes is reflected in the growing number of customers who are ordering an appetizer as a meal.

U.S., EU approve Universal takeover of EMI

BRUSSELS » Universal Music Group won approval Friday from American and European regulators to buy the famed British music company EMI, including the hugely lucrative Beatles catalog.

But the EU imposed stringent restrictions on the deal, forcing Universal to sell some of EMI’s biggest acts, including Coldplay and Pink Floyd.

Universal also will have to sell EMI’s classical music divisions, its French and other local branches, and labels that are home to Depeche Mode and The Ramones.

GM recalls midsize cars to fix transmission

DETROIT » General Motors is recalling nearly 474,000 Chevrolet, Pontiac and Saturn cars to fix a transmission problem that can cause the cars to roll away unexpectedly.

The recall affects 2007-2010 Chevrolet Malibus, Pontiac G6s and Saturn Auras in the U.S., Canada and Mexico as well as a small number of exports. All the cars have four-speed automatic transmissions.

GM says a part of the transmission cable can break. That can cause the shifter to show that the car is in park when it’s really in gear. GM says it knows of four crashes from the problem but no injuries.

American Air apologizes to passengers

DALLAS » American Airlines is apologizing to its best customers for the recent increase in delayed and canceled flights. The airline sent email messages Friday to members of its AAdvantage loyalty program saying it was sorry for the inconvenience.

AAdvantage president Suzanne L. Rubin said the airline added staff in maintenance, reservations and at airports to help travelers.

Jobless rates rise in half of U.S. states

WASHINGTON » Unemployment rates rose in more than half of U.S. states last month, the latest evidence that hiring remains tepid across the country.

The Labor Department said Friday that rates increased in 26 states. They fell in 12 states and were unchanged in the other 12. In Hawaii the jobless rate fell to 6.1 percent from 6.3 percent in July. Hawaii’s rate was announced Thursday.

Unemployment also rose in seven of the 11 key swing states in this year’s presidential election.

Nationwide, employers added only 96,000 jobs in August. That’s below July’s gain of 141,000 and the average of 226,000 jobs a month added in the January-March quarter.

BlackBerry fails in Europe, Mideast, Africa

TORONTO » The chief executive of struggling BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion apologized Friday after a power failure in Europe and Africa interrupted service for customers on the very day Apple Inc. released its new iPhone 5.

BlackBerry announced the outage in postings on Facebook and Twitter on Friday, and later said it resolved the problem.

The service disruption lasted up to three hours for some BlackBerry users in those regions.

The power failure brought up unpleasant memories of last year’s troubles with emails and chat messages that left many users without service for up to three days.

Walmarts to open in India within 18 months

MUMBAI, India » Wal-Mart Stores Inc. plans to open retail outlets in India in the next 12 to 18 months, the company said Friday, making it the first multinational to jump on the government’s decision to open the country’s huge retail market to foreign players.

Raj Jain, managing director of Bharti Wal-Mart, a joint venture that operates 17 outlets that cater to small businesses in India, confirmed by email that Walmart plans to open stores that serve consumers over the next 18 months, but he declined to say how many.

India announced last week that it will allow foreign firms to take majority stakes in multibrand stores for the first time. The surprise decision cheered investors but sparked protests within the country.

Walmart to hire 50,000 holiday temps

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer, will hire more than 50,000 temporary workers in its U.S. stores for the holiday shopping season.

Walmart joins Target Corp. in adding workers for a holiday season that researcher ShopperTrak forecasts will feature similar sales gains as last year. Holiday retail sales in the U.S. may rise 3.3 percent this year, compared with 3.7 percent last year, the researcher said earlier this month.

Target, the second-largest U.S. discounter after Walmart, said it would add as many as 90,000 part-time workers in its stores and distribution centers.

ON THE MOVE

AlohaCare, Hawaii’s largest safety-net Medicaid and Medicare plan, has announced that Dr. Gary Oka­moto will become the firm’s chief medical officer, effective Oct. 1. Oka­moto was previously president and chief executive officer of the Queen’s Health Systems from 2000-2005.

The Honolulu Eye Clinic has announced Michelle Jamieson as its office and marketing manager. She was previously an independent communications contractor; she developed and implemented marketing and communications strategies for various clients in Hono­lulu.

The Hawaii Tourism Authority board of directors has announced the following:

» Ronald Williams has been reappointed as chairman. He is president and chief executive officer at Atlantis Adventures.

» Patricia Ewing has been appointed as vice chairwoman. She is the owner of Kong Lung Co.