General Mills Advances Accelerate Strategy to Deliver Top-tier Shareholder Returns

Feb 21, 2023 06:30 am
MINNEAPOLIS -- 

At the Consumer Analyst Group of New York (CAGNY) 2023 Conference, General Mills, Inc. (NYSE: GIS) highlighted the company’s strong results as it continues advancing its Accelerate strategy to deliver profitable growth and top-tier shareholder returns. The company also raised its fiscal 2023 full-year financial guidance.

Accelerate Strategy Strengthens General Mills

Grounded in its purpose to make food the world loves, General Mills’ Accelerate strategy is centered on where to prioritize the company’s resources to drive top-tier shareholder returns. The company expects these strategic choices, including where to play and how to create competitive advantages and win, to result in long-term shareholder value creation.

Consistently Competing Effectively

The company’s improved competitiveness has been fueled by stronger brand building, more relevant innovation, and increased investments in growth initiatives. In its CAGNY presentation, the company spotlighted two businesses that remain key contributors to its long-term growth ambitions:

  • North America Retail: General Mills’ largest business in its largest core market has grown or held share in the majority of its priority businesses in each of the past five fiscal years. These results have been fueled by increased investment in brand building, exceptional innovation performance, and superior sales and supply chain execution. To meet the ever-changing environment, the segment will continue to invest in competitively advantaged and digitally enabled capabilities, including connected commerce, strategic revenue management, and supply chain digitization.
  • Pet Food: The company’s fastest-growing global platform has grown its distribution in the U.S. by four times and more than doubled its household penetration since General Mills entered the category via acquisition in 2018. The Blue Buffalo brand is well positioned for long-term continued growth as a leader in the humanization of pet feeding and treating. The brand will build on this position with broad-based news in the second half of fiscal 2023, including renovation and innovation on its Wilderness dry dog food line, a test of a new Fresh line of refrigerated Blue Buffalo dog food, innovation and brand-building news on its market-leading natural pet treats portfolio, and expansion of its fully renovated Tastefuls natural cat feeding line. The company also plans to expand its Blue Buffalo offerings in China and begin testing the brand in other international markets in fiscal 2024.

Reshaping the Portfolio

In recent years, General Mills’ significant actions to reshape its portfolio have been a key contributor to its improved growth performance and outlook. The company has turned over almost 20 percent of its portfolio since fiscal 2018, including the acquisitions of Blue Buffalo, Nudges, True Chews, and Top Chews pet treats, and TNT Crust, as well as the divestitures of European yogurt and dough and the North American Helper and Suddenly Salad main meals and side dishes business. This portfolio reshaping work has increased the company’s enterprise growth exposure by more than a full point.

Driving Value

By executing its Accelerate strategy, General Mills continues to expect to deliver top-tier shareholder returns over the long-term by generating a consistent balance of net sales growth, margin expansion, cash conversion, and cash return to shareholders. Total returns to General Mills shareholders have grown at a 20-percent compound rate over the past 3 years and at a double-digit compound rate over the past 5, 10, and 20 years, and have exceeded the company’s CPG peer median returns over each of those timeframes.

Raising Full-year Fiscal 2023 Guidance

As a result of its continued strong in-market performance, General Mills raised its full-year fiscal 2023 guidance. The company’s updated outlook now includes:

  • Organic net sales growth of approximately 10 percent;
  • Adjusted operating profit growth of 6 to 7 percent in constant currency;
  • Adjusted diluted EPS growth of 7 to 8 percent in constant currency; and
  • Free cash flow conversion of at least 90 percent of adjusted after-tax earnings.

With the consistent execution of its Accelerate strategy, General Mills is well-positioned to continue driving profitable growth and top-tier returns for its shareholders in the years to come.

A webcast of the company’s CAGNY 2023 presentation featuring Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Harmening and Chief Financial Officer Kofi Bruce will begin today at 7 a.m. CT. A replay of the presentation and related materials will be made available on General Mills’ Investor Relations website at www.generalmills.com/investors.

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About General Mills

General Mills makes food the world loves. The company is guided by its Accelerate strategy to drive shareholder value by boldly building its brands, relentlessly innovating, unleashing its scale and standing for good. Its portfolio of beloved brands includes household names such as Cheerios, Nature Valley, Blue Buffalo, Häagen-Dazs, Old El Paso, Pillsbury, Betty Crocker, Yoplait, Annie’s, Wanchai Ferry, Yoki and more. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, General Mills generated fiscal 2022 net sales of U.S. $19.0 billion. In addition, the company’s share of non-consolidated joint venture net sales totaled U.S. $1.1 billion.

Note on Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that are based on our current expectations and assumptions. These forward-looking statements, including the statements under the caption “Raising Full-year Fiscal 2023 Guidance,” are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the potential results discussed in the forward-looking statements. In particular, our predictions about future net sales and earnings could be affected by a variety of factors, including: the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on our business, suppliers, consumers, customers, and employees; disruptions or inefficiencies in the supply chain, including any impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic; competitive dynamics in the consumer foods industry and the markets for our products, including new product introductions, advertising activities, pricing actions, and promotional activities of our competitors; economic conditions, including changes in inflation rates, interest rates, tax rates, or the availability of capital; product development and innovation; consumer acceptance of new products and product improvements; consumer reaction to pricing actions and changes in promotion levels; acquisitions or dispositions of businesses or assets; changes in capital structure; changes in the legal and regulatory environment, including tax legislation, labeling and advertising regulations, and litigation; impairments in the carrying value of goodwill, other intangible assets, or other long-lived assets, or changes in the useful lives of other intangible assets; changes in accounting standards and the impact of critical accounting estimates; product quality and safety issues, including recalls and product liability; changes in consumer demand for our products; effectiveness of advertising, marketing, and promotional programs; changes in consumer behavior, trends, and preferences, including weight loss trends; consumer perception of health-related issues, including obesity; consolidation in the retail environment; changes in purchasing and inventory levels of significant customers; fluctuations in the cost and availability of supply chain resources, including raw materials, packaging, energy, and transportation; effectiveness of restructuring and cost saving initiatives; volatility in the market value of derivatives used to manage price risk for certain commodities; benefit plan expenses due to changes in plan asset values and discount rates used to determine plan liabilities; failure or breach of our information technology systems; foreign economic conditions, including currency rate fluctuations; and political unrest in foreign markets and economic uncertainty due to terrorism or war. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly revise any forward-looking statement to reflect any future events or circumstances.

Reminder on Non-GAAP Guidance

The company’s outlook for organic net sales growth, adjusted operating profit growth, adjusted diluted EPS growth, and free cash flow conversion are non-GAAP financial measures that exclude, or have otherwise been adjusted for, items impacting comparability, including the effect of foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations, acquisitions, divestitures, and a 53rd week, when applicable. General Mills is not able to reconcile these forward-looking non-GAAP financial measures to their most directly comparable forward-looking GAAP financial measure without unreasonable efforts because it is unable to predict with a reasonable degree of certainty the actual impact of changes in foreign currency exchange rates or the timing of acquisitions and divestitures throughout fiscal 2023. The unavailable information could have a significant impact on the company’s fiscal 2023 GAAP financial results. For fiscal 2023, the company currently expects: foreign currency exchange rates (based on a blend of forward and forecasted rates and hedge positions) and completed acquisitions and divestitures to reduce net sales growth by approximately 4.5 percent; foreign currency exchange rates to reduce adjusted operating profit and adjusted diluted EPS growth by approximately 1 percent; and restructuring charges and project-related costs, transaction and acquisition integration costs related to actions previously announced, and product disposal charges related to the ice cream recall to total approximately $55 million to $60 million.

(Investors) Jeff Siemon: +1-763-764-2301
(Media) Chelcy Walker: +1-763-764-6364