General Mills Gets Boost From Cereal, Snacks -- 2nd Update
December 20 2017 - 12:49PM
Dow Jones News
By Annie Gasparro
General Mills Inc. said its snack and cereal sales are improving
in the U.S. as more people nibble throughout the day in place of
larger meals.
Stronger sales in General Mills' second quarter marked important
progress for a company that has struggled in recent years as older
brands like Betty Crocker and Hamburger Helper fell out of favor
and newer products like Yoplait yogurt lost market share to
rivals.
Chief Executive Jeff Harmening said new products and better
marketing helped General Mills in the quarter, as did the consumer
shift toward snacking. In the U.S., the company's sales of cereals
like Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheerios rose 7%, and sales of snacks
like Nature Valley granola bars rose 5%.
"People are snacking more," Mr. Harmening said in an interview,
adding that General Mills believes 30% of cereal in the U.S. is
eaten as a snack rather than a meal, up from 10% a decade ago.
"It's probably one of the reasons our cereals that taste really
good are the ones that growing," he said. Sweeter, classic cereals
like Lucky Charms and Cinnamon Toast Crunch are driving General
Mills' sales, while its Fiber One brand struggles.
Campbell Soup Co. and Hershey Co. also moved deeper into snacks
this week. Campbell said it plans to buy Snyder's-Lance and Hershey
said it would buy Amplify Snack Brands, the biggest acquisitions in
the centurylong history of both companies.
General Mills could make more acquisitions, Mr. Harmening said.
It has bought Annie's Homegrown and Epic meat bars in recent years.
He said, though, that such deals aren't the only way to generate
sales. "We don't feel pressure to do M&A just because all the
other kids are doing it," he said.
Mr. Harmening, who was chief operating officer and head of the
North America business before becoming CEO in June, has said he
wants to revive General Mills' cereal and yogurt businesses.
General Mills has reworked recipes and introduced products like a
French-style yogurt, Oui by Yoplait, which is sold in glass jars
with no artificial ingredients. General Mills' yogurt sales were
still down 11% in North America in the latest quarter, but that was
a big improvement from the summer.
General Mills now projects comparable sales for the year ending
in May to be flat to down 1%, from an earlier estimate of down 1%
to 2%. The company's stock traded roughly flat on Wednesday at
about $58 a share.
Overall, General Mills' revenue rose 2.1% in the second quarter
to $4.2 billion. Profit for the quarter ended Nov. 26 fell to
$430.5 million from $481.8 million the prior year. Excluding
one-time items, adjusted earnings of 82 cents matched analysts'
expectations according to FactSet, while revenue results topped
their projection.
Write to Annie Gasparro at annie.gasparro@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 20, 2017 12:34 ET (17:34 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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