General Mills Continues Advancing Its Accelerate Strategy

Rhea-AI Summary

General Mills reaffirmed its fiscal 2022 guidance during the CAGNY 2022 Conference, emphasizing its Accelerate strategy aimed at profitable growth and shareholder returns. Key initiatives include portfolio reshaping through strategic acquisitions like Blue Buffalo and divestitures in Europe. The company expects organic net sales growth of 4-5% and adjusted operating profit to decline by 1-4%. Additionally, supply shortages in North America are anticipated to impact short-term performance, with a focus on addressing these issues to enhance future growth.

Positive

• Reaffirmed fiscal 2022 guidance with expectations of 4-5% organic net sales growth.
• Strategic acquisitions have reshaped the portfolio, increasing growth exposure.
• Introduction of a new Strategy & Growth organization to enhance operational efficiency.
• Plans to return 80-90% of free cash flow to shareholders via dividends and share repurchases.

Negative

• Adjusted operating profit is expected to decline by 1-4% in constant currency.
• Short-term supply shortages in refrigerated dough and snacks may impact third-quarter sales.
• Third-quarter organic net sales expected to be only up 2-3% amid supply challenges.

Reaffirms Fiscal 2022 Guidance at CAGNY

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- At the Consumer Analyst Group of New York (CAGNY) 2022 Conference, General Mills (NYSE: GIS) highlighted its progress in advancing its Accelerate strategy to deliver profitable growth and top-tier shareholder returns. The company also reaffirmed its fiscal 2022 full-year financial guidance and provided an update on its second-half expectations.

Advancing the Accelerate Strategy

With its Accelerate strategy, General Mills is prioritizing its core markets, global platforms, and local gem brands that have the best prospects for profitable growth. The strategy focuses on four pillars to create competitive advantages and win: boldly building brands, relentlessly innovating, unleashing scale, and being a force for good.

Reshaping the Portfolio

The company has made significant progress in recent years reshaping its portfolio with strategic acquisitions and divestitures, including the acquisitions of Blue Buffalo pet food and the Nudges, True Chews, and Top Chews pet treats brands as well as the divestitures of yogurt and dough in Europe. With its portfolio reshaping actions, General Mills has turned over roughly 15 percent of its net sales base and increased its enterprise net sales growth exposure by about a full point since fiscal 2018. The company continues to pursue additional portfolio reshaping transactions to strengthen its ability to generate profitable growth.

Reshaping the Organization

General Mills has made important recent changes to better align its organizational structure with the Accelerate strategy and ensure it is set up for success in a post-pandemic world. The company established a new Strategy & Growth organization, which brings together growth-oriented functions such as Mergers & Acquisitions, Disruptive Growth, Strategic Revenue Management, and Consumer Insights into a central group that operates in service to the business segments and helps unlock opportunities to accelerate growth.

In addition, the company announced a series of changes to its segment structure to streamline its global operations. These segment reporting changes are effective as of the third quarter of fiscal 2022:

• The North America Retail segment will now include the U.S. convenience store business to better leverage its scale and unlock omnichannel snacking growth.
• The renamed North America Foodservice segment will now be exclusively focused on the U.S. and Canada foodservice channels.
• The new International segment will combine the previous Europe & Australia and Asia & Latin America segments, simplifying the company’s global structure after the completion of the Yoplait Europe divestiture.

Driving Value

By executing its Accelerate strategy, General Mills continues to expect to deliver top-tier shareholder returns over the long-term by:

• Generating organic net sales growth of 2 to 3 percent;
• Expanding margins to deliver mid-single-digit adjusted operating profit growth in constant currency;
• Growing adjusted diluted EPS at a mid- to high-single-digit rate in constant currency;
• Converting at least 95 percent of adjusted net earnings into free cash flow; and
• Returning approximately 80 to 90 percent of free cash flow to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases.

Reaffirming Full-year Fiscal 2022 Guidance and Updating Second-half Phasing

General Mills reaffirmed its full-year fiscal 2022 guidance, including:

• Organic net sales are expected to increase 4 to 5 percent
• Constant-currency adjusted operating profit is expected to decline 1 to 4 percent
• Constant-currency adjusted diluted EPS is expected to range between down 2 percent and up 1 percent
• Free cash flow conversion is expected to be at least 95 percent of adjusted after-tax earnings

The company added that it expects second-half earnings results to be more heavily weighted to the fourth quarter than previously expected, driven by recent acute supply shortages on its refrigerated dough, pizza, and hot snacks platforms in North America. The company expects these shortages will cause its U.S. shipments to significantly lag Nielsen-measured retail sales performance in the third quarter. As a result, the company expects third-quarter organic net sales to be up 2 to 3 percent and constant-currency adjusted operating profit to be down high-single digits to low-double digits versus last year. The company has taken actions to address these short-term supply constraints and expects to improve customer service levels and deliver strong top- and bottom-line growth in the fourth quarter.

A webcast of the company’s pre-recorded CAGNY 2022 presentation featuring Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Harmening, Chief Strategy & Growth Officer Dana McNabb, and Chief Financial Officer Kofi Bruce will begin at 7:00 a.m. CT this morning. A replay of the presentation and related materials will be made available on General Mills’ Investor Relations website at www.generalmills.com/investors.

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 being a force 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 2021 net sales of U.S. $18.1 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 “Reaffirming Full-year Fiscal 2022 Outlook and Updating Second-half Phasing,” 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 significant 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 2022. The unavailable information could have a significant impact on the company’s fiscal 2022 GAAP financial results.

For fiscal 2022, we currently expect: foreign currency exchange rates (based on a blend of forward and forecasted rates and hedge positions) and acquisitions and divestitures to decrease net sales growth by approximately 1 point; foreign currency exchange rates to have an immaterial impact on adjusted operating profit and adjusted diluted EPS growth; and restructuring charges and project-related costs and transaction costs and acquisition integration costs to total approximately $125 million to $175 million.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220222005355/en/

(Investors) Jeff Siemon: +1-763-764-2301

(Media) Kelsey Roemhildt: +1-763-764-6364

Source: General Mills

FAQ

What is General Mills' fiscal 2022 guidance?

General Mills expects organic net sales growth of 4-5% for fiscal 2022.

How is General Mills addressing supply shortages?

General Mills is taking actions to alleviate supply shortages affecting refrigerated dough and hot snacks.

What are the expected impacts on adjusted operating profit for General Mills?

Adjusted operating profit for fiscal 2022 is expected to decline by 1-4% in constant currency.

What strategic changes has General Mills implemented recently?

General Mills has established a new Strategy & Growth organization and reshaped its portfolio through acquisitions and divestitures.

What percentage of free cash flow does General Mills plan to return to shareholders?

General Mills plans to return approximately 80-90% of free cash flow to shareholders.