MINNEAPOLIS—General Mills reported strong financial results for the fourth quarter and full 2009 fiscal year. For the fiscal year ended May 31, 2009, General Mills net sales grew 8 percent to $14.7 billion. Volume (measured in pounds) contributed 2 points of sales growth.
Foreign currency translation reduced sales growth by 2 percentage points. Gross margin essentially matched prior-year levels despite 9 percent inflation in the company’s input costs. Consumer marketing investment rose 16 percent in 2009, including strong growth in worldwide media spending. Segment operating profit increased 10 percent to exceed $2.6 billion.
During 2009, the company incurred restructuring expenses totaling $42 million pre-tax, and recorded a net pre-tax gain of $85 million from divestitures. Net earnings grew 1 percent to $1.3 billion including a net decline in mark-to-market valuation of certain commodity positions, the net gain from divestitures, proceeds from an insurance recovery, and expense associated with a discrete tax item. Diluted earnings per share (EPS) grew 2 percent to reach $3.80. Earnings per share excluding the mark-to-market, divestiture, tax and insurance items would total $3.98, a 13 percent increase from comparable earnings of $3.52 per share in fiscal 2008.
Chairman and CEO Ken Powell said: “In today’s very challenging economic environment, our leading food brands offer the quality, convenience and value that consumers are looking for and, as a result, our businesses are showing strong growth. In 2009, we held our margins in the face of sharply higher input costs, and we significantly increased the level of consumer marketing support for our brands. These actions have positioned General Mills to achieve another year of good growth in fiscal 2010.”