General Mills has vowed to continue prioritising its topline performance after recording decline in both net sales and operating profit for the first quarter of its 2017/18 fiscal year.
Net sales were down 4% to $3.77 billion, while operating profit stood 3% lower at $625.8 million. It is the ninth successive quarter in which the Minneapolis-based company has failed to deliver growth.
Despite the negatives, operating cash flow increased 59% to $590 million and the results were largely in line with its own expectations. General Mills has reaffirmed its full-year outlook including organic net sales contraction of between 1% and 2%, constant-currency operating profit growing between 0% and 1%, and increases to both adjusted operating profit and earnings per share.
Speaking at the end of the company’s fourth quarter of 2016/17, General Mills CEO Jeff Harmening vowed to “move with urgency in fiscal 2018 to meaningfully improve our net sales trends while keeping a sharp eye on our efficiency”.
And that objective has today been reaffirmed, with Harmening adding: “Our number one priority in fiscal 2018 is strengthening our topline performance. Our first-quarter net sales finished in line with our expectations, and our focus on our global growth priorities drove important improvement in our retail sales trends. This included a 300 basis point improvement in the US, with better results in each of our top five categories.”
The business continues to be squeezed by falling volumes and higher input costs, with gross profit margin falling by 300 basis points in Europe and Australia and 270 basis points in North America.
“We anticipated a slow start to the year on the bottom line,” Harmening continued, “and we continue to expect sequential improvement in profitability in the coming quarters. Looking ahead, we’re taking deliberate steps through innovation, brand building, and increased organisational agility to position the company for long-term top- and bottom-line growth, in line with our shareholder return model.”
Jeff Harmening said that topline growth must remain a priority in this fiscal year.
The company is pursuing its Consumer First strategy by increasing investment in innovation and brand building to drive improved net sales performance. For fiscal 2018, the company has identified four global growth priorities: growing cereal globally, including its Cereal Partners Worldwide joint venture; improving US yogurt performance through innovation; investing in differential growth opportunities including Häagen-Dazs ice cream, snack bars, Old El Paso Mexican food, and its portfolio of natural and organic food brands; and finally managing Foundation brands with appropriate investment.
By directing resources toward these global priorities, General Mills expects to drive a 200 to 300 basis point improvement in its organic net sales trends in fiscal 2018, which represents an important step in returning the business to consistent organic net sales growth, it said.
By operating segment, sales were down 5% in North American retail and 8% in Asia and Latin America, but there was flat performance in General Mills’ convenience and foodservice segment while Europe and Australia recorded sales growth – up 3% in the first quarter to $492 million.
Cereal Partners Worldwide – its joint-venture with Nestlé – grew 2% in constant currency as consumers seek out increasingly healthy breakfasts.
North America Retail remains its largest operating segment, accounting for $2.44 billion – or almost two-thirds – of total sales. But the US market in particular was hampered by volume decline, with sales of yogurts, snacks and cereals all falling.
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