General Mills saw big gains for its cereals, snacks, and Yoplait yogurt business in its first quarter.
(Danny Johnston/Associated Press/File)
Cereal sales pick up for General Mills
General Mills saw big gains for its cereals, snacks, and Yoplait yogurt business in its first quarter.
(Danny Johnston/Associated Press/File)
PORTLAND, Ore. — General Mills Inc.’s first-quarter net income rose 12 percent on stronger sales of key products such as Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and Yoplait yogurts.
“Economic conditions remain relatively weak and consumer confidence is still pretty low, so it is a challenging time,’’ Ken Powell, the company’s chief executive, said yesterday.
The company said it sold more of its products and saw a shift by consumers to some of its higher-margin products such as cereal. But the company’s performance was hampered slightly by higher costs for ingredients and advertising.
General Mills reported that it earned $472.1 million, or 70 cents per share, for the quarter. That’s up from $420.6 million, or 62 cents per share, in the same quarter last year.
General Mills said revenue in its US retail business grew 6 percent. International revenue was up slightly less than 1 percent, but excluding the impact of unfavorable foreign exchange, rose 4 percent.
And revenue in its bakeries and food-service segment grew slightly, despite continued weakness in that industry.
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