General Mills Posts Upbeat Q4 Earnings, But Revenue Misses Views

reported better-than-expected earnings for its fiscal fourth quarter, but the company's revenue missed analysts' estimates. The Minneapolis, Minnesota-based company posted quarterly net income of $186.8 million, or $0.30 per share, compared to $404.6 million, or $0.65 per share, in the year-ago quarter. Its adjusted earnings came in at $0.75 per share. Its sales rose to $4.30 billion from $4.28 billion. On a constant-currency basis, sales surged 6 percent. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.71 per share on revenue of $4.53 billion. The average estimate among 19 Estimize users was for earnings of $0.72 per share and revenue of $4.52 billion. Fiscal 2015 net sales for its U.S. Retail segment slipped 1 percent to $10.5 billion, while sales for consolidated international businesses dropped 5 percent to $5.1 billion in the year. Fiscal 2015 net sales for General Mills' Convenience Stores and Foodservice segment climbed 4 percent to $2.0 billion. Total segment operating profit rose 9 percent to $800 million. In 2015, the company repurchased approximately 22 million shares of common stock for a total of $1.2 billion. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Ken Powell said, "General Mills fiscal 2015 operating performance was mixed. Our Convenience Stores & Foodservice segment recorded good sales growth, increased its operating profit margin, and delivered record profit results. Our International segment also achieved good margin expansion and profit growth in constant currency. However, sales and profit declined for U.S. Retail – our largest operating segment. We returned our U.S. yogurt business to growth, and our brands gained share in categories representing 65 percent of our U.S. Retail measured sales volume, but overall sales trends reflected the impact of changing consumer food preferences." General Mills projects fiscal 2016 constant-currency adjusted earnings per share to rise at a mid single-digit rate and sales to essentially match its 2015 levels. General Mills shares fell 0.64 percent to close at $55.70 yesterday.