General Mills Inc. on Sept. 18 reaffirmed its outlook for fiscal 2020 after reporting first quarter earnings that surpassed analysts' expectations.
For the three months to Aug. 25, adjusted diluted EPS rose 11% to 79 cents from 71 cents in the year-ago period, or up by 13% at constant currency terms. The figure beat the S&P Global Market Intelligence consensus normalized EPS estimate of 77 cents.
Adjusted attributable net earnings rose year over year to $484.4 million from $427.6 million, above the Market Intelligence estimate of $466 million for net income.
Net sales decreased by 2% to $4 billion from $4.09 billion in the prior-year period, with an organic sales decline of 1%. Adjusted operating profit margin climbed 130 basis points to 17%.
Sales rose 7% in the company's pet segment, which includes the Blue Buffalo pet food brand it acquired in 2018 for about $8 billion, but declined 4% in its convenience stores and food service segment. Sales were flat for the North America retail arm. The maker of Wheaties and Cheerios cereals reported that sales fell 9% in Europe and Australia, and 10% in Asia and Latin America.
"We got off to a slower start in our other segments, and we're taking actions to drive topline improvement for those segments and the company starting in the second quarter," Chairman and CEO Jeff Harmening said in a statement. "We remain on track to deliver our fiscal 2020 goals, including accelerating our organic sales growth, maintaining our strong margins, and reducing our leverage."
The Minneapolis-based company said it continues to expect adjusted diluted EPS to increase between 3% and 5% for fiscal 2020, and organic sales to grow 1% to 2%.
Shares of General Mills were up by 1.54% at $55.88 in midmorning trading.
