General Mills sees tepid annual profit, posts Q4 sales decline as demand falters
Updates shares, adds executive comment in paragraph 4
By Anuja Bharat Mistry
June 26 (Reuters) -Cheerios cereal maker General Mills GIS.N forecast annual profit below estimates on Wednesday and posted a bigger-than-expected drop in quarterly sales hurt by lower demand for its snack bars and pet food, as well as higher input costs.
The company also expects annual dollar value growth in its businesses to be below its long-term projections, pushing its shares down by about 4%.
General Mills hasstruggled with lower volumes and retailers cutting down on inventory, while facing ongoing competition from lower-priced private labels that have been eating into its market share.
"We expect ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty to result in continued value-seeking behaviors by consumers, affecting both the products they buy and the channels they shop," CEO Jeff Harmening said, adding that the company has more work to do to improve competitiveness.
Net sales at General Mills' North America retail segment, the company's biggest revenue contributor, fell 7% in the quarter ended May 26 due to a 6 percentage point drop in volumes.
"Value-oriented consumers have learned that trading down to lower-priced private labels doesn't mean sacrificing quality," said Zak Stambor, an analyst with eMarketer, adding that this is a growing concern for companies like General Mills.
Peers WK Kellogg KLG.N and Kraft Heinz KHC.O have also reported pressured volumes, while competitor Campbell Soup CPB.N reported an upbeat quarter and raised its forecast owing to demand recovery and improvement in volumes.
General Millshas also been pressured by higher input costs, such as sugar and labor, as well as supply chain disruptions.
The company expectsfull-year adjusted profit to be between down 1% and up 1%, compared with analysts' estimates of a 3.7% rise, according to LSEG data.
The company's quarterlynet sales fell by a steeper-than-expected 6% to$4.71 billion.
On an adjusted basis, the company earned $1.01 per share, edging past estimates.
Reporting by Anuja Bharat Mistry in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid
免責聲明: XM Group提供線上交易平台的登入和執行服務，允許個人查看和/或使用網站所提供的內容，但不進行任何更改或擴展其服務和訪問權限，並受以下條款與條例約束：（i）條款與條例；（ii）風險提示；（iii）完全免責聲明。網站內部所提供的所有資訊，僅限於一般資訊用途。請注意，我們所有的線上交易平台內容並不構成，也不被視為進入金融市場交易的邀約或邀請 。金融市場交易會對您的投資帶來重大風險。
所有缐上交易平台所發佈的資料，僅適用於教育/資訊類用途，不包含也不應被視爲適用於金融、投資稅或交易相關諮詢和建議，或是交易價格紀錄，或是任何金融商品或非應邀途徑的金融相關優惠的交易邀約或邀請。
本網站的所有XM和第三方所提供的内容，包括意見、新聞、研究、分析、價格其他資訊和第三方網站鏈接，皆爲‘按原狀’，並作爲一般市場評論所提供，而非投資建議。請理解和接受，所有被歸類為投資研究範圍的相關内容，並非爲了促進投資研究獨立性，而根據法律要求所編寫，而是被視爲符合營銷傳播相關法律與法規所編寫的内容。請確保您已詳讀並完全理解我們的非獨立投資研究提示和風險提示資訊，相關詳情請點擊 這裡查看。
