General Mills, Inc. (NYSE: GIS) is an American Fortune 500 corporation, primarily concerned with food products, which is headquartered in Golden Valley, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. The company markets many well-known brands, such as Betty Crocker, Yoplait, Colombo, Totinos, Jeno's, Pillsbury, Green Giant, Old El Paso, Häagen-Dazs, Cheerios, Lucky Charms and Wanchai Ferry. Their brand portfolio includes more than 100 leading U.S. brands and numerous category leaders around the world.
General Mills, Inc. (General Mills), incorporated in 1928, is a global manufacturer and marketer of consumer foods sold through retail stores. The Company is also a supplier of food products to the foodservice and commercial baking industries. General Mills manufactures its products in 15 countries and markets them in more than 100 countries. The Company’s joint ventures manufacture and market products in more than 130 countries and republics worldwide. The Company’s businesses are organized into three operating segments: U.S. Retail, International, and Bakeries and Foodservice. The Company sells ready-to-eat cereals, through its Cereal Partners Worldwide (CPW) joint venture. The Company’s primary customers include grocery stores, mass merchandisers, membership stores, natural food chains, drug, dollar and discount chains, commercial and noncommercial foodservice distributors and operators, restaurants and convenience stores.
The Company’s products are marketed under brand names and service marks that are owned by or licensed to the Company. Some of the brand names include Cheerios, Wheaties, Lucky Charms, Total, Golden Grahams, Chex, Kix, Fiber One, Yoplait, Trix, Yoplait Kids, Go-GURT, Fiber One, Pillsbury, the Pillsbury Doughboy character, Grands!, Golden Layers, Big Deluxe, Toaster Strudel, Toaster Scrambles, Simply, Savorings, Jus-Rol, Latina, Wanchai Ferry, Betty Crocker, Hamburger Helper, Tuna Helper, Chicken Helper, Old El Paso, Green Giant, Potato Buds, Suddenly Salad, Betty Crocker Complete Meals, Valley Selections, Simply Steam, Nature Valley, Fiber One, Betty Crocker, Fruit Roll-Ups, Fruit By The Foot, Gushers, Stickerz, Chex Mix, Gardetto’s, SuperMoist, Warm Delights, Bisquick, Progresso, Haagen-Dazs, Totino’s, Jeno’s, Pizza Rolls, Party Pizza, Pillsbury Pizza Pops and Pillsbury Pizza Minis. Some of its products are marketed under or in combination with brand names that have been licensed from others, including Yoplait, Yoplait Kids, YoPlus, Whips!, Dora the Explorer, Blue’s Clues, Diego, Backyardigans, Wonder Pets, iCarly, Reese’s Puffs and Hershey’s.
The Company’s U.S. Retail segment reflects business with a range of grocery stores, mass merchandisers, membership stores, natural food chains, and drug, dollar and discount chains operating throughout the United States. Its product categories in this business segment include ready-to-eat cereals, refrigerated yogurt, ready-to-serve soup, dry dinners, shelf stable and frozen vegetables, refrigerated and frozen dough products, dessert and baking mixes, frozen pizza and pizza snacks, grain, fruit and savory snacks, and a range of organic products, including soup, granola bars, and cereal. In Canada, its product categories include ready-to-eat cereals, shelf stable and frozen vegetables, dry dinners, refrigerated and frozen dough products, dessert and baking mixes, frozen pizza snacks, and grain, fruit and savory snacks.
In markets outside North America, its product categories include super-premium ice cream, grain snacks, shelf stable and frozen vegetables, dough products, and dry dinners. Its International segment also includes products manufactured in the United States for export, mainly to Caribbean and Latin American markets, as well as products the Company manufactures for sale to its international joint ventures. These international businesses are managed through 34 sales and marketing offices. In its Bakeries and Foodservice segment it products include cereals, snacks, yogurt, unbaked and fully-baked frozen dough products, baking mixes, and flour. The Company sells to distributors and operators in a number of customer channels, including foodservice, convenience stores, vending and supermarket bakeries.
In 1989 General Mills began to expand into international markets, a sector that archrival Kellogg had been exploiting for years. By forming Cereal Partners Worldwide with Nestlé S.A., the Swiss-based food products giant, General Mills planned to cut into the European cereal market long dominated by Kellogg. By 1991 the partnership was doing so well in Europe that it ventured into the Mexican market. In 1992 General Mills established Snack Ventures Europe, a $600 million partnership with PepsiCo, Inc., to take advantage of the growing market for snack foods in Europe.
After the growth in market share during the late 1980s and early 1990s, by 1993 General Mills experienced a slowdown in its core business of brand name cereal and food products. Nevertheless, in an unprecedented move, the company hired approximately 10,000 new employees during the same year. The reason for this was the growth of the restaurant division. Having already acquired the Red Lobster seafood chain in 1970, General Mills attempted other formats that did not work, including steakhouses and Mexican and health food eateries. In 1983 the company came up with its own Italian restaurant chain called Olive Garden Italian Restaurants and in 1991 launched China Coast, an attempt to fill the void in Chinese food restaurant chains. At the end of 1993, there were 657 Red Lobster and 429 Olive Garden restaurants located throughout the United States, and nine China Coast units in Orlando, Indianapolis, and Fort Worth. With restaurant profits increasing rapidly, General Mills planned to open 100 new locations annually for the next two or three years.
During 1993, in a widely publicized decision amid growing consumer complaints, General Mills decided not to increase its cereal prices to keep pace with Kellogg. Kellogg implemented a 2.1 percent increase on all of its brand name cereals, but General Mills had previously hiked prices nearly 28 percent between 1988 and 1992. As a result, General Mills actually cut prices from 11 to 16 percent on three of its most well-known brands. This discounting strategy increased volume sales on all three of the cereal brands.
General Mills reaped more than $8 billion in sales during 1993, with the company's packaged goods accounting for two-thirds of its revenues and the restaurant division making up the remaining amount. With the highest return on equity of any company in the entire industry for the previous five years--an impressive 42.8 percent compared with the industry median of 17 percent--management was confident enough to predict an average growth in profits of 14 percent annually through 2000.
In 1995 General Mills completed its transformation back into a strictly packaged foods company. In May of that year the company sold the Gorton's brand to Unilever and spun off its restaurant division to its shareholders as a separate public company, Darden Restaurants, Inc. As a result, General Mills saw its 1995 revenues reduced by more than $3.5 billion, compared with 1994, but the company emerged with an increased focus and greater profitability. Upon the completion of these moves, Atwater retired, having led the dismantling of a conglomerate. Taking over as chairman and CEO was Stephen W. Sanger, a 21-year company veteran with a marketing background.
In September 1995 General Mills launched Frosted Cheerios, a sugar-frosted version of the company's flagship cereal. Frosted Cheerios went on to become one of the most successful new cereals in history, capturing 1.5 percent of the market in its first year. In addition to developing successful new products, General Mills also returned to the acquisition arena, but in a core area rather than a new one. In January 1997 the company made its largest purchase in history when it spent $570 million for the branded ready-to-eat cereal and snack mix businesses of Ralcorp Holdings, Inc. The brands gained included Chex and Cookie Crisp cereals and Chex Mix snacks. General Mills thereby solidified its number two position in the U.S. ready-to-eat cereal market (behind Kellogg), increasing its share to about 26 percent. Meanwhile, to mark the 75th anniversary of Betty Crocker, a new portrait of the icon was created based on a computer composite.
By 1999 General Mills was neck and neck with Kellogg in the U.S. cereal sector, claiming 31.6 percent of U.S. cereal sales, to Kellogg's 31.7 percent. General Mills had gained on the industry leader through its consistent rollout of successful new products, its ability to maintain the highest price per box average among the leading cereal makers ($3.30, compared with Kellogg's $2.91), and the more distinctive nature of its cereals, such as Cinnamon Toast Crunch, which were less likely to be successfully challenged by generic cereals than such easier-to-copy Kellogg brands as Corn Flakes and Raisin Bran. At the same time, General Mills was moving forward on other fronts. Focusing on convenience foods, the company in 1999 introduced a 12-item line of Betty Crocker rice and pasta mixes, a new Chicken Helper dinner mix line, and Yoplait Go-Gurt, a line of yogurt packaged in a squeeze-and-eat tube that eliminated the need for a spoon. Also debuting was a new Colombo yogurt package that featured a spoon built right into the lid. General Mills added to its product lines in 1999 through several modest acquisitions. In January the company acquired St. Paul, Minnesota-based Lloyd's Barbeque Company, a maker of refrigerated, microwave-ready entrees. The following month saw the purchase of Union City, California-based Farmhouse Foods Company, seller of rice and pasta side dish mixes. In August General Mills bought Milwaukee-based Gardetto's Bakery, Inc., maker of baked snack mixes and flavored pretzels. Early in 2000 the company acquired Small Planet Foods, a maker of organic food products under the Cascadian Farm and Muir Glen brands. This move was part of General Mills' entry into the burgeoning natural foods sector and came around the same time that the company introduced Sunrise organic cereal.
In early 2000 Sanger announced a series of long-term goals for the first decade of the 21st century. The company aimed to achieve seven to eight percent compound annual sales growth, to generate $500 million in pretax cost savings through productivity enhancements, and to sustain double-digit earnings per share growth. By meeting or exceeding these goals, General Mills would likely be able to remain independent in a food industry that was coming under increasing pressure to consolidate.
Principal Subsidiaries: Colombo, Inc.; C.P.A. Cereal Partners Handelsgesellschaft m.b.H. (Austria; 50%); C.P.D. Cereal Partners Deutschland Verwaltungsgesellschaft m.b.H (Germany; 50%); CPW Mexico S.A. de C.V. (50%); CPW S.A. (Switzerland; 50%); CPW-CI Limited (Cayman Islands; 50%); FYL Corp.; General Mills (BVI) Ltd. (British Virgin Islands); General Mills Continental, Inc.; General Mills Direct Marketing, Inc.; General Mills Europe Limited (U.K.); General Mills Finance, Inc.; General Mills France S.A.; General Mills Holding B.V. (Netherlands); General Mills International Limited; General Mills Maarssen B.V. (Netherlands); General Mills Mauritius, Inc.; General Mills Missouri, Inc.; General Mills Operations, Inc.; General Mills Products Corp.; General Mills Services, Inc.; Gold Medal Insurance Co.; Lloyd's Food Products, Inc.; Mills Media, Inc.; Nestlé Asean Philippines, Inc. (30%); Popcorn Distributors, Inc.; Torun-Pacific Sp. Z o.o. (Poland; 50%); Yoplait USA, Inc.
Principal Competitors: Aurora Foods Inc.; Bestfoods; Borden, Inc.; Campbell Soup Company; ConAgra, Inc.; Groupe Danone; Diageo plc; Gilster-Mary Lee Corporation; H.J. Heinz Company; International Home Foods, Inc.; Kellogg Company; Malt-O-Meal Company; Mars, Inc.; McKee Foods Corporation; Nabisco Holdings Corp.; PepsiCo, Inc.; Philip Morris Companies Inc.; The Pillsbury Company; The Procter & Gamble Company; The Quaker Oats Company; Ralcorp Holdings, Inc.; Unilever.
OVERALL
Beta: 0.23
Market Cap (Mil.): $24,521.15
Shares Outstanding (Mil.): 638.41
Annual Dividend: 1.12
Yield (%): 2.92
FINANCIALS
GIS Industry Sector
P/E (TTM): 15.20 24.20 20.41
EPS (TTM): 2.32 -- --
ROI: 11.32 2.07 7.83
ROE: 27.94 3.45 12.71
Statistics:
Public Company
Incorporated: 1928
Employees: 10,660
Sales: $6.25 billion (1999)
Stock Exchanges: New York Midwest
Ticker Symbol: GIS
NAIC: 311211 Flour Milling; 311230 Breakfast Cereal Manufacturing; 311340 Nonchocolate Confectionery Manufacturing; 311423 Dried and Dehydrated Food Manufacturing; 311511 Fluid Milk Manufacturing; 311822 Flour Mixes and Dough Manufacturing from Purchased Flour; 311919 Other Snack Food Manufacturing; 311999 All Other Miscellaneous Food Manufacturing
Key Dates:
1866: Cadwallader Washburn, owner of Minneapolis Milling Company, opens the first flour mill in Minneapolis.
1877: John Crosby enters into partnership with Washburn, whose company is then renamed Washburn Crosby Company.
1880: Company wins gold medal at the first International Millers' Exhibition, leading to the later creation of the Gold Medal brand.
1888: James S. Bell takes over leadership of Washburn Crosby.
1921: The fictional Betty Crocker is created by Washburn Crosby.
1924: Wheaties ready-to-eat cereal debuts.
1928: Bell's son, James Ford, leads the creation of General Mills through the merger of Washburn Crosby with several other regional millers.
1931: Bisquick, the first baking mix, is introduced.
1941: Cheerioats ready-to-eat cereal debuts.
1946: Cheerioats is renamed Cheerios.
1947: The first Betty Crocker cake mix is introduced.
1954: Trix, a presweetened cereal, hits the market.
1961: Edwin W. Rawlings is appointed president and ushers in a period of wide diversification.
1964: Company enters the snack food sector with the purchase of Morton Foods.
1968: Company acquires Gorton's frozen seafood and several toy and game outfits--Rainbow Crafts, Kenner, and Parker Bros.
1969: Company moves into specialty retailing with purchases of Lacoste clothing and Monet Jewelry.
1970: Red Lobster restaurant chain is acquired; Hamburger Helper makes its debut.
1971: Eddie Bauer is purchased.
1973: Talbot's is acquired.
1977: Company purchases the U.S. rights to the Yoplait yogurt brand.
1983: The Olive Garden Italian restaurant chain is launched.
1985: Company divests its toy, fashion, and nonapparel retailing operations; Pop Secret microwave popcorn is introduced.
1989: Eddie Bauer and Talbot's are sold; Cereal Partners Worldwide, a joint venture with Nestlé S.A., is formed.
1992: Company establishes Snack Ventures Europe in partnership with PepsiCo, Inc.
1995: The Gorton's brand is sold to Unilever; the restaurant division is spun off to shareholders as a separate public company, Darden Restaurants, Inc.
1997: The branded ready-to-eat cereal and snack mix businesses of Ralcorp Holdings, Inc. are acquired, including the Chex brand.
1999: Lloyd's Barbecue Company, Farmhouse Foods Company, and Gardetto's Bakery, Inc. are acquired.
Name Age Since Current Position
Powell, Kendall 56 2008 Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer
Mulligan, Donal 50 2007 Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President
Palmore, Roderick 58 2008 Executive Vice President, Chief Compliance and Risk Management Officer, General Counsel, Secretary
Belton, Y. Marc 51 2006 Executive Vice President - Worldwide Health, Brand and New Business Development
Friendly, Ian 49 2006 Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer - U.S. Retail
O'Leary, Christopher 51 2006 Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer - International
Davis, Michael 54 2008 Senior Vice President - Global Human Resources
Shea, Christina 57 2005 Senior Vice President - External Relations, President - General Mills Foundation
Church, John 44 2008 Senior Vice President - Supply Chain
Erickson, Peter 49 2006 Senior Vice President - Innovation, Technology and Quality
O'Grady, Shawn 46 2010 Senior Vice President, President - Consumer Foods Sales Division
Lund, Richard 60 2007 Vice President, Controller
Esrey, William 71 1989 Director
Gilmartin, Raymond 69 1997 Director
Hope, Judith 69 1989 Director
Terrell, Dorothy 65 1994 Director
Miller, Heidi 57 1999 Director
Ochoa-Brillembourg, Hilda 66 2002 Director
Rose, Michael 69 2004 Director
Odland, Stephen 51 2004 Director
Danos, Paul 68 2004 Director
Ryan, Robert 67 2005 Director
Anderson, Bradbury 61 2007 Director
Clark, R. Kerry 58 2009 Director
Address:
Number One General Mills Boulevard
Post Office Box 1113
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55440
U.S.A.
General Mills, Inc. (General Mills), incorporated in 1928, is a global manufacturer and marketer of consumer foods sold through retail stores. The Company is also a supplier of food products to the foodservice and commercial baking industries. General Mills manufactures its products in 15 countries and markets them in more than 100 countries. The Company’s joint ventures manufacture and market products in more than 130 countries and republics worldwide. The Company’s businesses are organized into three operating segments: U.S. Retail, International, and Bakeries and Foodservice. The Company sells ready-to-eat cereals, through its Cereal Partners Worldwide (CPW) joint venture. The Company’s primary customers include grocery stores, mass merchandisers, membership stores, natural food chains, drug, dollar and discount chains, commercial and noncommercial foodservice distributors and operators, restaurants and convenience stores.
The Company’s products are marketed under brand names and service marks that are owned by or licensed to the Company. Some of the brand names include Cheerios, Wheaties, Lucky Charms, Total, Golden Grahams, Chex, Kix, Fiber One, Yoplait, Trix, Yoplait Kids, Go-GURT, Fiber One, Pillsbury, the Pillsbury Doughboy character, Grands!, Golden Layers, Big Deluxe, Toaster Strudel, Toaster Scrambles, Simply, Savorings, Jus-Rol, Latina, Wanchai Ferry, Betty Crocker, Hamburger Helper, Tuna Helper, Chicken Helper, Old El Paso, Green Giant, Potato Buds, Suddenly Salad, Betty Crocker Complete Meals, Valley Selections, Simply Steam, Nature Valley, Fiber One, Betty Crocker, Fruit Roll-Ups, Fruit By The Foot, Gushers, Stickerz, Chex Mix, Gardetto’s, SuperMoist, Warm Delights, Bisquick, Progresso, Haagen-Dazs, Totino’s, Jeno’s, Pizza Rolls, Party Pizza, Pillsbury Pizza Pops and Pillsbury Pizza Minis. Some of its products are marketed under or in combination with brand names that have been licensed from others, including Yoplait, Yoplait Kids, YoPlus, Whips!, Dora the Explorer, Blue’s Clues, Diego, Backyardigans, Wonder Pets, iCarly, Reese’s Puffs and Hershey’s.
The Company’s U.S. Retail segment reflects business with a range of grocery stores, mass merchandisers, membership stores, natural food chains, and drug, dollar and discount chains operating throughout the United States. Its product categories in this business segment include ready-to-eat cereals, refrigerated yogurt, ready-to-serve soup, dry dinners, shelf stable and frozen vegetables, refrigerated and frozen dough products, dessert and baking mixes, frozen pizza and pizza snacks, grain, fruit and savory snacks, and a range of organic products, including soup, granola bars, and cereal. In Canada, its product categories include ready-to-eat cereals, shelf stable and frozen vegetables, dry dinners, refrigerated and frozen dough products, dessert and baking mixes, frozen pizza snacks, and grain, fruit and savory snacks.
In markets outside North America, its product categories include super-premium ice cream, grain snacks, shelf stable and frozen vegetables, dough products, and dry dinners. Its International segment also includes products manufactured in the United States for export, mainly to Caribbean and Latin American markets, as well as products the Company manufactures for sale to its international joint ventures. These international businesses are managed through 34 sales and marketing offices. In its Bakeries and Foodservice segment it products include cereals, snacks, yogurt, unbaked and fully-baked frozen dough products, baking mixes, and flour. The Company sells to distributors and operators in a number of customer channels, including foodservice, convenience stores, vending and supermarket bakeries.
In 1989 General Mills began to expand into international markets, a sector that archrival Kellogg had been exploiting for years. By forming Cereal Partners Worldwide with Nestlé S.A., the Swiss-based food products giant, General Mills planned to cut into the European cereal market long dominated by Kellogg. By 1991 the partnership was doing so well in Europe that it ventured into the Mexican market. In 1992 General Mills established Snack Ventures Europe, a $600 million partnership with PepsiCo, Inc., to take advantage of the growing market for snack foods in Europe.
After the growth in market share during the late 1980s and early 1990s, by 1993 General Mills experienced a slowdown in its core business of brand name cereal and food products. Nevertheless, in an unprecedented move, the company hired approximately 10,000 new employees during the same year. The reason for this was the growth of the restaurant division. Having already acquired the Red Lobster seafood chain in 1970, General Mills attempted other formats that did not work, including steakhouses and Mexican and health food eateries. In 1983 the company came up with its own Italian restaurant chain called Olive Garden Italian Restaurants and in 1991 launched China Coast, an attempt to fill the void in Chinese food restaurant chains. At the end of 1993, there were 657 Red Lobster and 429 Olive Garden restaurants located throughout the United States, and nine China Coast units in Orlando, Indianapolis, and Fort Worth. With restaurant profits increasing rapidly, General Mills planned to open 100 new locations annually for the next two or three years.
During 1993, in a widely publicized decision amid growing consumer complaints, General Mills decided not to increase its cereal prices to keep pace with Kellogg. Kellogg implemented a 2.1 percent increase on all of its brand name cereals, but General Mills had previously hiked prices nearly 28 percent between 1988 and 1992. As a result, General Mills actually cut prices from 11 to 16 percent on three of its most well-known brands. This discounting strategy increased volume sales on all three of the cereal brands.
General Mills reaped more than $8 billion in sales during 1993, with the company's packaged goods accounting for two-thirds of its revenues and the restaurant division making up the remaining amount. With the highest return on equity of any company in the entire industry for the previous five years--an impressive 42.8 percent compared with the industry median of 17 percent--management was confident enough to predict an average growth in profits of 14 percent annually through 2000.
In 1995 General Mills completed its transformation back into a strictly packaged foods company. In May of that year the company sold the Gorton's brand to Unilever and spun off its restaurant division to its shareholders as a separate public company, Darden Restaurants, Inc. As a result, General Mills saw its 1995 revenues reduced by more than $3.5 billion, compared with 1994, but the company emerged with an increased focus and greater profitability. Upon the completion of these moves, Atwater retired, having led the dismantling of a conglomerate. Taking over as chairman and CEO was Stephen W. Sanger, a 21-year company veteran with a marketing background.
In September 1995 General Mills launched Frosted Cheerios, a sugar-frosted version of the company's flagship cereal. Frosted Cheerios went on to become one of the most successful new cereals in history, capturing 1.5 percent of the market in its first year. In addition to developing successful new products, General Mills also returned to the acquisition arena, but in a core area rather than a new one. In January 1997 the company made its largest purchase in history when it spent $570 million for the branded ready-to-eat cereal and snack mix businesses of Ralcorp Holdings, Inc. The brands gained included Chex and Cookie Crisp cereals and Chex Mix snacks. General Mills thereby solidified its number two position in the U.S. ready-to-eat cereal market (behind Kellogg), increasing its share to about 26 percent. Meanwhile, to mark the 75th anniversary of Betty Crocker, a new portrait of the icon was created based on a computer composite.
By 1999 General Mills was neck and neck with Kellogg in the U.S. cereal sector, claiming 31.6 percent of U.S. cereal sales, to Kellogg's 31.7 percent. General Mills had gained on the industry leader through its consistent rollout of successful new products, its ability to maintain the highest price per box average among the leading cereal makers ($3.30, compared with Kellogg's $2.91), and the more distinctive nature of its cereals, such as Cinnamon Toast Crunch, which were less likely to be successfully challenged by generic cereals than such easier-to-copy Kellogg brands as Corn Flakes and Raisin Bran. At the same time, General Mills was moving forward on other fronts. Focusing on convenience foods, the company in 1999 introduced a 12-item line of Betty Crocker rice and pasta mixes, a new Chicken Helper dinner mix line, and Yoplait Go-Gurt, a line of yogurt packaged in a squeeze-and-eat tube that eliminated the need for a spoon. Also debuting was a new Colombo yogurt package that featured a spoon built right into the lid. General Mills added to its product lines in 1999 through several modest acquisitions. In January the company acquired St. Paul, Minnesota-based Lloyd's Barbeque Company, a maker of refrigerated, microwave-ready entrees. The following month saw the purchase of Union City, California-based Farmhouse Foods Company, seller of rice and pasta side dish mixes. In August General Mills bought Milwaukee-based Gardetto's Bakery, Inc., maker of baked snack mixes and flavored pretzels. Early in 2000 the company acquired Small Planet Foods, a maker of organic food products under the Cascadian Farm and Muir Glen brands. This move was part of General Mills' entry into the burgeoning natural foods sector and came around the same time that the company introduced Sunrise organic cereal.
In early 2000 Sanger announced a series of long-term goals for the first decade of the 21st century. The company aimed to achieve seven to eight percent compound annual sales growth, to generate $500 million in pretax cost savings through productivity enhancements, and to sustain double-digit earnings per share growth. By meeting or exceeding these goals, General Mills would likely be able to remain independent in a food industry that was coming under increasing pressure to consolidate.
Principal Subsidiaries: Colombo, Inc.; C.P.A. Cereal Partners Handelsgesellschaft m.b.H. (Austria; 50%); C.P.D. Cereal Partners Deutschland Verwaltungsgesellschaft m.b.H (Germany; 50%); CPW Mexico S.A. de C.V. (50%); CPW S.A. (Switzerland; 50%); CPW-CI Limited (Cayman Islands; 50%); FYL Corp.; General Mills (BVI) Ltd. (British Virgin Islands); General Mills Continental, Inc.; General Mills Direct Marketing, Inc.; General Mills Europe Limited (U.K.); General Mills Finance, Inc.; General Mills France S.A.; General Mills Holding B.V. (Netherlands); General Mills International Limited; General Mills Maarssen B.V. (Netherlands); General Mills Mauritius, Inc.; General Mills Missouri, Inc.; General Mills Operations, Inc.; General Mills Products Corp.; General Mills Services, Inc.; Gold Medal Insurance Co.; Lloyd's Food Products, Inc.; Mills Media, Inc.; Nestlé Asean Philippines, Inc. (30%); Popcorn Distributors, Inc.; Torun-Pacific Sp. Z o.o. (Poland; 50%); Yoplait USA, Inc.
Principal Competitors: Aurora Foods Inc.; Bestfoods; Borden, Inc.; Campbell Soup Company; ConAgra, Inc.; Groupe Danone; Diageo plc; Gilster-Mary Lee Corporation; H.J. Heinz Company; International Home Foods, Inc.; Kellogg Company; Malt-O-Meal Company; Mars, Inc.; McKee Foods Corporation; Nabisco Holdings Corp.; PepsiCo, Inc.; Philip Morris Companies Inc.; The Pillsbury Company; The Procter & Gamble Company; The Quaker Oats Company; Ralcorp Holdings, Inc.; Unilever.
OVERALL
Beta: 0.23
Market Cap (Mil.): $24,521.15
Shares Outstanding (Mil.): 638.41
Annual Dividend: 1.12
Yield (%): 2.92
FINANCIALS
GIS Industry Sector
P/E (TTM): 15.20 24.20 20.41
EPS (TTM): 2.32 -- --
ROI: 11.32 2.07 7.83
ROE: 27.94 3.45 12.71
Statistics:
Public Company
Incorporated: 1928
Employees: 10,660
Sales: $6.25 billion (1999)
Stock Exchanges: New York Midwest
Ticker Symbol: GIS
NAIC: 311211 Flour Milling; 311230 Breakfast Cereal Manufacturing; 311340 Nonchocolate Confectionery Manufacturing; 311423 Dried and Dehydrated Food Manufacturing; 311511 Fluid Milk Manufacturing; 311822 Flour Mixes and Dough Manufacturing from Purchased Flour; 311919 Other Snack Food Manufacturing; 311999 All Other Miscellaneous Food Manufacturing
Key Dates:
1866: Cadwallader Washburn, owner of Minneapolis Milling Company, opens the first flour mill in Minneapolis.
1877: John Crosby enters into partnership with Washburn, whose company is then renamed Washburn Crosby Company.
1880: Company wins gold medal at the first International Millers' Exhibition, leading to the later creation of the Gold Medal brand.
1888: James S. Bell takes over leadership of Washburn Crosby.
1921: The fictional Betty Crocker is created by Washburn Crosby.
1924: Wheaties ready-to-eat cereal debuts.
1928: Bell's son, James Ford, leads the creation of General Mills through the merger of Washburn Crosby with several other regional millers.
1931: Bisquick, the first baking mix, is introduced.
1941: Cheerioats ready-to-eat cereal debuts.
1946: Cheerioats is renamed Cheerios.
1947: The first Betty Crocker cake mix is introduced.
1954: Trix, a presweetened cereal, hits the market.
1961: Edwin W. Rawlings is appointed president and ushers in a period of wide diversification.
1964: Company enters the snack food sector with the purchase of Morton Foods.
1968: Company acquires Gorton's frozen seafood and several toy and game outfits--Rainbow Crafts, Kenner, and Parker Bros.
1969: Company moves into specialty retailing with purchases of Lacoste clothing and Monet Jewelry.
1970: Red Lobster restaurant chain is acquired; Hamburger Helper makes its debut.
1971: Eddie Bauer is purchased.
1973: Talbot's is acquired.
1977: Company purchases the U.S. rights to the Yoplait yogurt brand.
1983: The Olive Garden Italian restaurant chain is launched.
1985: Company divests its toy, fashion, and nonapparel retailing operations; Pop Secret microwave popcorn is introduced.
1989: Eddie Bauer and Talbot's are sold; Cereal Partners Worldwide, a joint venture with Nestlé S.A., is formed.
1992: Company establishes Snack Ventures Europe in partnership with PepsiCo, Inc.
1995: The Gorton's brand is sold to Unilever; the restaurant division is spun off to shareholders as a separate public company, Darden Restaurants, Inc.
1997: The branded ready-to-eat cereal and snack mix businesses of Ralcorp Holdings, Inc. are acquired, including the Chex brand.
1999: Lloyd's Barbecue Company, Farmhouse Foods Company, and Gardetto's Bakery, Inc. are acquired.
Name Age Since Current Position
Powell, Kendall 56 2008 Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer
Mulligan, Donal 50 2007 Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President
Palmore, Roderick 58 2008 Executive Vice President, Chief Compliance and Risk Management Officer, General Counsel, Secretary
Belton, Y. Marc 51 2006 Executive Vice President - Worldwide Health, Brand and New Business Development
Friendly, Ian 49 2006 Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer - U.S. Retail
O'Leary, Christopher 51 2006 Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer - International
Davis, Michael 54 2008 Senior Vice President - Global Human Resources
Shea, Christina 57 2005 Senior Vice President - External Relations, President - General Mills Foundation
Church, John 44 2008 Senior Vice President - Supply Chain
Erickson, Peter 49 2006 Senior Vice President - Innovation, Technology and Quality
O'Grady, Shawn 46 2010 Senior Vice President, President - Consumer Foods Sales Division
Lund, Richard 60 2007 Vice President, Controller
Esrey, William 71 1989 Director
Gilmartin, Raymond 69 1997 Director
Hope, Judith 69 1989 Director
Terrell, Dorothy 65 1994 Director
Miller, Heidi 57 1999 Director
Ochoa-Brillembourg, Hilda 66 2002 Director
Rose, Michael 69 2004 Director
Odland, Stephen 51 2004 Director
Danos, Paul 68 2004 Director
Ryan, Robert 67 2005 Director
Anderson, Bradbury 61 2007 Director
Clark, R. Kerry 58 2009 Director
Address:
Number One General Mills Boulevard
Post Office Box 1113
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55440
U.S.A.