General Mills Details Fiscal 2020 Priorities At Company's Annual Investor Day

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--General Mills (NYSE: GIS) executives updated investors and analysts on its commitment to its global growth framework and the company’s Fiscal 2020 priorities at its annual Investor Day.

General Mills Chairman and CEO Jeff Harmening said the company remains committed to maintaining a relentless focus on consumers through its Consumer First strategy, which means deeply understanding consumers’ needs and lives and moving quickly to meet those needs with a broad portfolio of brands.

"We’ve continued to adapt and evolve our portfolio to serve our consumers,” said Harmening. “We’re a company of brand builders, and we see tremendous opportunities to make meaningful connections between our consumers and our brands to drive growth in the next year, and over the long term.”

Global Growth Framework

Harmening reiterated the global growth framework General Mills is pursuing to generate sustainable, profitable growth:

• Competing effectively across all brands and geographies through strong innovation, effective consumer marketing, and excellent in-store execution.
• Accelerating its differential growth platforms, including Häagen-Dazs ice cream, snack bars, Old El Paso Mexican food, and its portfolio of natural and organic brands.
• Reshaping the portfolio through growth-enhancing acquisitions and divestitures, including last year’s acquisition of Blue Buffalo, the leading brand in the fast-growing wholesome natural pet food category in the U.S.

Fiscal 2020 Priorities

In Fiscal 2020, General Mills will focus on delivering balanced top and bottom-line growth with innovation and brand building at the center of its agenda:

• Accelerating organic net sales growth through improved performance in its North America Retail segment and continued strong growth in its Pet segment.
• Maintaining strong margins, fueled by benefits from Holistic Margin Management and Strategic Revenue Management initiatives.
• Reducing leverage through a disciplined focus on cash and debt repayment to achieve its Fiscal 2020 leverage target of 3.5 times net-debt-to-adjusted EBITDA.

The replay of today's General Mills presentation is available on investors.generalmills.com.

About General Mills

General Mills is a leading global food company that serves the world by making food people love. Its brands include Cheerios, Annie's, Yoplait, Nature Valley, Häagen-Dazs, Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, Old El Paso, Wanchai Ferry, Yoki, Blue and more. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, General Mills generated fiscal 2019 net sales of U.S. $16.9 billion. In addition, General Mills’ share of non-consolidated joint venture net sales totaled U.S. $1.0 billion.