General Mills profit jumps 94% as more eat at home

It's little secret that the recession has brought out the Betty Crocker in consumers, with more people baking, buying flour and eating at home to save money -- all good news for General Mills.

Still, even for veteran analysts, the company's announcement Wednesday that it had nearly doubled its quarterly profit of a year ago on sales of staples such as Cheerios, Hamburger Helper and Gold Medal flour, wasn't expected. The company also estimated that next year's profit will be above analysts' current expectations.

"Mills still managed to surprise us," analyst Terry Bivens of J.P. Morgan Chase wrote in a note sent to investors Wednesday.

The Golden Valley-based company, which also makes Yoplait yogurt and Progresso soups, reported a 94 percent improvement in fourth quarter earnings to $358.8 million, or $1.07 per share. Wall Street analysts had expected 81 cents per share, according to Thomson Financial Network.

Earnings were aided by an internal search for ways to save money as General Mills faced strong inflation pressure of 9 percent, said CEO Ken Powell, speaking to analysts Wednesday morning. He also credited strong sales to the "tailwind" of more consumers cooking at home.

"We think it was a very high-quality year," he said.

Revenue for the quarter ended May 31 rose 5 percent to $3.6 billion. Sales for the year were $14.69 billion, a gain of 7.6 percent over last year.

General Mills shares rose $2.16 in trading Wednesday, a gain of nearly 4 percent.

Some of the company's growth came from increased marketing to the country's growing Hispanic population, an investment that's tripled in the past two years.

"We have greatly increased our investment to reach those customers and tell them about our brands," Powell said in an interview Wednesday, "As a result, General Mills is the largest, or one of the largest, advertisers to Hispanics now."

While many American companies are getting hammered by the recession, the benefit for General Mills cut across brands and products. Its U.S. retail brands grew 11 percent to surpass $10 billion for the first time. Sales of Cheerios, Lucky Charms and Fiber One cereals helped push Big G cereals sales up 11 percent for the year, while the company's baking-products sales grew 18 percent on the strength of Bisquick, Gold Medal flour and Betty Crocker dessert mixes. Yoplait sales rose 14 percent; Pillsbury sales rose 12 percent; the meals division, with frozen dinners and Green Giant vegetables, rose 8 percent, and its Small Planet foods division's sales rose 30 percent thanks in part to the acquisition of Larabar, a fruit and nut energy snack company.

International sales grew 1 percent in 2009 to $2.6 billion, with foreign currency exchange cutting sales growth by 9 percent. The Bakeries and Foodservice segment saw sales rise 1 percent to $2 billion, but that was against a year-ago result that included gains from record high prices for commodities. Excluding those gains, the segment's sales rose 15 percent, the company said.

The company forecast earnings of $4.20 to $4.25 per share, a rise of 6 to 7 percent over this year and slightly more than the consensus outlook among analysts of $4.18.