GIS - General Mills extends its 124-year record of dividend growth

2023-06-28 07:54:53 ET

General Mills ( NYSE: GIS ), the giant agricultural commodity company, reported mixed results and hiked dividends by 9%. The company’s net sales rose by 3% in the fourth quarter to over $5 billion. Organic sales rose by 1%, helped by positive organic net price realization and mix.

Other parts of the report were mixed. Its gross margin dropped by 180 basis points to 34.4%. Further, its operating profit of $818 million was about 19% from the same period last year. Its operating margin dropped to 16.3%.

For the year, General Mills net sales rose by 6% to over $20.1 billion. Its gross margin for the year dropped to 32.6% while its operating profit dropped to $3.4 billion.

The most important part of the report was the company’s decision to boost its dividend by 9%. It will pay a $0.60 dividend on August 1st of this year. This means that the company has paid a dividend for 124 years without disruption.

General Mills expect that its organic net sales will rise to between 3% and 4% this year. Its adjusted operating is expected to grow by between 4% to 6% to over $3.5 billion. In a statement, the company’s CEO said :

“We’ll focus on continuing to compete effectively, driving efficiency in our operations, and maintaining our disciplined approach to capital allocation, which we expect to result in financial performance that meets or exceeds each of our key long-term goals.”

General Mills stock price dropped by more than 4% in the pre-market session.

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