US food giant General Mills has outlined a number of its global growth plans for its current fiscal year.
Company executives yesterday (10 July) discussed plans that the company hopes will fuel growth in the US and beyond at a meeting with investors at the NY Stock Exchange, as it embarks on a new fiscal year.
Chairman and CEO Ken Powell told investors the company expects fiscal 2013 to be "another year of good growth", with sales and profit increases on its base business and contributions from newly-acquired operations, including Yoplait International, Parampara in India, and Food Should Taste Good in the US.
Powell said demand for packaged food products remains high and so the company is responding with around 70 new products in the first half of the year from Yoplait, Progresso, Cascadian, Pilsbury and its Wanchai brands. Growth will be targeted in both developed and emerging markets. In the latter, General Mills has outlined plans to open 50 additional Häagen-Dazs shops.
General Mills' Cascadian Farm organic brand includes cereals, frozen fruits and snack bars, while Pilsbury is the firm's baking brand. Wanchai Ferry is General Mills' range of shelf-stable meal kits and Chinese ingredients, and Yoplait its yoghurt brand.
The plans come on the back of a revamp announced by the company only last month when it said the group will split its US retail business into three divisions and create a regional structure for its international operations as part of plans to cut costs and improve efficiency.
