EmailGeneral Mills (GIS $39.60 +0.30) reported first quarter earnings of $0.66 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ consensus of $0.63, while revenues rose 5.3% year/year to $4.05 billion versus the $4.09 billion consensus. The company reaffirmed guidance for fiscal year 2013 with EPS $2.65, excluding non-recurring items, versus the $2.66 consensus. Gross margin as reported was above year-ago levels, but excluding mark-to-market effects underlying gross margin was 40 basis points below year-ago levels. First-quarter net sales for General Mills' U.S. Retail segment totaled $2.49 billion, down 1 percent from a year earlier. First-quarter net sales for General Mills' consolidated international businesses grew 27% to reach $1.09 billion.
Outlook: "In our core U.S. market, we are seeing slow improvement in price and volume trends across our retail food categories. As we move into the second quarter, we'll be putting full advertising support behind our new items, and we have planned strong levels of in-store merchandising across our product categories. Outside the U.S., our established international businesses are showing good momentum and, beginning in the second quarter, results will include incremental contributions from Yoplait Canada and Yoki Alimentos in Brazil."
