General Mills, Inc. (General Mills), incorporated on June 20, 1928, is a manufacturer and marketer of branded consumer foods sold through retail stores. The Company is also a supplier of branded and unbranded food products to the foodservice and commercial baking industries. The Company manufactures its products in 15 countries and markets them in more than 100 countries. The Company's joint ventures manufacture and market products in more than 130 countries and republics worldwide. General Mills operates in three segments: U.S. Retail, International, and Bakeries and Foodservice. In addition, the Company sells ready-to-eat cereals through its Cereal Partners Worldwide (CPW) joint venture. In February 2012, General Mills acquired Food Should Taste Good, a natural snack foods company based in Needham Heights, Mass. During the fiscal year ended May 27, 2012, the Company acquired a 51% interest in Yoplait S.A.S. and a 50% interest in Yoplait Marques S.A.S. In August 2012, it acquired Yoki Alimentos SA.
General Mills's ready-to-eat cereals consists of Cheerios, Wheaties, Lucky Charms, Total, Trix, Golden Grahams, Chex, Kix, Fiber One, Reese's Puffs, Cocoa Puffs, Cookie Crisp, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Clusters, Oatmeal Crisp and Basic 4. Its refrigerated yogurt include Yoplait, Trix, Delights, Go-GURT, Fiber One, YoPlus, Whips!, Mountain High, Liberte, YOP, Perle de Lait, Petits Filous and Panier. The Company's refrigerated and frozen dough products consists of Pillsbury, the Pillsbury Doughboy character, Grands!, Golden Layers, Big Deluxe, Toaster Strudel, Toaster Scrambles, Simply, Savorings, Jus-Rol, Latina, Pasta Master, Wanchai Ferry, V.Pearl and La Saltena. The dry dinners and shelf stable and frozen vegetable products includes Betty Crocker, Hamburger Helper, Tuna Helper, Chicken Helper, Old El Paso, Green Giant, Potato Buds, Su! ddenly Salad, Bac*O's, Betty Crocker Complete Meals, Valley Selections, Simply Steam, Valley Fr esh Steamers, Wanchai Ferry, Diablitos and Parampara. Its gr! ain, fruit, and savory snacks consists of Nature Valley, Fiber One, Betty Crocker, Fruit Roll-Ups, Fruit By The Foot, Gushers, Chex Mix, Gardetto's, Bugles, Food Should Taste Good and Larabar. The sessert and baking mixes includes Betty Crocker, SuperMoist, Warm Delights, Bisquick and Gold Medal. Ready-to-serve soup consists of Progresso. The Company's ice cream and frozen desserts include Haagen-Dazs, Secret Sensations, Cream Crisp and Dolce. Its frozen pizza and pizza snacks includes Totino's, Jeno's, Pizza Rolls, Party Pizza, Pillsbury Pizza Pops and Pillsbury Pizza Minis. General Mills's organic products include Cascadian Farm and Muir Glen.
The Company's products are marketed under trademarks and service marks that are owned by or licensed to the Company. Some of the brand names include Dora the Explorer, Disney Cars, and Disney Princesses for yogurt, and Dora the Explorer for cereal; Reese's Puffs for cereal; Hershey's chocolate for a variety o f products; Weight Watchers as an endorsement for soup and frozen vegetable products; Macaroni Grill for dry and frozen dinners; Sunkist for baking products and fruit snacks; Cinnabon for refrigerated dough, frozen pastries, and baking products; Bailey's for super-premium ice cream, and a range of characters and brands for fruit snacks, including Scooby Doo, Batman, Tom and Jerry, Ocean Spray, Thomas the Tank Engine, My Little Pony, Transformers, and various Warner Bros. and Nickelodeon characters. Its primary customers include grocery stores, mass merchandisers, membership stores, natural food chains, drug, dollar and discount chains, commercial and noncommercial foodservice distributors and operators, restaurants, and convenience stores.
U.S. Retail segment
The Company's U.S. Retail segment reflects business with a range of grocery stores, ma! ss mercha! ndisers, membership stores, natural food chains, and drug, dollar and discount chains operating throughout the United States. Its product categories in thi! s busines! s segment include ready-to-eat cereals, refrigerated yogurt, ready-to-serve soup, dry dinners, shelf stable and frozen vegetables, refrigerated and frozen dough products, dessert and baking mixes, frozen pizza and pizza snacks, grain, fruit and savory snacks, and a range of organic products, including granola bars, cereal and soup.
International segment
The Company's International segment consists of retail and foodservice businesses outside of the United States. In Canada, its product categories include ready-to-eat cereals, shelf stable and frozen vegetables, dry dinners, refrigerated and frozen dough products, dessert and baking mixes, frozen pizza snacks, refrigerated yogurt, and grain and fruit snacks. In markets outside North America, its product categories include super-premium ice cream and frozen desserts, refrigerated yogurt, grain snacks, shelf stable and frozen vegetables, refrigerated and frozen dough products, and dry dinners. Its International segment also includes products manufactured in the United States for export, mainly to Caribbean and Latin American markets, as well as products it manufactures for sale to its international joint ventures.
Bakeries and Foodservice segment
In Company's Bakeries and Foodservice segment its product categories include cereals, snacks, refrigerated yogurt, unbaked and fully baked frozen dough products, baking mixes, and flour. It sells to distributors and operators in many customer channels, including foodservice, convenience stores, vending and supermarket bakeries.
Advisors' Opinion: - [By John Udovich]
If you are looking for way to invest in the trend towards gluten free food, small cap Boulder Brands Inc (NASDAQ: BDBD) is probably the closest thing to a pure play gluten free stock while large! cap Gene! ral Mills, Inc (NYSE: GIS) and small cap Giggles N Hugs Inc (OTCMKTS: GIGL) offer exposure to consumer trends away from gluten. To begin with, a gluten free diet or product will exclude gluten, a protein composite found in wheat and related grains such as barley and rye that is believed to cause health problems for sufferers of celiac disease (1% of the population), non-celiac gluten sensitivity (as many as 18 million Americans) and some cases of wheat allergy. Many Western consumers are adopting a gluten-free lifestyle whether or not they have actually been diagnosed (by a doctor) with CD or gluten sensitivity. With that in mind, here is a look at three gluten free stocks or potential plays on the gluten free fad:
- [By Ben Rooney]
Nestlé and Mars say they have already responded to a call from the World Cocoa Foundation, a non-profit that helps small cocoa farmers. The group plans to disclose Wednesday how much it has raised. Others in the group include Hershey (HSY), Godiva, Ghirardelli, General Mills (GIS) and Mondelez International (MDLZ).
- [By rsconsultant]
Marked consumer foods should profit from this uptick in spending. Some of the unmistakable players in this industry are Kellogg (K), General Mills (GIS) and J.M. Smucker (SJM). Each of these companies has been attempting its best to pull in customers and extend its top line.
- [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]
Sue Ogrocki/AP WASHINGTON -- Overall U.S. food inflation will remain near the historic norm in 2014, even as prices for meat and seafood are pushed higher by disease and widespread drought, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Friday. Prices for shelf-stable and processed items made by companies such as General Mills (GIS) and Kraft Foods Group (KRFT) are relatively flat. "It appears that supermarkets are maintaining minimal price inflation on packaged food products, possibly in an effort to keep prices competitive in light of rising cost pressures for most peri! shable it! ems," the USDA said. But drought conditions in California and other states could further drive up prices of fresh produce and beef, the USDA warned. The agency forecast wholesale pork prices to jump by 10 percent to 11 percent in 2014, hurt by declining supplies after a virus has killed some 7 million piglets in the past year. Wholesale beef prices are forecast to jump by 8 percent to 9 percent in 2014, although rising imports are helping to offset some of the decline in domestic supplies. Food inflation, which includes items bought in grocery stores and in restaurants, is seen at 2.5 percent to 3.5 percent this year and then subsiding to 2 percent to 3 percent in 2015, the USDA said in its first forecast for the new year. Since 1990, grocery store prices have risen by an average of 2.8 percent per year. The agency noted a recent jump in vegetable prices but said it was too soon to tie the move to the severe drought in California, the largest U.S. grower of fruits and vegetables. "The ongoing drought in California could potentially have large and lasting effects on fruit, vegetable, dairy and egg prices, and drought conditions in Texas and Oklahoma could drive beef prices up even further," the USDA said. Fresh fruit prices have risen 5.8 percent in the year through June compared with a year-ago, though prices fell 4.1 percent in June, reflecting a decline in citrus prices and
source from Top Stocks For 2015:http://www.topstocksblog.com/best-food-companies-to-own-for-2016.html
