AGL 40.20 Decreased By ▼ -1.30 (-3.13%)
AIRLINK 129.11 Increased By ▲ 1.11 (0.87%)
BOP 6.60 Increased By ▲ 0.34 (5.43%)
CNERGY 4.03 Decreased By ▼ -0.10 (-2.42%)
DCL 8.45 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.12%)
DFML 41.25 Increased By ▲ 0.56 (1.38%)
DGKC 87.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.90 (-1.02%)
FCCL 33.35 Decreased By ▼ -0.75 (-2.2%)
FFBL 65.90 Decreased By ▼ -0.43 (-0.65%)
FFL 10.54 Decreased By ▼ -0.02 (-0.19%)
HUBC 110.70 Increased By ▲ 2.00 (1.84%)
HUMNL 15.23 Increased By ▲ 0.77 (5.33%)
KEL 4.78 Increased By ▲ 0.13 (2.8%)
KOSM 7.83 Increased By ▲ 0.50 (6.82%)
MLCF 41.90 Decreased By ▼ -0.82 (-1.92%)
NBP 60.50 Decreased By ▼ -0.34 (-0.56%)
OGDC 182.80 Increased By ▲ 3.83 (2.14%)
PAEL 25.36 Decreased By ▼ -0.34 (-1.32%)
PIBTL 6.26 Increased By ▲ 0.20 (3.3%)
PPL 147.81 Increased By ▲ 1.66 (1.14%)
PRL 24.56 Decreased By ▼ -0.35 (-1.41%)
PTC 16.24 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (0.62%)
SEARL 70.50 Increased By ▲ 0.30 (0.43%)
TELE 7.30 Increased By ▲ 0.08 (1.11%)
TOMCL 36.30 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (0.28%)
TPLP 7.85 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.13%)
TREET 15.30 Decreased By ▼ -0.29 (-1.86%)
TRG 51.70 Increased By ▲ 1.34 (2.66%)
UNITY 27.35 Increased By ▲ 0.45 (1.67%)
WTL 1.23 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.81%)
BR100 9,842 Increased By 47.4 (0.48%)
BR30 30,036 Increased By 389.6 (1.31%)
KSE100 92,520 Increased By 499.1 (0.54%)
KSE30 28,786 Increased By 121.7 (0.42%)

General Mills Inc on Wednesday posted a higher-than-expected quarterly profit as cost-cutting measures and higher sales helped offset soaring prices for wheat and other commodities, sending its shares up almost 3 percent.
The maker of Cheerios cereal, Progresso soup and Yoplait yogurt stood by its forecast for fiscal year 2008, excluding special items, which it had raised in February. But the company said it expects to see an acceleration in cost inflation in the fourth quarter.
Like most food companies, General Mills has been hit by commodity costs that have risen well above expectations, and has passed on some of those costs to the consumer. One way has been to reduce the size of its cereal boxes, effectively raising the price per ounce.
"I know there's concern about food price inflation and the potential impact on volume and sales. We are going to continue to watch this closely, but we are encouraged by the strong demand we are seeing for our products," Chief Executive Officer Ken Powell said on a conference call. Powell said product innovation as well as a 13 percent increase in marketing spending was driving strong growth.
Net profit rose 61 percent to $430.1 million, or $1.23 a share, in the fiscal third quarter that ended February 24, compared with $267.5 million, or 74 cents share, a year earlier.
The net profit was boosted by gains from commodity hedging and a favourable court decision on a tax matter. Excluding those and other one-time items, earnings were 87 cents a share. Analysts, on average, had expected 79 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates. "The biggest standout for me is just how strong their sales momentum is," said Edward Jones' analyst Matt Arnold.

Copyright Reuters, 2008

Comments

Comments are closed.