General Mills Targets International Markets To Drive Growth Through 2015

At its recent earnings call, General Mills said it expects international expansion will drive sales to $18 billion by 2015, from $14.8 billion for the fiscal ended May 2010. Its international unit has been growing faster than the rest of the business for the past five years and should post sales of over $3.7 billion in five years time, from $2.7 billion in 2010. It expects China to generate $900 million of sales by 2015, from $350 million in 2010. General Mills has ring-fenced $10 million in this fiscal year to help it gain a stronger presence overseas and is “actively working” to identify expansion opportunities in emerging markets, and especially the BRIC countries. It aims to grow scale and category scope through acquisitions in the growth markets to help offset the expected continued weakness in Western Europe.