General Mills quarterly profit beats estimates

[June 29, 2016]  (Reuters) - General Mills Inc, the maker of Cheerios cereal and Yoplait yogurt, reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit, helped by cost cuts and higher demand in markets outside the United States.

Net earnings attributable to General Mills rose to $379.6 million, or 62 cents per share, in the fourth quarter ended May 29 from $186.8 million, or 30 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, the company earned 66 cents per share.

Net sales, however, fell 8.6 percent to $3.93 billion, the fourth straight quarter of decline, partly due to the sale of its Green Giant frozen vegetable business in November.

Analysts on average had expected a profit of 60 cents per share and revenue of $3.86 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

(Reporting by Sruthi Ramakrishnan in Bengaluru; Editing by Kirti Pandey)

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