The Supply Side briefs: General Mills and GMO, Kellogg reinvestment
• General Mills takes stance on Non-G.M.O.
Ken Powell, CEO of General Mills, announced this week that the food giant is not focused on reformulating more products as GMO-free. (GMA refers to genetically modified products.)
He said the company did remove bioengineered ingredients from Cheerios, one of its iconic brands. But, while there was plenty of talk about the issue within the industry, he said sales were not materially impacted from this move.
Powell made those statements during the Consumer Analyst Group of New York conference held this week in Boca Raton, Fla. He noted that non-GMO is “something out there,” but has not “affected competitive performance.”
Post Foods also recently announced its Grape-Nuts brand was certified GMO-free.
Post and General Mills are suppliers to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and operate a large sales offices in Rogers.
• Kellogg reinvests in shares
Kellogg announced a share repurchase authorization of up to $1.5 billion, which expires on Jan. 2, 2016, the end of the company's 2015 fiscal year. This authorization represents the company's commitment to returning cash to share owners.
The company also announced a dividend of 46 cents per share payable on March 17, to shareholders of record at the close of business on March 4, and marks the 357th dividend Kellogg has paid to shareholders since 1925.