Inside General Mills
| Sept. 28, 2010 |
General Mills Corporate Communications |
Shareholders applaud company success
At the General Mills annual meeting Sept. 27, shareholders praised the company for its environmental and community work, and approved all four company-recommended items on the ballot.
“I want to congratulate General Mills” on its legacy of financial and volunteer support for United Way, said Sarah Caruso, president and chief executive officer of Greater Twin Cities United Way. In the past 15 years, General Mills and its employees and retirees have provided more than $120 million to the organization for its social service work across the United States and Canada.
Others stepped up to the microphones to offer praise related to issues such as obesity, rainforest destruction (Rainforest Action Network), and hunger (Second Harvest Heartland). In total, a dozen meeting attendees offered comments or questions, on topics ranging from organics to Yoplait licensing to political donations.
The meeting, held at the Children’s Theatre in south Minneapolis, featured a business review from Ken Powell, chairman and chief executive officer.
Resiliance leads to growth
“We’ve met or exceeded our long-term growth goals in each of the past five years, with particularly strong performance in fiscal 2010,” Powell said. “Our portfolio is resilient and has generated good growth over the years, through all sorts of economic conditions. We’re very optimistic about our future growth prospects.”
Powell announced that prior to the shareholder meeting, the board of directors declared a quarterly dividend at the prevailing rate of 28 cents per share, payable Nov. 1, to shareholders of record on Oct. 11. General Mills and its predecessor firms now have paid dividends without reduction or interruption for 112 years.
At the meeting, shareholders elected the 14 directors nominated, approved the Executive Incentive Plan, ratified the appointment of KPMG LLP as independent auditor, and provided an advisory vote supporting the company’s executive compensation practices.
Inside General Mills
