Milling & Baking News - June 4, 2019 - 11

Business

General Mills sets sights on
improving snack bars business
NEW YORK - "Fundamental inno- businesses - Nature Valley and Fiber
vation" will be key in General Mills, One - have encountered challenges,
Inc.'s efforts to invigorate the snack though.
In the case of Nature Valley, the
bar segment, said Jeffrey L. Harmening, chairman and chief executive brand grew at an 8% clip as recently
as two years ago, Mr. Harmening said,
officer.
Speaking to analysts during a May but last year it experienced a decline.
"Nature Valley really is about ex29 presentation at the Sanford C. Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference in ecuting well and about getting back
New York, Mr. Harmening
said General Mills "needs
to improve our snack bars
business."
"That should be a great
growth business for us," he
said. "It has historically, but
it hasn't this past year."
Mr. Harmening said three
of the company's five snack
bar businesses are performing well.
"Lärabar is growing at
double digits," he said.
"Epic bar is growing double digits. We have a cereal
GENERAL MILLS
treat bar business that's really growing rapidly. So, those three to innovation," he explained. "I mean,
it is the bar that nature intended. It's
businesses are good."
The company's two other snack bar well positioned. It's got a great brand

ADM creating new Ag Services
& Oilseeds business unit
CHICAGO - A little more than a
year after Archer Daniels Midland Co.
realigned its business segment into
four units, the company is making yet
another transition, this time to three
units. Effective July 1, ADM's Origination and Oilseed business operations
will be folded into a new unit called
Ag Services & Oilseeds. The company
will continue to operate its Carbohydrate Solutions and Nutrition business segments.
The new business unit will be led
by Gregory A. Morris, formerly president of oilseeds for ADM. Mr. Morris
joined ADM in 1995 and has held several senior-level merchandising and
management positions across three of
the company's business units. Prior to
his current position, he led the launch
of what was then known as the company's Wild Flavors and Specialty Ingredients business unit. Before that,
he was president, North American
Oilseeds Processing.
Stefano Rettore, who had led the
Origination division as president since
bakingbusiness.com / world-grain.com

March 2018, has decided to leave the
company for personal reasons.
"ADM's ability to provide value
through the entire supply chain -
from origination to processing to
transportation to ingredients and solutions - is what sets us apart from
others in the industry," said Juan Luciano, chairman and
chief executive officer.
"Bringing the unparalleled strength of our
global origination, global trade and destination
marketing businesses
and our transportation
Morris
network together with
our leadership in oilseeds processing
and value-added product mix is a natural evolution. This helps us better integrate the supply and value chains to
deliver significant simplification and
efficiency to the day-to-day business.
"I am personally committed to the
strategic value that simplification can
bring to our organization and feel our
ability to accelerate purposeful value

equity, and so I'm highly confident
we can improve on last year's performance on Nature Valley."
Meanwhile, Fiber One has been a
trouble spot for General Mills. Mr.
Harmening said the company is working on fundamentally repositioning
the brand. The company plans to discuss more details of its plans at its Investor Day conference in July.
"Fundamentally, Fiber One used
to be a part of about half the diets in
the United States, and one point on
Weight Watchers," he said.
"Now, it's a part of about
2% of diets in the United
States and about six points
on Weight Watchers. So we
have some work to do on
Fiber One."
Despite some of the
stumbling blocks General
Mills has faced, Mr. Harmening remains optimistic
about the company's ability to regain its footing in
the snack bars segment.
"Bars is a business that
we have led innovation for
a long period of time, and
we didn't do that this last year," he
said. "But we're going to get back on
the horse this coming year." MBN
creation within ADM has never been
greater."
The oilseed operation refocus comes
shortly after ADM's realignment of
its U.S. flour milling footprint. In late
April, the company announced plans
to close one of its two Minneapolis
flour mills as well as its flour mill in
Salina, Kas. The announcements come
several months after the company
began production at its modernized
flour mill in Enid, Okla., and a few
months before commissioning a completely new flour mill in Mendota, Ill.,
about 90 miles west of Chicago.
ADM also recently made changes
to its grain group leadership. Wesley
Uhlmeyer, president of the grain group
since March 2016, stepped down on
April 22 for personal reasons. Christopher L. Boerm, currently president of
ADM's transportation group, added
the title of president of grain.
Relocation of the company's sales
and commercial staff members of
ADM Milling Co. was also recently
thrown into the mix. The staff members will be relocated to ADM's North
American headquarters in Decatur,
Ill., from ADM Milling offices in Overland Park, Kas. MBN
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Milling & Baking News - June 4, 2019

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