General Mills Declares Two-for-One Stock Split

Food Processing Top 100 Food Processor General Mills' Board of Directors declared a two-for-one split of General Mills common stock on May 3.  The split will be effected in the form of a 100 percent stock dividend.   Shareholders of record at the close of business on May 28, 2010, will receive one additional share of General Mills stock for each share then owned.  These additional shares will be distributed beginning June 8, 2010. According to a release issued by General Mills, since the company was incorporated in 1928, its common stock has split seven previous times, most recently as a two-for-one split on November 8, 1999.  From a split-adjusted closing price of $41.69 on that date, shares of GIS appreciated 71 percent to $71.16 as of market close on April 30, 2010.  Over that same time period, the S&P 500 Index declined 14 percent from $1377.01 to $1186.69.   From November 1999 through April 2010, total return to General Mills’ shareholders through stock price appreciation and dividends compounded at an 8 percent annualized rate, compared to an annualized return of less than 1 percent for the S&P 500.  General Mills’ annual cash dividend has grown from $1.08 in fiscal 1999 to $1.92 in fiscal 2010.  The company and its predecessor firms have paid dividends without interruption or reduction for the past 111 years.