Good morning, and welcome to Campbell's 4th quarter and full year fiscal 2020 earnings presentation. I'm Rebecca Gardy, vice president of investor relations. As usual, we've created slides to accompany our earnings presentation. You will find these slides posted on our website this morning at investor. Campbellsoupcompany.com.
In addition to this earnings presentation, we will host an analyst Q and A only session later this morning at 8:30 AM Eastern. A replay of the webcast and a transcript of this earnings presentation, as well as of the Q and A session, will also be available on the website atinvestor. Campbellsoupcompany.com. As part of our remarks this morning, we will make forward looking statements, which reflect our current expectations. These statements rely on assumptions and estimates, which could be inaccurate and are subject to risk.
Please refer to slide 3, or our SEC filings for a list of factors that could cause our actual results to vary materially from those anticipated in forward looking statements. Because we use non GAAP measures to describe our business performance, we have provided a reconciliation of these measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures is included in the appendix of this presentation and will be posted to the IR section of our website as part of the transcript of today's call. On slide 4, you can see our agenda. You will hear from Mark Clouse, Campbell's President and CEO, and Mick Bakehausen, Chief Financial Officer. Mark will share his thoughts on our performance in the quarter and on the year.
And to Mick will then walk through the financial details and share our outlook for the first quarter of fiscal 2021. And with that, let me turn it over to Mark. Mark?
As we continue to navigate Our thoughts remain with all those impacted during these challenging times. Our most important responsibility is to take ensuring their health, safety and well-being continues to be our highest priority. Remain focused and committed to helping the communities where our people live and work. Our support both financially and in food donations to Campbell's hometowns across North America now stands at $6,000,000 since the onset of the pandemic. Before I review our financial results, I must once again express my deepest gratitude, pride, and appreciation for the extraordinary performance across Campbell, starting with our frontline teams.
We have been operating in this challenging environment for 6 months and our teams continue to exhibit the termination, commitment, and resilience. They have adapted to heightened safety protocols to get our products I am also sincerely thankful for our sales team and the close partnerships with our customers during these uncertain times. I truly believe the level of collaboration and transparency that has will create an environment for continuing
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team for demonstrating such tremendous commitment and passion in supporting the business and our teams in the field. I'm so proud of how they have adapted to not only a virtual work environment but also the way in which they have found new and more efficient ways to work. Now let's turn to our and commitment to improving our execution served Our fiscal year was separated into 2 distinct halves. We began the year focused on strengthening our portfolio of powerhouse brands, We completed our planned divestitures while we substantially reduced our outstanding debt. We kicked off our winning soup turnaround plans, and we drove a new operating model with solid performances across both divisions.
Within meals and beverages, both soup volume and dollar share grew for two consecutive quarters. And we delivered continued growth in snacks few could have fully anticipated. But I am incredibly proud of the agility and commitment of our teams in adapting to the uncertainty brought on by COVID 19. Our operational and commercial teams have positively responded to the extraordinary demand caused by the pandemic. Driven by a major shift in consumer behavior toward eating at home with a resurgence of cooking simple meals and increased snacking occasions.
The impact of these consumer changes was evident in the results that we reported in the 3rd quarter, and again, in the 4th quarter results we're reporting today. In the fourth quarter, we delivered growth in all key metrics, with double digit increases in organic sales, adjusted EBIT and adjusted EPS. Organic net sales increased 12% resulting from strong performance across both of our segments. As a reminder, the organic net sales growth excludes and a 2 point negative impact from the sale of our European Chips business. As it did last quarter, our in market performance grew across both the meals and beverages and snacks divisions.
In measured channels, our total company in market consumption increased 22% with double digit consumption increases across most of the portfolio. Comparing relevant apple apple's consumption and net sales numbers, consumption growth was about two points above net sales, reflecting isolated softness in unmeasured channels, and select inventory depletion on snacks, partially mitigated by some inventory recovery in meals and beverages, especially on soup. Share results were mixed in certain categories as we navigated some previously discussed supply challenges to keep up with demand. We expect to continue navigating this situation throughout the first half as retailers are working hard We feel confident that as we move into and have a more positive share including 190 basis point adjusted gross margin expansion, and we generated $45,000,000 of enterprise cost savings in the quarter. Which reflects initiatives from our multi year enterprise program and synergies from our snacks integration.
With the strong increase in net sales and improved gross margin, adjusted EBIT increased 22%. Despite a significant uptick in These results help to drive adjusted EPS up 50 percent to $0.63 per share. As discussed last quarter, we are very focused on household penetration as we make every effort to retain the new household and younger consumers who have purchased and are pleased with our decision to In fact, a year ago in the quarter with strong sustained repeat Those increases have been driven in part by the sustained consumer behaviors we discussed in the third quarter, including more at home meals in quick scratch cooking, online shopping, the evolution of the retail shelf, and the continued consumer focus on value given the challenging economic environment. In our best view of the future, regardless of duration of the COVID 19 environment, we expect to retain a sizable portion of these households driven by these sustained behaviors, even as the environment normalizes over time. The net of all of this is that we expect which was already improving based on the progress we had been making against our strategic plan.
Currently the impact and duration the COVID 19 pandemic remains uncertain, and it is therefore difficult to predict the full year outlook for fiscal 2021. That said, we are committed to being as transparent as possible for investors. We are providing context for our thinking on full year fiscal 2021 and more specific guidance for the first quarter of fiscal 2021 based on that context. However, even in the first quarter, there are many variables that make this difficult with both risks and opportunities. And I do wanna be clear that it is not our intention to move to quarterly guidance.
Rather, it represents our desire to provide as much visibility as possible. Each quarter we will assess what we think is appropriate. Mick will cover this in detail in a moment. With that let's turn to a more detailed discussion of our 2 segments. There are very few businesses that were as in demand and positively impacted by COVID trajectory of the business and have created In the fourth quarter, organic net sales increased 19% and operating profit was up 24%.
These sales gains continued to be broad based primarily reflecting gains in our U. S. Soups, beverages, prego Pasta, and Canada. Our Foodservice business, which only represents approximately 5% of our total full year company sales, continued to face challenges with sales declining in the quarter based on consumer trends previously discussed. In market dollar consumption grew 24% in the quarter, with strong double digit consumption growth across all core brands.
Excluding the benefit of the This sustained demand, along with gradual inventory recovery, did continue to put pressure on our supply chain resulting in some share erosion. We did see some inventory catch up later in the quarter as we added back SKUs that we had temporarily cut to maximize capacity and improved inventory levels in soup where we did ship ahead of consumption as planned. Marketing expense increased 115 percent versus prior as we continue to lean into the opportunity to attract and retain new households. Although off a smaller historical base spending level, more than half of the increased investment was focused on soup, including Pacific Foods, which grew 45% in market including an approximate 11 point benefit from the additional Over the entirety of fiscal 2020, the soup category grew more units and our wet soup growth was double that of total edibles. This is a long way from 2019.
On this slide, week in the quarter, driven primarily by the 30% increase in consumption impacted by the continued changes in consumer behavior from COVID-nineteen, as well as retailers replenishing some inventory levels. We drove substantial sales gains on condensed ready to serve and broth, including Pacific. Consumers have gravitated to our trusted brands because of the quality, value, comfort and versatility that our products deliver. Primarily due to availability. Broth is an important area that we are continuing to focus on by adding more additional co manufacturing as well extremely pleased with our significant gains in household penetration, while volume per buyer's remained elevated even in the summer.
Soup household penetration increased over 5 percentage points versus the same quarter last year. We gained 6,400,000 households across all generations with continued gains among the millennial cohort. Notably, these gains were most pronounced across our condensed icon soup business, which was where we really increased investments around cooking, new usage ideas and more summer recipes. We leveraged the momentum we garnered in the 3rd quarter and disproportionately invested in marketing messages with new relevant ideas and product is moving through pantries even as we navigated through the summer months, setting up opportunity for stronger replenishment as we head into the upcoming soup season. As we discussed previously, innovation plays an important role in our plans.
And although we may be a bit behind our soup aisle of the future vision given the COVID-nineteen impact on retail, we are certainly and continue to position our soup business for sustained growth. I want to acknowledge and commend the team who despite the challenging operating environment in fiscal 2020 did not take their foot off the gas on our innovation across our soup portfolio. For fiscal 2021, we are focused on 3 major areas for innovation. 1st, strengthening our Better 4U offerings. Next, expanding our convenience platforms.
And finally, beginning to broaden our kids specific options, this reflects the significant uptick and need for simple in home kids lunches. Better for you begins with the relaunch of our Well YES brand. This platform was first introduced in January 2017. We've added to the platform with We will now focus on and shifting to more affordable stronger competitive position to capture category growth and younger consumers. Also within the Better For You Brothcap Gori, we are expanding our swans and bra sipping line with 2 new flavored varieties.
Chinese Spice and Moroccan, Sipping represents an incremental occasion for broth and is expanding the swanson equity. We expect this line to attract younger consumers particularly millennials and gen xers, who value the ease and convenience of the Sipping cup. For our Pacific Foods brands, we will introduce 3 condensed soup varieties in a can, all of which are organic and gluten free. Scratch cooking continues to grow. These offerings will fit perfectly for consumers who want to save time and add organic and nutritious ingredients to their meals.
Our now 2 year effort to improve has gone a long way in breaking We are also optimistic tested this line at a national retailer and have found that it is bringing a new and younger consumer into the soup aisle. This rounds out a compelling convenience section that we Finally, within our core condensed and spaghettios portfolio, we are seeing growth on our kids platforms with a higher number of in home lunches. We have a new SKU launching this soup season, a tomato ABC variety that combines the popularity of our iconic tomato variety with the fun of alphabet pasta. We continue to drive relevance with our kids' soup line by featuring familiar faces. Such as the Always popular Disney princesses, along with one of Nickelodeon's hottest TV shows in Paul Patrol.
In addition, we are launching more permissible varieties of spaghettios like new chicken meatballs and added veggies. As we look ahead, we will continue to invest to bring new news in terms of products and flavors to our kids. As we head into fiscal 2021, it is a good moment to check our progress against our winning soup strategy. We feel great about The turnaround of the business and expansion of households attracting younger consumers and improvements in Pacific Foods are all well ahead of pace. While share is behind where we expected, we consider this capacity driven and fully expect at the turnaround in fiscal 2021.
Our innovation, marketing, supply chain and investments are all on track, while shelf and packaging is a bit behind as we have prioritized supply and keeping shelves full in the COVID 19 environment. We expect to increase our focus in this area in fiscal 2021. To stick with our full swing analogy, I'd say that we are well down the fairway. Admittedly, while we benefited from some tail winds off the tee, We have made the set up for our second shot in fiscal 2021. In other parts of the division, we saw similar results continue into the 4th quarter.
Prego maintained its number one share in the Italian sauce category for the 15th straight month as we saw gains in household penetration in the quarter. Both Prego and PACE saw double digit consumption gains. However, both also experienced pressure on share given supply challenges as we're trying to meet demand and recover retail inventory levels. V8 in Canada also performed well in the quarter. V8 experienced double digit consumption growth with gains in both multi serve and single serve products.
Our Canadian business continued to perform well this quarter and its results mirrored similar behavior to the U. S. All in all, great performance, and I'm very proud how our team materially advanced the execution of our strategic plan. Let's next look at our snacks segment. This was another strong quarter for the division as net sales increased 11%.
Excluding the additional week and the sale of the European Chips business, organic net sales increased 7%. Operating profit was flat versus previous year with higher sales being offset by COVID19 costs and sustained increase in marketing investment. As the year progresses, we expect to remain on our plan consistent with the trends that we In market performance was elevated across the portfolio as our brands are well aligned to meet consumer needs and current retail trends. The division delivered 21% consumption growth in the 4th quarter in measured channels and growth across all 9 of our power brands. Excluding the additional week, our in market growth was 13%.
The strongest performers included Milano, late July, and our Farmhouse brand. This quarter, 6 of our 9 Power Brands grew or held share. We grew by more than one point across 3 of the power brands with the strongest growth coming from Lance at 3.7 points and late July at 1.3 points. However, we did see some limited share On the snacks business, our net sales number lagged consumption, primarily due to lower growth in our non measured channels, specifically in convenience store and vending as well as some retail inventory reduction. We have already taken action.
For example, as previously discussed on Goldfish, we have added nearly 20% more capacity to our supply as we head into back to school. We also have additional supply coming online We are also very focused on household penetration for our snacking brands, with increases across 8 of our 9 power brands in the fourth quarter. We significantly increased our marketing investment in Snacks in the quarter to fuel these efforts with a year over year increase of 38 percent as we doubled down to retain new consumers and support our power brands. Our investment reflects a combination of live TV, online and streaming video along with key media sponsorships. I'm also very proud of our Snacks team for continuing 20 rates of COVID 19.
I'm pleased with the performance we're seeing on some of the innovation that I discussed previously. Such as Snyder's of Hanover pretzel rounds and twisted sticks as well as our late July organic potato chips. These products are demonstrating positive signs on repeat and steady velocity growth. In addition, in the fourth quarter, we launched a new line of farmhouse spreads called breakfast spreads. These soft thick cut slices of bread rich with whole grains and fruits come in three varieties and are ideal for stay at home or on the go breakfast.
They were developed pre COVID-nineteen, but were scaled up using the same teletasting capability we mentioned last quarter. Next quarter, I look forward to sharing our exciting plans for fiscal 2021 Snacks innovation, which will roll out in the second quarter. Let's finish our discussion on snacks with a review of our progress against integration and value capture. We continue to remain on plan to deliver The team continues to do an outstanding job adjusting and I continue despite the outsized impact on costs associated with the pandemic. In conclusion, I'm confident in our plan to continue to unlock the growth potential continue to perform well and fulfill its portfolio role of sustained growth.
As we navigate this unprecedented period of remarkable Are these the best days we can expect from Campbell? My short answer is no. Although we clearly have some unique one time drivers in the second half of fiscal twenty twenty that created fairly historic growth numbers, The collective progress we have made strategically, the unique investments that have been enabled and the lasting consumer trends we are experiencing I believe places us in a highly advantaged position as we emerge from this pandemic period whenever that may be. First, strategically, we added millions of new households. And even if the retention of those new consumers is modest, it will it has added significant confidence around perhaps our biggest strategic question, which has been our ability to stabilize and build relevance around our soup business.
2nd, we have also been able to maximize cash flow and investment during this period. Adding significant incremental cash and profit to help reduce debt, build our brands and improve efficiency. Even as we expect profit and cash flow to normalize over time, the incremental benefit of this In addition, I think this Finally, as we anticipate the return capabilities and preferences consumers have developed, like a resurgence of quick scratch cooking and expanded snacking, both spaces where our brands play such a critical role. While there still is much to prove, and the environment remains extremely volatile. Our more focused North American business, a brand portfolio and highly relevant categories, our relentless pursuit of executional excellence and now with the acceleration of our strategic plans, we are very well positioned for the future.
With that, let me
Thanks, Mark. As Mark shared, our 4th quarter results were significantly impacted by the COVID 19 pandemic, Our net sales increased as demand remained elevated throughout the quarter, and we continued to invest in our brands. At the same time, we were able to more than offset incremental COVID 19 related costs, resulting in gross margin expansion and strong EBIT and EPS growth. Finally, we generated significant operating cash flow and divestiture proceeds in fiscal 2020, enabling us to reduce our leverage and achieve our original target of three times adjusted EBITDA a year earlier than originally anticipated. While we continued to invest in the business, and maintain our dividend.
For the fourth quarter, we delivered total top line organic growth of 12% compared to the prior year. Organic net sales for meals and beverages increased 19% for the quarter. Driven by double digit gains across a majority of our retail brands. In Snacks, we delivered organic net sales growth of 7%, driven by gains in 8 of our 9 power brands and our fresh bakery products. We are pleased with our adjusted gross margin improvement stemming primarily from the benefits of supply chain productivity improvements and cost saving initiatives.
Mark to market gains on outstanding commodity hedges improved operating leverage and favorable product mix, offset partially by higher supply chain costs related to COVID 19 and moderate cost inflation. The combination of strong top line growth and gross margin improvement, combined with continued investment in our brands, resulted in 22% adjusted EBIT growth in the quarter. Year over year adjusted EPS growth was 50% for the quarter reflecting our strong adjusted EBIT performance and a benefit of lower net interest expense as a result of successful deleveraging. Looking at the full year, I'm pleased with the financial results for fiscal 2020. We grew the top line 7%, which combined with gross margin expansion, resulted in adjusted EBIT growth of 14% and adjusted EPS growth of 20 I'll now review our fourth quarter results in more detail.
Provide a perspective regarding fiscal 2021, and guidance for the organic net sales, which exclude the impact from the additional week in the quarter and the impact of the sale of the European Chips business, increased 12% driven by volume growth in both meals and beverages and snacks, reflecting increased demand for our broad portfolio of products. Adjusted EBIT increased 22 percent to $307,000,000 as higher sales volumes, including the benefit of the additional week and improved adjusted gross margin performance were partially offset by increased adjusted EPS from continuing operations increased by 50 percent or $0.21 to $0.63 per share. Reflecting an increase in adjusted EBIT For the full year, and the impact from the sale of the European Chips business also increased 7% from the prior year, driven by gains in both meals and beverages and Snacks. Adjusted EBIT increased 14 percent to $1,450,000,000 reflecting higher sales volume, including offset partially by increased marketing investment. Or $0.65 to $2.95 per share, reflecting the increase in adjusted EBIT and lower adjusted net interest expense.
Breaking down our net sales performance for the quarter, organic net sales were up 12% This performance was driven by the 12 point offset partially by declines in our foodservice business. The additional week in the quarter added 8 points and the divestiture of the European Chips business negatively impacted net sales in the quarter by two points. The impact from currency translation in the quarter was neutral. All in, our reported net sales were up 18% from the prior year. Our adjusted gross margin increased by 190 basis points in the quarter to 35.6%.
Favorable product mix, which drove a 70 basis point improvement in our adjusted gross margin, was largely driven by the increased contribution from our soup products within our meals and beverages segment. Additionally, in order to optimize our supply chain output, we continued to prioritize production of certain SKUs within both divisions. Separately, we're estimating an 80 basis point gross margin improvement from better operating leverage within our supply chain network as we significantly increased our overall production. Net pricing was neutral in the quarter, inflation and other factors had a negative impact of 210 basis points due to increased supply chain costs driven by COVID-nineteen. Such as increased labor and sanitation costs and cost inflation.
As overall input prices on a rate basis, increased approximately 1.5%, partially offset by mark to market gains on outstanding commodity hedges. The negative impact from the incremental COVID related expenses and inflation was offset partially by our ongoing supply chain productivity program. Which contributed 160 basis points. This program includes, among others, initiatives around logistics optimization, and ingredient sourcing. And our cost savings program, which is incremental to our ongoing supply chain productivity program, added 90 basis points to our gross margin expansion.
This program includes benefits of various initiatives such as last year's closure of our manufacturing facility in Toronto, Ontario and benefits from the ongoing integration of Snyder's Lance. All in, our adjusted gross margin for the quarter was 35.6%. We are pleased with these gross margin results as we continued to achieve improvement in performance. Moving on to other operating items. Adjusted marketing and selling expenses increased 37 percent in the quarter to $265,000,000.
This increase was basically driven by our planned increased investment in advertising and consumer promotion or A and C expenses. Which is up 101% versus a year ago. In meals and beverages, the investments reflected greater emphasis on our iconic soup varieties to drive usage, inspire meal solutions, and build brand awareness particularly amongst younger households. Recall that the 4th quarter is typically the lowest in terms of soup sales and related marketing spend. And accordingly, the significant increase this quarter was a relative to a smaller base in the prior year.
In Snacks, our increased investments in our power brands this quarter followed the typical seasonal cadence albeit elevated as we sought to retain new households and support our power brands in the strong current demand environment. Adjusted administrative expenses increased $30,000,000 or 22 percent to $169,000,000. With approximately half of the increase, driven by the estimated impact of the additional week in the quarter on general administrative costs. The balance of the increase reflects increases in charitable contributions, higher incentive compensation accruals and higher benefit costs, offset partially by the benefits from cost savings initiatives. Going to the next slide, as I mentioned earlier, we have continued to successfully deliver against our multi year enterprise cost savings program.
This quarter, we achieved $45,000,000 in savings, inclusive of Snyder's land synergies, Full year fiscal 2020 savings were $165,000,000, which was ahead of our expectations. To date, that brings our savings for the overall program to $725,000,000. We continue to track to our cumulative savings target of $850,000,000 by the end of fiscal 2022. To help tie this all together, we are providing an adjusted EBIT bridge to highlight the key drivers of performance this quarter. As discussed, adjusted EBIT grew by 22%.
This was largely driven by the increase in demand for our products with sales volume gains contributing $111,000,000 of EBIT growth. The overall adjusted gross margin expansion of 190 basis points contributed $40,000,000 of EBIT growth, which was more than offset by higher adjusted marketing and selling expenses of $71,000,000, reflecting our planned investments in A and C and higher adjusted administrative expenses of $30,000,000. The impact from adjusted other income was nominal. Our adjusted EBIT margin increased year over The following chart breaks down our adjusted EPS growth adjusted EPS increased $0.21 from $0.42 in the prior year quarter to $0.63 per share. Adjusted EBIT had a positive $0.14 impact on the EPS.
Net interest expense declined year over year by $24,000,000, delivering a $0.06 positive impact to EPS as we have used proceeds from completed divestitures and our strong cash flow to reduce debt. And lastly, our adjusted effective tax rate of 22.3 percent led to a positive 0 point 0 $3 impact to EPS, completing the bridge to $0.63 per share. The effect of the additional week Now turning to each of our segments. In Meals and Beverages, organic net sales increased 19% in the 4th quarter. Reflecting growth across our U.
S. Retail business, including soups, V Eight Beverages, pregopasta sauces, Campbell's pasta as well as growth in Canada, offset partially by declines in foodservice. Volumes within our retail business grew principally due to increased food purchases for at home consumption. Offset partially by a decline in our foodservice business as a result of shifts in consumer behavior and continued COVID 19 related restrictions. Compared to prior year, net sales of U.
S. Soups increased 52%, including an 11 point benefit from the additional week with growth in condensed soups ready to serve soups and broth. Operating earnings for meals and beverages increased 24 percent to $184,000,000, The increase was primarily driven and an improved gross margin, offset partially by increased marketing investments and higher administrative expenses. The gross margin increase was driven by the benefit of supply chain productivity improvements and cost saving initiatives. As well as improved operating and cost inflation.
For the full year, meals and beverages delivered organic net sales growth of 8% driven by gains in the U. S. Retail business, including double digit gains in U. S. Soups, including Pacific.
Gains in Prego pasta sauces and V Eight beverages, as well as gains in Canada, partially offset by declines in food service. Segment operating earnings increased 10% driven by sales volume growth, including the benefit of the additional week, and an improved gross margin partially offset by the increased marketing support and higher administrative expenses. Within Snacks, Organic net sales increased 7% in the 4th quarter, driven primarily by volume growth reflecting elevated demand of food purchases for at home consumption as well as strong base velocity growth. These sales results reflect growth in fresh bakery products, Pepperidge farm cookies, late July snacks, Goldfish crackers, and Snyder of Hanover Petrols. As well as Kettle Brandt and Cape Cod potato chips.
Operating earnings for snacks were comparable to the prior year, and $136,000,000. Sales volume gains, including the benefits of the additional week, were offset by increased marketing investments and lower gross margin performance. Gross margin performance declined in the quarter as the benefits of cost savings initiatives and supply chain productivity improvements as well as favorable product mix and improved operating leverage were more than offset by higher supply chain costs related to COVID 19 and cost inflation. For the full year, organic net sales growth on Snacks was 6%, driven by gains in Goldfish Crackers, prep rich farm cookies, and fresh bakery products, as well as cattle brands and Cape Cod potato chips. Late July snacks and Snyder's of Hanover pretzels.
Segment operating earnings increased 6%, driven by sales volume growth, including the benefit of the additional week and improved gross margin performance on the full year, partially offset by increased marketing investment. I'll now turn through 2020 was were basically offset by higher cash earnings and lower other cash payments. Cash from investing activities increased by $2,100,000,000 driven by the net proceeds from our divested businesses. The cash outlay for capital expenditures was $299,000,000, $85,000,000 lower than the prior year and in line with our previously communicated full year expectation, although slightly lower than anticipated at the beginning of the year, primarily reflecting delays in certain projects impacting by the current operating environment. Cash outflows for financing activities were $3,000,000,000, compared to $1,600,000,000 a year ago.
The year over year incremental cash outflow reflects the use of divestiture proceeds to pay down debt. Dividends paid in the amount of $400,000,000 to $26,000,000 were comparable to the prior year reflecting our current quarterly dividend quarter, we had made significant progress to delever our balance sheet, ending net debt of $5,300,000,000 as of the fourth quarter declined by approximately $3,100,000,000 in fiscal 2020 as proceeds from completed divestitures, along with positive cash flow generated by the business, were used to reduce our debt. Our leverage ratio, which represents net debt to a trading 12 month adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations, is now at three times. Notably we were able to achieve this targeted leverage ratio 12 months earlier than anticipated. We ended the year with cash and cash equivalents of $859,000,000 aided in parts by the $1,000,000,000 bond issuance completed in the third quarter.
Our capital priorities remain unchanged as we will continue to strategically invest for growth in our business, including expanding capacity such as we did with Goldfish recently, at our Welllet plant in Ohio, while maintaining our quarterly dividend. And while we will continue to reduce our debt, We may also selectively start to explore strategic tuck in acquisitions within our categories. As we look to fiscal 2021, the continuing effect of COVID 19 creates a volatile operating environment. Making it difficult to provide a full year outlook at this time with sufficient certainty. However, I will provide some context as to how we view fiscal 2021 and how that view informs our first quarter fiscal 2021 guidance.
First off, while we operate in an uncertain environment, we will continue to focus on strong execution. Which includes the continued investment and support of our brands. Execution within the supply chain to meet the demand and a continued focus on cost savings. Cost inflation within our supply chain to largely be offset by the continued productivity savings across the network. Additionally, we will continue and value capture related cost savings initiatives.
From demand perspective, based on the current environment, we expect demand to remain elevated during the first half. Although moderating from Q4 fiscal 2020 given a continued but decelerating tailwind from COVID 19 and the fact that many COVID 19 impacted products like soup have larger comparable basis as the continued pressure to fully meet demand and full inventory replenishment within our supply chain will likely moderate the full upside in the first half. We also expect continued COVID-nineteen related costs, but at a moderated level compared to the fourth quarter as we improve efficiency and more effectively plan the business. Moving on to the second half of fiscal twenty twenty one and assuming a transition to a more normal environment, we will be lapping the significant pantry load and one time effect that COVID nineteen had on our business in the second half of fiscal twenty twenty. We are making every effort to mitigate that impact by retaining new households, sustaining consumer behaviors, and new product innovation.
Nonetheless, we do expect net sales to decline given the significant one time nature of last year's growth. In the back half of fiscal 2021, as we left this past year's COVID 19 related costs, we expect to have opportunity. Although, we expect those gains are not Finally, a couple of specific items for fiscal 2021. As previously mentioned, we expect continued progress on our cost savings program and expect to deliver an incremental $75,000,000 to $85,000,000 in fiscal 2021. Keeping us on track to deliver $850,000,000 by fiscal 2022.
Additionally, We expect net interest expense of $215,000,000 to $220,000,000, which is lower compared to fiscal 2020 given the lower debt levels. Additionally, we expect an adjusted effective tax rate of approximately 24% largely in line with fiscal 2020. As I previously mentioned, regarding our capital priorities, We expect to continue to invest in the business, targeting capital expenditures of approximately $350,000,000. As we continue to support cost savings initiatives and position the company for future growth. While we do not intend to provide quarterly guidance going forward, we are providing the following first quarter fiscal 2021 guidance in the spirit of transparency.
In the short term, some of the key variables we focused on include current trends in demand such as consumer behavior during the back to school period, and the ability of our supply chain to continue to service elevated order levels. Within the context, I just outlined for the first quarter of fiscal 2021, we expect year over year growth in net sales of 5 of 6% to 9% and adjusted EPS growth of 13% to 18% or $0.88 to $0.92 per share. In closing, our 4th quarter results were a strong finish to an exceptional year. I'm proud of the focused execution by the teams throughout the organization amidst such uncertain and trying times. Overall, we ended the year with strong momentum on our strategic plan.
I will now turn it back over to
fiscal 2020 was a year like no other in recent memory, and an exceptional year of performance for Campbell. And we've already jumped right into fiscal 2021. I thought a good discipline from last year was to provide and help keep everyone aligned to what is working and what is not. Key metrics to measure our progress going forward include: retention of new households, returning to positive soup shares, sustained progress on snacks and better contribution from innovation are all key areas closely managing COVID19 cost and key capital initiatives. Still most important, We will be continuing to prioritize and retail environment.
Thanks, Mark. This concludes our prepared remarks. Our live Q and A call will begin at 8:30 am Eastern this morning.