Consumers remained loyal to our brands as we maintained the 1 million net new households gained in the prior year, while dollars per buyer increased 10%.
Over the past year, we increased our marketing investment by nearly $40 million or 8%.
Most importantly, we significantly improved our market share performance, where today, 55% of the brands in our portfolio are growing market share versus 26% 18 months ago.
Full implementation of these initiatives will deliver $50 million of incremental cost savings in each of the next three fiscal years.
This led to operational efficiencies and incremental capacity for our coffee production, which supported 21% sales growth for the brand this year.
These four priorities are critical to ensuring we maintain our momentum and we're critical to our record fiscal 2021 results with full-year net sales increasing 3%.
Net sales grew 5% when excluding the prior-year sales for divested businesses and foreign currency exchange.
Fiscal '21 adjusted earnings per share was $9.12, an increase of 4%, exceeding our most recent guidance range of $8.70 to $8.90.
Free cash flow was $1.26 billion, above our most recent expectations of $1.1 billion.
We returned $1.1 billion of capital to shareholders this year in the form of dividends and share repurchases.
We increased our dividend for the 19th consecutive year and through share repurchases, reduced our shares outstanding by approximately 5% on a full-year basis.
And we repaid over $860 million of debt during the fiscal year, strengthening our balance sheet to provide flexibility for a balanced approach to reinvesting in the business and returning cash to shareholders.
Net sales declined 8% versus the prior year.
Excluding the non-comparable net sales from divestitures and foreign exchange, net sales decreased 3% due to lapping the initial stock upsurge related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Adjusting for divestitures, net sales grew at a two-year CAGR of 4%, demonstrating growth across all three of our U.S. retail segments.
Fourth-quarter adjusted earnings per share declined 26%, primarily driven by the decreased sales, $40 million of incremental marketing investments, and higher costs, partially offset by higher pricing.
Net sales, excluding sales for the divested Natural Balance business, decreased 6% and demonstrated growth on a two-year basis.
Consumer adoption of K-Cups continues to grow with 3 million incremental households purchasing a Keurig machine last year.
In the last 52 weeks, retail sales of our brands grew 17%.
Over the last 52 weeks, Cafe Bustelo retail sales grew 21% and Dunkin' grew 16%.
The Dunkin' brand, representing $1 billion in all-channel retail sales dollars was a top share gainer in the coffee category growing nearly triple the total at-home coffee category rate in measured channels over the last 52 weeks.
The Folgers brand gained 3 million new households at the height of the pandemic and has the highest repeat rate of any brand for new households gained during the pandemic.
In our consumer foods business, net sales decreased due to the Crisco divestiture and increased 1% on a comparable basis and reflected strong growth on a two-year basis.
Smucker's Uncrustables frozen sandwiches continue to deliver exceptional growth with net sales and household penetration each increasing 16% in the quarter.
For our combined U.S. retail and away-from-home segments, the Uncrustables brand delivered nearly $130 million of net sales this quarter, recording its 28th consecutive quarter of growth.
The brand delivered over $400 million of net sales this year and is on track to exceed our $500 million target in fiscal year 2023.
Net sales decreased 8%.
Excluding the impact of divestitures and foreign exchange, net sales decreased 3%.
Higher net price realization was a 1 percentage point benefit, primarily driven by peanut butter and our pet business.
Adjusted gross profit decreased $79 million or 10% from the prior year.
Adjusted operating income decreased $120 million, or 28%, reflecting the decreased gross profit and higher SG&A expenses.
Below operating income, interest expense decreased $3 million, and the adjusted effective income tax rate was 23.3% compared to 23.4% in the prior year.
Factoring all this in, along with share repurchases that resulted in a weighted average shares outstanding of 108.9 million, fourth-quarter adjusted earnings per share was $1.89.
Net sales decreased 12% versus the prior year.
Excluding the noncomparable net sales for the divested Natural Balance business, net sales decreased 6% versus the prior year.
Net sales grew at a 2% CAGR on a two-year basis excluding the divestiture.
Dog snacks continue to perform well, decreasing just 1% in the fourth quarter after growth of 12% in the prior year.
Cat food decreased 4%, following an 18% growth in the prior year.
Dog food net sales decreased 15%, reflecting anticipated declines versus the prior year.
Pet food segment profit declined 32%, primarily reflecting lower volume mix, increased marketing investments, and increased freight and transportation costs, partially offset by higher net pricing.
Net sales were comparable to the prior year and increased 5% on a two-year CAGR basis.
The Dunkin' and Cafe Bustelo brands grew 10% and 18%, respectively, offset by a 7% decline for the Folgers brand, which benefited the most from consumers stocking up on coffee in the prior year.
For our K-Cup portfolio, net sales increased 14% and accounted for over 30% of the segment's net sales with growth across each brand in the portfolio.
Coffee segment profit decreased 9%, primarily driven by increased marketing expense.
In consumer foods, net sales decreased 13%.
Excluding the prior-year noncomparable net sales for the divested Crisco business, net sales increased 1%.
On a two-year CAGR basis, net sales, excluding the divestiture, grew at a 9% rate.
The fourth-quarter comparable net sales increase relative to the prior year was driven by higher net pricing of 4%, primarily due to a list price increase for peanut butter in the second quarter, partially offset by unfavorable volume mix of 3%.
Growth was led by the Smucker's Uncrustables frozen sandwiches, which grew 16%.
Consumer foods segment profit decreased 29%, primarily reflecting the noncomparable profit from the divested Crisco business, higher costs, and increased marketing expense, partially offset by the higher net pricing.
Lastly, in international and away-from-home, net sales declined 7%.
, net sales declined 5%.
The away-from-home business increased 7% on a comparable net sales basis, primarily driven by increases in portion control products.
International declines of 15% on a comparable net sales basis were primarily driven by declines in baking, partially offset by pet food and snacks.
On a comparable two-year CGAR basis, net sales for the combined businesses declined at a rate of 2%.
Overall, international and away-from-home segment profit decreased 30%, primarily driven by lower volume mix, partially offset by a net benefit of price and costs and favorable foreign currency exchange.
Fourth-quarter free cash flow was $183 million, an increase in cash provided by operating activities was more than offset by a $31.6 million increase in capital expenditures.
Capital expenditures for the fourth quarter were $108 million, with the increase over the prior year, primarily related to the capacity expansion for Uncrustables frozen sandwiches.
On a full-year basis, free cash flow was $1.26 billion, with capital expenditures of $307 million, representing 3.8% of net sales.
In the fourth quarter, repurchases of 1.5 million common shares settled for $174 million.
Over the course of the fiscal year, we repurchased 5.8 million shares for $678 million, reducing our outstanding share count by approximately 5%.
We finished the year with cash and cash equivalent balances of $334 million, compared to the prior year-end of $391 million.
We paid down $84 million of debt during the quarter and $866 million for the full year, ending the year with a gross debt balance of $4.8 billion.
Based on a trailing 12-month EBITDA of approximately $1.8 billion, our leverage ratio stands at 2.6 times.
Net sales are expected to decrease 2% to 3% compared to the prior year, including lapping of sales from the divested Crisco and Natural Balance businesses.
On a comparable basis, net sales are expected to increase approximately 2% at the midpoint of the sales guidance range.
We anticipate full-year gross profit margin of 37% to 37.5%, which reflects an 85-basis-point decline at the midpoint versus the prior year.
SG&A expenses are projected to be favorable by approximately 4%, reflecting savings generated by cost management, and organizational restructuring programs, a reset of incentive compensation, and total marketing spend of 6% to 6.5% of net sales, which reflects a stepdown from fiscal year 2021, partially driven by programs that were pulled forward into the fourth quarter.
We anticipate net interest expense of approximately $170 million and an adjusted effective income tax rate of approximately 24%, along with a full-year weighted average share count of 108.3 million.
Taking all these factors into consideration, we anticipate full-year adjusted earnings per share to be in the range of $8.70 to $9.10.
At the midpoint of our guidance range, year-over-year adjusted earnings per share is anticipated to decline 2%, mostly attributable to around a $0.20 net impact of divested earnings and the timing of benefits from shares repurchased.
Given the timing of cost increases and recovery through higher net pricing, as well as a shift in timing of marketing expenses, earnings are anticipated to decline in the first half of the fiscal year, most notably in the first quarter with an anticipated decrease of over 20%.
We project free cash flow of approximately $900 million, with capital expenditures of $380 million for the year.
Other key assumptions affecting cash flow include depreciation expense of $230 million, amortization expense of $220 million, share-based compensation expense of $35 million, and restructuring costs of $25 million, which includes $15 million of noncash charges.
On a two-year basis, our full-year guidance reflects net sales, excluding divestitures to grow at a 3% to 4% CAGR, and modest adjusted earnings-per-share growth at the midpoint of the guidance range.

Summary:
Net sales decreased 8%.
Factoring all this in, along with share repurchases that resulted in a weighted average shares outstanding of 108.9 million, fourth-quarter adjusted earnings per share was $1.89.
Net sales decreased 12% versus the prior year.
In consumer foods, net sales decreased 13%.
Net sales are expected to decrease 2% to 3% compared to the prior year, including lapping of sales from the divested Crisco and Natural Balance businesses.
Taking all these factors into consideration, we anticipate full-year adjusted earnings per share to be in the range of $8.70 to $9.10.
We project free cash flow of approximately $900 million, with capital expenditures of $380 million for the year.