we believe that these additions move us to a leading position in the attractive u.s. condiments category and provide significant international growth opportunities for our consumer and flavor solutions segments . the rb foods acquisition resulted in acquisitions contributing more than one-third of our sales growth in 2018 and 2017 . 18 cost savings and business transformation : we are fueling our investment in growth with cost savings from our cci program , an ongoing initiative to improve productivity and reduce costs throughout the organization , that also includes savings from the organization and streamlining actions described in note 3 of the accompanying financial statements . in addition to funding brand marketing support , product innovation and other growth initiatives , our cci program helps offset higher costs and is contributing to higher operating income and earnings per share . we are making investments to build the mccormick of the future , including in our global enablement ( ge ) organization to transform mccormick through globally aligned , innovative services to enable growth . as more fully described in note 3 of notes to our consolidated financial statements , we expect to incur special charges of approximately $ 60 million to $ 65 million associated with our ge initiative of which approximately $ 38 million have been recognized through november 30 , 2019. as technology provides the backbone for this greater process alignment , information sharing and scalability , we are also making investments in our information systems . in 2019 , we have progressed in implementing our global enterprise resource planning ( erp ) replacement program which will enable us to accelerate the transformation of our ways of working and provide a scalable platform for growth . we expect that , in total over the course of the erp replacement program from late 2018 through 2022 , we will invest from approximately $ 300 million to $ 350 million , including expenses related to the go-live activities in our operations , to enable the anticipated completion of the global roll out of our new information technology platform in 2022. of that projected , $ 300 million to $ 350 million , we expect capitalized software to account for approximately 40 % and program expenses to account for approximately 60 % . of the approximately $ 180 million to $ 210 million of operating expenses included in our projected total spending related to our erp replacement program , approximately $ 20 million have been recognized through november 30 , 2019. the ge initiative is expected to generate annual savings , ranging from approximately $ 45 million to $ 55 million , once all actions are implemented , including those that are dependent on the replacement of our global erp platform . cash flow : we continue to generate strong cash flow . net cash provided by operating activities reached $ 946.8 million in 2019 , an increase of $ 125.6 million from the $ 821.2 million realized in 2018. in 2019 , we continued to have a balanced use of cash for debt repayment , capital expenditures and the return of cash to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases . we are using our cash to fund shareholder dividends , with annual increases in each of the past 34 years , and to fund capital expenditures , acquisitions and share repurchases . in 2019 , the return of cash to our shareholders through dividends and share repurchases was $ 397.3 million . on a long-term basis , we expect a combination of acquisitions and share repurchases to add about 2 % to earnings per share growth . in 2019 , we achieved further growth of our business with net sales rising 0.8 % over the 2018 level due to the following factors : we grew volume and product mix , with increases in both our consumer and flavor solutions segments . this added 2.5 % of sales growth . the increases were driven by new products as well as growth in the base business . pricing actions contributed 0.2 % of the increase in net sales . net sales growth was negatively impacted by fluctuations in currency rates that reduced sales growth by 1.9 % . excluding this impact , we grew sales 2.7 % on a constant currency basis . operating income was $ 957.7 million in 2019 and $ 891.1 million in 2018. we recorded $ 20.8 million and $ 16.3 million of special charges in 2019 and 2018 , respectively , related to organization and streamlining actions . in 2018 , we also recorded $ 22.5 million of transaction and integration expenses related to our acquisition of rb foods that reduced operating income . in 2019 , compared to the year-ago period , the favorable impact of higher sales , $ 118.9 million of cost savings from our cci program , including organization and streamlining actions , and the impact of the previously mentioned 2018 integration costs more than offset increased conversion costs , higher stock-based compensation expense , and the unfavorable impact of foreign currency exchange rates . excluding special charges together with , for 2018 , transaction and integration expenses related to our acquisition of rb foods , adjusted operating income was $ 978.5 million in 2019 , an increase of 5.2 % , compared to $ 929.9 million in the year-ago period . in constant currency , adjusted operating income rose 6.7 % . for further details and a reconciliation of non-gaap to reported amounts , see non-gaap financial measures . story_separator_special_tag in 2019 , the company transferred management responsibility for certain export operations in both its consumer and flavor solutions segments between geographies within each respective segment , shifting from the americas to the asia/pacific regions within each segment , with no change in segment sales or segment operating income for either the consumer or flavor solutions segment in total . the discussion that follows reflects the effect of that realignment of export operations for all periods presented . consumer segment replace_table_token_12_th sales of our consumer segment in 2019 grew by 0.7 % as compared to 2018 and grew by 2.5 % on a constant currency basis . higher volume and product mix added 2.4 % to sales , and pricing actions added 0.1 % . these factors offset an unfavorable impact from foreign currency exchange rates that reduced consumer segment sales by 1.8 % compared to 2018 and is excluded from our measure of sales growth of 2.5 % on a constant currency basis . in the americas , consumer sales rose 2.4 % in 2019 as compared to 2018 and rose by 2.7 % on a constant currency basis . higher volume and product mix added 2.7 % to sales , driven by new product sales as well as base business growth . the unfavorable impact of foreign currency exchange rates decreased sales by 0.3 % compared to 2018 and is excluded from our measure of sales growth of 2.7 % on a constant currency basis . in the emea region , consumer sales decreased 5.5 % in 2019 as compared to 2018 and decreased 0.2 % on a constant currency basis . volume and product mix increased sales by 1.0 % , led by new products and promotions that were partially offset by declines in private label sales . the impact of pricing actions reduced sales by 1.2 % . the unfavorable impact of foreign currency exchange rates decreased sales by 5.3 % compared to 2018 and is excluded from our measure of sales decline of 0.2 % on a constant currency basis . in the asia/pacific region , consumer sales increased 0.8 % as compared to 2018 and increased 5.7 % on a constant currency basis . higher volume and product mix added 2.9 % to sales , led by strong sales in india and southeast asia . pricing actions , primarily in china , added 2.8 % to sales as compared to 2018. these factors offset an unfavorable impact from foreign currency exchange rates that decreased sales by 4.9 % compared to 2018 and is excluded from our measure of sales growth of 5.7 % on a constant currency basis . we grew segment operating income for our consumer segment by $ 39.2 million , or 6.1 % , in 2019 compared to 2018. the favorable impact of higher sales and cci-led cost savings more than offset increased conversion costs . on a constant currency basis , segment operating income for our consumer segment rose 7.3 % . segment operating income margin for our consumer segment rose by 110 basis points to 20.7 % in 2019 from 19.6 % in 2018 , driven by an improvement in gross margin . 24 flavor solutions segment replace_table_token_13_th sales of our flavor solutions segment increased 1.1 % in 2019 as compared to 2018 and increased by 3.2 % on a constant currency basis . higher volume and product mix added 2.9 % to sales and pricing actions added 0.3 % . these factors partially offset an unfavorable impact from foreign currency exchange rates that reduced flavor solutions segment sales by 2.1 % compared to 2018 and is excluded from our measure of sales growth of 3.2 % on a constant currency basis . in the americas , flavor solutions sales rose 2.2 % in 2019 as compared to 2018 and rose 2.6 % on a constant currency basis . higher volume and product mix added 2.4 % to sales and included growth in new products as well as in base business , led by sales to packaged food companies . pricing actions added 0.2 % to sales in 2019. these factors offset an unfavorable impact from foreign currency exchange rates that reduced sales by 0.4 % in 2019 compared to 2018 and is excluded from our measure of sales growth of 2.6 % on a constant currency basis . in the emea region , flavor solutions sales decreased 0.3 % in 2019 as compared to 2018 and increased 6.7 % on a constant currency basis . higher volume and product mix added 5.4 % to sales in 2019 with contributions from new products as well as base business growth . the increase was led by sales to quick service restaurants and packaged foods companies . pricing actions added 1.3 % to sales in 2019. these factors partially offset an unfavorable impact from foreign currency exchange rates that decreased sales by 7.0 % in 2019 compared to 2018 and is excluded from our measure of sales growth of 6.7 % on a constant currency basis . in the asia/pacific region , flavor solutions sales decreased 3.4 % in 2019 as compared to 2018 and increased 0.6 % on a constant currency basis . higher volume and product mix added 0.9 % to sales and included increased sales to quick service restaurants , partially offset by the exit of certain low margin business . pricing actions reduced sales in 2019 by 0.3 % . these factors partially offset an unfavorable impact from foreign currency exchange rates that reduced sales by 4.0 % in 2019 compared to 2018 and is excluded from our measure of sales growth of 0.6 % on a constant currency basis . we grew segment operating income for our flavor solutions segment by $ 9.4 million , or 3.2 % , in 2019 compared to 2018. the increase in segment operating income was driven by higher sales as well as lower sg & a costs . on a

net cash used in financing activities was $ 725.8 million in 2019 and $ 751.1 million in 2018. net cash provided by financing activities was $ 3,756.0 million in 2017. the variability between years is principally a result of changes in our net borrowings , share repurchase activity and dividends , all as described below . in 2019 and 2018 , our net borrowing activity used cash of $ 406.7 million and $ 466.5 million , respectively . in 2017 , our net borrowing activity provided cash of $ 3,574.6 million . in 2019 , we increased our short-term borrowings , on a net basis , by $ 41.0 million . we also repaid $ 447.7 million of long-term debt , including $ 436.3 million of our $ 1,500.0 million term loans issued in august 2017. of that $ 436.3 million , $ 361.3 million represent prepayments . through november 30 , 2019 , we have repaid $ 1,250.0 million of the $ 1,500.0 million term loans issued in august 2017 , including pre-payments of $ 1,081.3 million . in 2018 , we increased our short-term borrowings , on a net basis , by $ 305.5 million and borrowed $ 25.9 million under long-term borrowing arrangements .


 Write a concise suspicious activity report of the following text delimited by triple backquotes. Return your response as a formal report which covers the key points highlighting the location,dates,entity names and account holder information in chronological order of the text.
     ```net cash used in financing activities was $ 725.8 million in 2019 and $ 751.1 million in 2018. net cash provided by financing activities was $ 3,756.0 million in 2017. the variability between years is principally a result of changes in our net borrowings , share repurchase activity and dividends , all as described below . in 2019 and 2018 , our net borrowing activity used cash of $ 406.7 million and $ 466.5 million , respectively . in 2017 , our net borrowing activity provided cash of $ 3,574.6 million . in 2019 , we increased our short-term borrowings , on a net basis , by $ 41.0 million . we also repaid $ 447.7 million of long-term debt , including $ 436.3 million of our $ 1,500.0 million term loans issued in august 2017. of that $ 436.3 million , $ 361.3 million represent prepayments . through november 30 , 2019 , we have repaid $ 1,250.0 million of the $ 1,500.0 million term loans issued in august 2017 , including pre-payments of $ 1,081.3 million . in 2018 , we increased our short-term borrowings , on a net basis , by $ 305.5 million and borrowed $ 25.9 million under long-term borrowing arrangements .
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 Suspicious Activity Report : we believe that these additions move us to a leading position in the attractive u.s. condiments category and provide significant international growth opportunities for our consumer and flavor solutions segments . the rb foods acquisition resulted in acquisitions contributing more than one-third of our sales growth in 2018 and 2017 . 18 cost savings and business transformation : we are fueling our investment in growth with cost savings from our cci program , an ongoing initiative to improve productivity and reduce costs throughout the organization , that also includes savings from the organization and streamlining actions described in note 3 of the accompanying financial statements . in addition to funding brand marketing support , product innovation and other growth initiatives , our cci program helps offset higher costs and is contributing to higher operating income and earnings per share . we are making investments to build the mccormick of the future , including in our global enablement ( ge ) organization to transform mccormick through globally aligned , innovative services to enable growth . as more fully described in note 3 of notes to our consolidated financial statements , we expect to incur special charges of approximately $ 60 million to $ 65 million associated with our ge initiative of which approximately $ 38 million have been recognized through november 30 , 2019. as technology provides the backbone for this greater process alignment , information sharing and scalability , we are also making investments in our information systems . in 2019 , we have progressed in implementing our global enterprise resource planning ( erp ) replacement program which will enable us to accelerate the transformation of our ways of working and provide a scalable platform for growth . we expect that , in total over the course of the erp replacement program from late 2018 through 2022 , we will invest from approximately $ 300 million to $ 350 million , including expenses related to the go-live activities in our operations , to enable the anticipated completion of the global roll out of our new information technology platform in 2022. of that projected , $ 300 million to $ 350 million , we expect capitalized software to account for approximately 40 % and program expenses to account for approximately 60 % . of the approximately $ 180 million to $ 210 million of operating expenses included in our projected total spending related to our erp replacement program , approximately $ 20 million have been recognized through november 30 , 2019. the ge initiative is expected to generate annual savings , ranging from approximately $ 45 million to $ 55 million , once all actions are implemented , including those that are dependent on the replacement of our global erp platform . cash flow : we continue to generate strong cash flow . net cash provided by operating activities reached $ 946.8 million in 2019 , an increase of $ 125.6 million from the $ 821.2 million realized in 2018. in 2019 , we continued to have a balanced use of cash for debt repayment , capital expenditures and the return of cash to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases . we are using our cash to fund shareholder dividends , with annual increases in each of the past 34 years , and to fund capital expenditures , acquisitions and share repurchases . in 2019 , the return of cash to our shareholders through dividends and share repurchases was $ 397.3 million . on a long-term basis , we expect a combination of acquisitions and share repurchases to add about 2 % to earnings per share growth . in 2019 , we achieved further growth of our business with net sales rising 0.8 % over the 2018 level due to the following factors : we grew volume and product mix , with increases in both our consumer and flavor solutions segments . this added 2.5 % of sales growth . the increases were driven by new products as well as growth in the base business . pricing actions contributed 0.2 % of the increase in net sales . net sales growth was negatively impacted by fluctuations in currency rates that reduced sales growth by 1.9 % . excluding this impact , we grew sales 2.7 % on a constant currency basis . operating income was $ 957.7 million in 2019 and $ 891.1 million in 2018. we recorded $ 20.8 million and $ 16.3 million of special charges in 2019 and 2018 , respectively , related to organization and streamlining actions . in 2018 , we also recorded $ 22.5 million of transaction and integration expenses related to our acquisition of rb foods that reduced operating income . in 2019 , compared to the year-ago period , the favorable impact of higher sales , $ 118.9 million of cost savings from our cci program , including organization and streamlining actions , and the impact of the previously mentioned 2018 integration costs more than offset increased conversion costs , higher stock-based compensation expense , and the unfavorable impact of foreign currency exchange rates . excluding special charges together with , for 2018 , transaction and integration expenses related to our acquisition of rb foods , adjusted operating income was $ 978.5 million in 2019 , an increase of 5.2 % , compared to $ 929.9 million in the year-ago period . in constant currency , adjusted operating income rose 6.7 % . for further details and a reconciliation of non-gaap to reported amounts , see non-gaap financial measures . story_separator_special_tag in 2019 , the company transferred management responsibility for certain export operations in both its consumer and flavor solutions segments between geographies within each respective segment , shifting from the americas to the asia/pacific regions within each segment , with no change in segment sales or segment operating income for either the consumer or flavor solutions segment in total . the discussion that follows reflects the effect of that realignment of export operations for all periods presented . consumer segment replace_table_token_12_th sales of our consumer segment in 2019 grew by 0.7 % as compared to 2018 and grew by 2.5 % on a constant currency basis . higher volume and product mix added 2.4 % to sales , and pricing actions added 0.1 % . these factors offset an unfavorable impact from foreign currency exchange rates that reduced consumer segment sales by 1.8 % compared to 2018 and is excluded from our measure of sales growth of 2.5 % on a constant currency basis . in the americas , consumer sales rose 2.4 % in 2019 as compared to 2018 and rose by 2.7 % on a constant currency basis . higher volume and product mix added 2.7 % to sales , driven by new product sales as well as base business growth . the unfavorable impact of foreign currency exchange rates decreased sales by 0.3 % compared to 2018 and is excluded from our measure of sales growth of 2.7 % on a constant currency basis . in the emea region , consumer sales decreased 5.5 % in 2019 as compared to 2018 and decreased 0.2 % on a constant currency basis . volume and product mix increased sales by 1.0 % , led by new products and promotions that were partially offset by declines in private label sales . the impact of pricing actions reduced sales by 1.2 % . the unfavorable impact of foreign currency exchange rates decreased sales by 5.3 % compared to 2018 and is excluded from our measure of sales decline of 0.2 % on a constant currency basis . in the asia/pacific region , consumer sales increased 0.8 % as compared to 2018 and increased 5.7 % on a constant currency basis . higher volume and product mix added 2.9 % to sales , led by strong sales in india and southeast asia . pricing actions , primarily in china , added 2.8 % to sales as compared to 2018. these factors offset an unfavorable impact from foreign currency exchange rates that decreased sales by 4.9 % compared to 2018 and is excluded from our measure of sales growth of 5.7 % on a constant currency basis . we grew segment operating income for our consumer segment by $ 39.2 million , or 6.1 % , in 2019 compared to 2018. the favorable impact of higher sales and cci-led cost savings more than offset increased conversion costs . on a constant currency basis , segment operating income for our consumer segment rose 7.3 % . segment operating income margin for our consumer segment rose by 110 basis points to 20.7 % in 2019 from 19.6 % in 2018 , driven by an improvement in gross margin . 24 flavor solutions segment replace_table_token_13_th sales of our flavor solutions segment increased 1.1 % in 2019 as compared to 2018 and increased by 3.2 % on a constant currency basis . higher volume and product mix added 2.9 % to sales and pricing actions added 0.3 % . these factors partially offset an unfavorable impact from foreign currency exchange rates that reduced flavor solutions segment sales by 2.1 % compared to 2018 and is excluded from our measure of sales growth of 3.2 % on a constant currency basis . in the americas , flavor solutions sales rose 2.2 % in 2019 as compared to 2018 and rose 2.6 % on a constant currency basis . higher volume and product mix added 2.4 % to sales and included growth in new products as well as in base business , led by sales to packaged food companies . pricing actions added 0.2 % to sales in 2019. these factors offset an unfavorable impact from foreign currency exchange rates that reduced sales by 0.4 % in 2019 compared to 2018 and is excluded from our measure of sales growth of 2.6 % on a constant currency basis . in the emea region , flavor solutions sales decreased 0.3 % in 2019 as compared to 2018 and increased 6.7 % on a constant currency basis . higher volume and product mix added 5.4 % to sales in 2019 with contributions from new products as well as base business growth . the increase was led by sales to quick service restaurants and packaged foods companies . pricing actions added 1.3 % to sales in 2019. these factors partially offset an unfavorable impact from foreign currency exchange rates that decreased sales by 7.0 % in 2019 compared to 2018 and is excluded from our measure of sales growth of 6.7 % on a constant currency basis . in the asia/pacific region , flavor solutions sales decreased 3.4 % in 2019 as compared to 2018 and increased 0.6 % on a constant currency basis . higher volume and product mix added 0.9 % to sales and included increased sales to quick service restaurants , partially offset by the exit of certain low margin business . pricing actions reduced sales in 2019 by 0.3 % . these factors partially offset an unfavorable impact from foreign currency exchange rates that reduced sales by 4.0 % in 2019 compared to 2018 and is excluded from our measure of sales growth of 0.6 % on a constant currency basis . we grew segment operating income for our flavor solutions segment by $ 9.4 million , or 3.2 % , in 2019 compared to 2018. the increase in segment operating income was driven by higher sales as well as lower sg & a costs . on a

