General Mills Inc at Barclays Global Consumer Staples Conference Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Andrew Lazar - Barclays - Analyst : Maybe a good place to start, Jeff, I know many in the audience are heavily focused, obviously, on the current environment, and we'll have plenty of time to address that as well. But maybe if we take a step back a bit, talk about your long-term goals. You've mentioned in the past you believe holding share across your current mix of categories and geographies will generate organic net sales growth. That's squarely in the middle of that 2% to 3% long-term target.

Question: Andrew Lazar - Barclays - Analyst : What gives you the confidence and the ability to grow in line with that top line algorithm moving forward into what is hopefully a more stable operating environment? How is that confidence may be different today than where it was a few years ago based on what you've added in terms of capabilities, portfolio changes and brand support?

Question: Andrew Lazar - Barclays - Analyst : Great. Thank you for that. Maybe sticking with the industry environment for a moment. We've all witnessed a more elongated volume recovery than was initially expected, and your fiscal '25 outlook is consistent with that theme of gradual progress. What have you seen in maybe more recent data that perhaps gives you some confidence that the industry recovery is in fact moving in the right direction.

Question: Andrew Lazar - Barclays - Analyst : And Dana, you're relatively new to the -- at least to leading the North America segment.

Question: Andrew Lazar - Barclays - Analyst : You come from Chief Strategy and Growth Officer role as well as positions in international and running US Cereal before that. I'm curious how your experience can shape what your approach will be in North America retail going forward and how you might be -- how that might be different or similar to how it's been run previously.

Question: Andrew Lazar - Barclays - Analyst : Thanks, Dana. Regarding fiscal '25, you provided initial guidance earlier this summer that looks for organic sales growth of flat to up 1% and expect EPS to be between down 1% year over year and up 1%. Both below, obviously, the long-term algorithm. What assumptions are embedded in this guidance? And I guess, how should investors view this year in the context of the longer-term health and vision of the company?

Question: Andrew Lazar - Barclays - Analyst : Great. And I guess, what do you view as some of the more significant risks or opportunities, right, that could cause you to either outperform or on the other end, underperform that full year outlook at this point in the year?

Question: Andrew Lazar - Barclays - Analyst : Got it. In your June earnings call, you mentioned that you've seen categories within North America retail is having essentially stabilized volumes over the past couple of months, and now we're seeing some positive traction there. But your own level of competitiveness, as you mentioned, has not been up to par. I guess what's been the reason for that more challenging competitive aspect? And have you seen any improvement in the first few months, let's say, fiscal '25 around -- again, around the general competitiveness that you bring to the market.

Question: Andrew Lazar - Barclays - Analyst : And you spoke a lot about on the last call, the concept of value, and you need to up your level of competitiveness on that fourth quarter call. Obviously, the first thing investors tend to think of when we hear value is simply just related to price, as you know, but there are a lot of other ways. Obviously, General Mills is and will aim to improve its competitiveness outside of just promotional activity and price points on the shelf. Maybe you can talk a bit about that.

Question: Andrew Lazar - Barclays - Analyst : Thanks very much. Looking specifically at your core and profitable cereal business, a business you know well from running -- both of you have run it historically, I believe. Companies gained share, right, in North America cereal just for many years in a row, very, very consistently. How do you foresee the category playing out going forward, particularly with a structural shift in the competitive landscape a bit?

Question: Andrew Lazar - Barclays - Analyst : Great. I mean, one of the key priorities also in this fiscal year is to return the Pet segment to growth, right, after it was a bit of a reset year in fiscal '24. What is the path to getting there look like? You've seen far better performance of late in Life Protection Formula. And obviously, Wilderness is now the sub-brand that needs some of the attention that you're going after. So what's the plan there? And how is it going so far?

Question: Andrew Lazar - Barclays - Analyst : What are your expectations for overall pet category growth in the new fiscal year? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. SEPTEMBER 05, 2024 / 4:45PM, GIS.N - General Mills Inc at Barclays Global Consumer Staples Conference

Question: Andrew Lazar - Barclays - Analyst : Got it. You also recently acquired Edgard & Cooper in the European premium pet food business. How are you thinking about that brand and how that fit into the pet portfolio? And what's the vision for that brand longer term because it's the one that you've now brought in, not under the Blue Buffalo umbrella.

Question: Andrew Lazar - Barclays - Analyst : You get asked this all the time, but in the context of this continued shift towards humanization within pet, how do you see the fresh arena playing out and General Mills as role within it. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. SEPTEMBER 05, 2024 / 4:45PM, GIS.N - General Mills Inc at Barclays Global Consumer Staples Conference You've tested, you've learned, you prioritized your resources to areas where General Mills has the greatest profit dollar opportunity. But to the extent that fresh continues to be a growth vector, how do you approach this space?

Question: Andrew Lazar - Barclays - Analyst : International and foodservice are segments that sometimes are -- can get overlooked by investors. Whether lack of visibility or otherwise. But what are the key messages you'd want to share with investors around those two segments, how they're performing and why they shouldn't be overlooked.

Question: Andrew Lazar - Barclays - Analyst : We've got three minutes left. So I'll try and just chime in two more questions if we can. One, just capital allocation. You finished fiscal '24 right around 3x leverage. We've seen increased M&A activity in the space of late. How are you thinking about prospective M&A moving forward? Are there certain categories or geographies that appeal to you more? Are they more likely to be bolt-ons versus transformative type deals. And then I'll get to the second one right after that.

Question: Andrew Lazar - Barclays - Analyst : Maybe to close it out, I think a lot of people sitting here this time last year, not specific to General Mills, but heart a lot of similar messaging, right, around volumes expected to get better. Recovery has been more prolonged. But I think all of us and many of the companies would have expected. Why do you think this year is different and that at least in your case, we're prime to get the volume inflection this time around. We've got a minute to go.

Question: Andrew Lazar - Barclays - Analyst : Thank you very much, Dana and Jeff. Please join us over at the breakout.