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 Services Corp - Analyst : Perfect. Thanks, Kofi. So I know many in the audience are going to be heavily focused obviously on the current environment, and we'll have plenty of time to talk about that. I want to take a step back a bit first, talk about your long-term goals. You've mentioned in the past you believe holding share across your current mix of categories and geographies. We'll generate organic net scales growth squarely in the middle of your 2% to 3% long-term target. I guess what gives you the confidence in the ability to grow in line with that top line algorithm moving forward and what's still obviously a very dynamic operating environment in the past few years? And I guess, how is that confidence different today than maybe where it was a few years ago. based on what we've added in terms of capabilities, portfolio changes and brand support.

Question: Andrew Lazar - Barclays Services Corp - Analyst : Sticking with the industry environment for a moment. I think it's pretty well understood at this point, right? The industry volume recovery has been both longer and more expensive, I think, than was initially expected. And your fiscal '26 outlook, outlook is consistent with this theme. I guess, first off, I know this is a hard question to answer, but to what do you attribute that weakness from an industry volume perspective? How do you compartmentalize to what extent, if at all, right, some of this has been driven by more structural factors versus things that are maybe either more one-off or cyclical in nature? . 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 02, 2025 / 2:30PM, GIS.N - General Mills Inc at Barclays Global Consumer Staples Conference

Question: Andrew Lazar - Barclays Services Corp - Analyst : Dunkaroos is my go-to. We're talking nostalgia, so it's about. You stated your main objective this year or this fiscal year is to restore volume-driven organic sales growth. However, taking a complement with your '26 guidance, which looks for an operating profit decline of 10% to 15%. One of my question, whether you're aiming to sort of drive volume at any cost, so to speak, or instead investing responsibly in areas where you feel the consumer is sort of ready to be engaged. I guess can you remind investors of some of the puts and takes that are driving that expected decline in profitability? I mean, which of those drivers you view is more temporary versus maybe somewhat more structural?

Question: Andrew Lazar - Barclays Services Corp - Analyst : Great. Kofi, sticking with you for a minute, given there are quite a few moving parts that you'd noted on your fiscal fourth quarter call, I think it might be helpful, as a reminder, maybe for the audience. If you could just remind everyone, how you're thinking about the phasing of this fiscal year?

Question: Andrew Lazar - Barclays Services Corp - Analyst : I guess, what do you view some of the more significant risks or opportunities, right, that you see that would allow General Mills to either outperform or on the other hand, underperform where your full year guidance is, which, at the midpoint, calls for flat year-over-year organic sales.

Question: Andrew Lazar - Barclays Services Corp - Analyst : For the better part of the past year or so, you've been very open about the fact that you've seen categories pretty close in your key North America retail segment to where you'd want them to be and have stabilized on volume. But your own level of competitiveness in terms of market share has not been up to par. I guess what's been the reason for the more challenging competitiveness this past year outside of -- and outside of simply price investments, what else you do in to improve the competitiveness and better deliver the value that the consumer is looking for?

Question: Andrew Lazar - Barclays Services Corp - Analyst : The big news on the last earnings call was certainly about your planned entry into the fresh pet food category. We got a number of questions here, hopefully you'll indulge us because that is a hot topic. But obviously, preceding this launch, you dipped your feet into the fresh category with some testing about 2 years ago. I guess, what were some of the key learnings from those tests that you're sort of addressing or that have helped inform how you address this launch this time around?

Question: Andrew Lazar - Barclays Services Corp - Analyst : Great. In the past, I know General Mills have been somewhat hesitant to jump into the fresh arena in any sort of meaningful way. And I think the company has been uncertain about what it would take to compete in the space profitably. What level of investment might be required in terms of capital and marketing to achieve the proper scale, all in light of other uses of capital in categories in which the company could likely generate a greater level of profit dollars, much more quickly. I guess what's changed such that now is the right time to make this leap?

Question: Andrew Lazar - Barclays Services Corp - Analyst : I think the big difference between some of the testing you've done in the past, as you mentioned, and the launch this time around is the scale that you're coming to market with. Can you elaborate a bit about what that's going to look like in terms of product variety, retailer and geographic breadth and the level of investment that you'll be putting behind in support of the launch?

Question: Andrew Lazar - Barclays Services Corp - Analyst : And how will the distribution of coolers work? Will you own the coolers in stores? Or would the retailers own the coolers and allocate space as they see appropriate or will it sort of be a hybrid approach depending on the customer?

Question: Andrew Lazar - Barclays Services Corp - Analyst : I guess one concern around the launch into fresh, just given the breadth of the launch, right, and the fact that this is a new product type that might require different manufacturing processes from what you currently do, and your ability to mass produce the product consistently meet demand without a hitch. How are you ensuring this does not become an issue? And how much of the fresh product is produced internally versus through co-packers, I guess, both initially and then your expectation further out?

Question: Andrew Lazar - Barclays Services Corp - Analyst : Two more on fresh and then we're going to get to a broader promise. Given a lot of the investment behind the launch is going to be incorporated in the P&L this fiscal year, and I know it's a multiyear investment time horizon. Whereas the payoff might take certainly a bit longer to be reflected. How should we think about the impact this is going to have on pet segment profitability closer in versus how accretive or dilutive you'd expect the fresh product to be to the pet segment profitability over a longer period of time?

Question: Andrew Lazar - Barclays Services Corp - Analyst : Got it. I know we're still in the very sort of preliminary stages of the launch. But I'm wondering what success would look like from your vantage point in this business? What metrics will we be tracking most closely over the next, call it, year or 2 and that would indicate whether things are going according to plan. And then if we were to zoom 5 years out at a high level, what do you hope to have accomplished by then within the fresh subsegment? 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 02, 2025 / 2:30PM, GIS.N - General Mills Inc at Barclays Global Consumer Staples Conference

Question: Andrew Lazar - Barclays Services Corp - Analyst : Outside of the launch into fresh, there's obviously been a lot going on in your existing pet portfolio over the last couple of years. With Pet segment organic sales having declined about, I think, 4% in fiscal '24 and then slightly up in fiscal '25. Dana, this is obviously a part of the business that you've more recently been named the Group President of, maybe you can share your initial perspective on the current shape of the segment, where you might see some opportunities for improvement, and I guess how you'd frame the long-term growth potential of the segment, how it might look in the years ahead.

Question: Andrew Lazar - Barclays Services Corp - Analyst : On productivity, you've stated that you have good visibility at delivering another year of 5% HMM as a percent of COGS in '26, which is higher than your 4% long-term trend. You recently launched a global transformation initiative that's expected to generate an incremental $100 million in cost saves on top of that. 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 02, 2025 / 2:30PM, GIS.N - General Mills Inc at Barclays Global Consumer Staples Conference I think for those of us that have covered the industry for a longer period of time, these types of figures sometimes bring back concerns around the potential risk that overly aggressive cost saves can cut into demand-building efforts or worse yet quality. Can you maybe shed some light around what sort of cost savings initiatives you're pursuing with these efforts? And how you ensure, right, that the brands are getting the proper support?

Question: Andrew Lazar - Barclays Services Corp - Analyst : Okay. Turning to capital allocation. You finished fiscal '25 a bit above your long-term leverage target of 3 times, but we've seen some 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 so than others? And are you more inclined to do more bolt-ons? Or are you more open to more transformative deals?

Question: Andrew Lazar - Barclays Services Corp - Analyst : Right. Okay. All right. I think we're out of time here on the fire side. It's a good point to close it out here. Please join us over in the breakout. And join me in thanking Dana and Kofi for being here today.