General Mills Reports Fiscal 2025 Fourth-quarter and Full-year Results and Provides Fiscal 2026 Outlook

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--General Mills, Inc. (NYSE: GIS) today reported results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year ended May 25, 2025. “The investments we made in the second half of fiscal 2025 to bring consumers more value worked as we expected, driving improved volume and pound share trends in the fourth quarter,” said General Mills Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Harmening. “Our Q4 financial results reflected these incremental investments and finished in line with our updated expectations. “Our number one goal in fiscal 2026 is to restore volume-driven organic sales growth,” Harmening continued. “To do that, we’ll invest further in consumer value, product news, innovation, and brand building, guided by our remarkable experience framework and highlighted by Blue Buffalo’s national launch into fresh pet food coming later in calendar 2025. We’ll continue to drive best-in-class Holistic Margin Management cost savings, and we’ll transform how we work through our global transformation initiative to help unlock more resources for growth. “With a clear framework centered on remarkability and positive early returns from our Q4 investments, I’m confident our fiscal 2026 plans will put us on a path back to driving long-term growth in line with our shareholder return model.” Guided by its purpose to make food the world loves, General Mills is executing its Accelerate strategy to drive sustainable, profitable growth and top-tier shareholder returns over the long term. The strategy focuses on four pillars to create competitive advantages and win: boldly building brands, relentlessly innovating, unleashing scale, and standing for good. The company is prioritizing its core markets, global platforms, and local gem brands that have the best prospects for profitable growth and is committed to reshaping its portfolio with strategic acquisitions and divestitures to further enhance its growth profile. Fourth Quarter Results Summary Net sales were down 3 percent to $4.6 billion, driven by lower pound volume and unfavorable net price realization and mix. Organic net sales were also down 3 percent, including a 2-point headwind from unfavorable trade expense timing. Organic pound volume was in line with last year. Gross margin was down 340 basis points to 32.4 percent of net sales, driven primarily by higher input costs, unfavorable mark-to-market effects, and unfavorable net price realization and mix. Adjusted gross margin was down 220 basis points to 32.7 percent of net sales, driven primarily by higher input costs and unfavorable net price realization and mix. Unfavorable trade expense timing was a 150-basis point headwind to adjusted gross margin in the quarter. Operating profit of $504 million was down 35 percent, driven primarily by lower gross profit dollars and higher selling, general, and administrative (SG&A) expenses, partially offset by lower restructuring, transformation, impairment, and other exit costs. Operating profit margin of 11.1 percent was down 540 basis points. Adjusted operating profit of $622 million was down 22 percent in constant currency, driven by lower adjusted gross profit dollars and higher adjusted SG&A expenses. Adjusted operating profit margin was down 330 basis points to 13.7 percent. Unfavorable trade expense timing was a 13-point headwind to operating profit growth and a 190-basis point headwind to adjusted operating profit margin in the quarter. Net earnings attributable to General Mills of $294 million were down 47 percent and diluted EPS was down 46 percent to $0.53, driven primarily by lower operating profit and lower after-tax earnings from joint ventures, partially offset by a lower effective tax rate and lower net shares outstanding. Adjusted diluted EPS of $0.74 was down 27 percent in constant currency, driven primarily by lower adjusted operating profit, partially offset by lower net shares outstanding. Full Year Results Summary Net sales of $19.5 billion were down 2 percent, driven by lower pound volume and unfavorable net price realization and mix. Organic net sales were also down 2 percent. Gross margin was down 30 basis points to 34.6 percent of net sales, driven primarily by input cost inflation, unfavorable net price realization and mix, and volume deleverage, partially offset by Holistic Margin Management (HMM) cost savings. Adjusted gross margin was also down 30 basis points to 34.5 percent of net sales. Operating profit of $3.3 billion was down 4 percent, driven primarily by lower gross profit dollars and higher SG&A expenses, partially offset by lower restructuring, transformation, impairment, and other exit costs and a divestiture gain this year. Operating profit margin of 17.0 percent was down 30 basis points. Adjusted operating profit of $3.4 billion was down 7 percent in constant currency, driven by lower adjusted gross profit dollars and higher adjusted SG&A expenses. Adjusted operating profit margin was down 90 basis points to 17.2 percent. Net earnings attributable to General Mills of $2.3 billion were down 8 percent and diluted EPS was down 5 percent to $4.10, driven primarily by lower operating profit, higher net interest expense, and lower after-tax earnings from joint ventures, partially offset by lower net shares outstanding. Adjusted diluted EPS of $4.21 was down 7 percent in constant currency, driven primarily by lower adjusted operating profit, higher net interest expense, and a higher adjusted effective tax rate, partially offset by lower net shares outstanding. Operating Segment Results The following transactions impacted the comparability of financial results between fiscal 2024 and fiscal 2025: the acquisition of the Edgard & Cooper pet food business in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024, the acquisition of the North American Whitebridge Pet Brands business in the third quarter of fiscal 2025, and the divestiture of the Canada yogurt business in the third quarter of fiscal 2025. Tables may not foot due to rounding. North America Retail Segment Fourth-quarter net sales for General Mills’ North America Retail segment were down 10 percent to $2.6 billion, driven by lower pound volume and unfavorable net price realization and mix. The Canada yogurt divestiture reduced net sales by 3 percent. Organic net sales were down 7 percent. Nielsen-measured retail sales were down 4 percent in the quarter, with the 3-point gap to organic net sales growth driven primarily by an expected headwind from trade expense timing. Investments in consumer value and product news drove improved volume trends in the quarter, with organic pound volume down 1 percent and the segment holding or gaining pound share in 64 percent of its top 10 U.S. categories. Net sales were down double digits for the U.S. Snacks operating unit and down mid-single digits for U.S. Morning Foods and U.S. Meals & Baking Solutions. Net sales were down double digits for Canada in constant currency, due primarily to the Canada yogurt divestiture. Segment operating profit of $474 million was down 29 percent as reported and in constant currency, driven primarily by unfavorable net price realization and mix, input cost inflation, and lower volume, partially offset by HMM cost savings. Unfavorable trade expense timing was a 17-point headwind to operating profit growth in the quarter. For the full year, North America Retail segment net sales were down 5 percent to $11.9 billion. Organic net sales were also down 3 percent. Segment operating profit of $2.7 billion was down 11 percent as reported and in constant currency, driven primarily by lower volume and higher input costs. North America Pet Segment Fourth-quarter net sales for the North America Pet segment were up 12 percent to $675 million, including a 9-point benefit from the North American Whitebridge Pet Brands acquisition. Organic net sales were up 3 percent and outpaced all-channel retail sales results by approximately 3 points, primarily driven by an increase in retailer inventory ahead of first-quarter customer activations. Including the Whitebridge acquisition, net sales in the quarter were up double digits for wet pet food and pet treats, and up mid-single digits for dry pet food. Segment operating profit of $140 million was down 3 percent, driven by higher input costs and a double-digit increase in media investment, partially offset by favorable net price realization and mix and higher volume. For the full year, North America Pet segment net sales were up 4 percent to $2.5 billion. Organic net sales essentially matched year-ago levels, with higher organic pound volume partially offset by unfavorable organic net price realization and mix. The segment improved its competitiveness, including growing market share in dog feeding, which represented 60 percent of its U.S. retail sales. Segment operating profit increased 3 percent to $501 million, driven primarily by HMM cost savings, partially offset by a double-digit increase in media investment and unfavorable net price realization and mix. North America Foodservice Segment Fourth-quarter net sales for the North America Foodservice segment were down 2 percent to $579 million. Organic net sales were down 1 percent, driven by declines on bakery flour and breads. Segment operating profit increased 5 percent to $83 million, driven primarily by HMM cost savings, partially offset by input cost inflation. For the full year, North America Foodservice net sales increased 2 percent to $2.3 billion. Organic net sales were also up 2 percent including a 1-point headwind from market index pricing on bakery flour. The segment held or gained market share in 71 percent of its priority businesses, led by strong performance in K-12 schools and healthcare channels. Segment operating profit was up 13 percent to $355 million, driven primarily by HMM cost savings and favorable net price realization and mix, partially offset by input cost inflation and higher SG&A expenses. International Segment Fourth-quarter net sales for the International segment were up 11 percent to $739 million, including a 4-point benefit from the Edgard & Cooper acquisition and a 2-point headwind from unfavorable foreign currency exchange. Organic net sales were up 9 percent, led by strong growth in Brazil and distributor markets. Segment operating profit was up 50 percent to $34 million. Constant-currency segment operating profit was up 42 percent, driven primarily by favorable net price realization and mix, partially offset by higher input costs and higher SG&A expenses. For the full year, International net sales were up 2 percent to $2.8 billion, including a 4-point benefit from the Edgard & Cooper acquisition and a 2-point headwind from unfavorable foreign currency exchange. Organic net sales essentially matched year-ago levels. The segment held or gained market share in 59 percent of its priority businesses. Segment operating profit totaled $96 million versus $125 million a year ago, driven primarily by input cost inflation, higher SG&A expenses, and unfavorable net price realization and mix, partially offset by HMM cost savings and higher volume. Joint Venture Summary Fourth-quarter constant-currency net sales were down 6 percent for Cereal Partners Worldwide (CPW) and increased 1 percent for Häagen-Dazs Japan (HDJ). Combined after-tax earnings from joint ventures totaled a $6 million loss compared to earnings of $19 million a year ago, driven by a non-cash asset impairment charge related to supply chain simplification at CPW in this year’s fourth quarter. For the full year, after-tax earnings from joint ventures totaled $58 million compared to $85 million a year ago. Other Income Statement Items Full-year unallocated corporate items totaled $396 million net expense in fiscal 2025 compared to $334 million net expense a year ago (please see Note 4 below for more information on these expenses). Excluding mark-to-market valuation effects and other items affecting comparability, unallocated corporate items totaled $331 million net expense this year compared to $404 million net expense a year ago. Divestiture gain totaled $96 million for the full year related to the sale of the Canada yogurt business (please see Note 2 below for more information on this transaction). Restructuring, transformation, impairment, and other exit costs totaled $78 million in fiscal 2025 compared to $241 million a year ago (please see Note 3 below for more information on these charges). Benefit plan non-service income totaled $54 million in fiscal 2025 compared to $76 million a year ago, driven by higher amortization of losses and higher interest costs. Net interest expense totaled $524 million in fiscal 2025 compared to $479 million a year ago, driven primarily by higher average long-term debt levels. The effective tax rate for fiscal 2025 was 20.2 percent compared to 19.6 percent last year (please see Note 6 below for more information on our effective tax rate). The adjusted effective tax rate was 20.6 percent compared to 20.1 percent a year ago, driven primarily by certain non-recurring discrete tax benefits in fiscal 2024, partially offset by favorable earnings mix by jurisdiction in fiscal 2025. Cash Flow Generation and Cash Returns Cash provided by operating activities totaled $2.9 billion in fiscal 2025 compared to $3.3 billion a year ago, driven primarily by lower net earnings excluding the impact of the divestiture gain in fiscal 2025 and changes in restructuring, transformation, impairment, and other exit costs. Capital investments totaled $625 million compared to $774 million a year ago. Full-year operating cash flow conversion was 126 percent of after-tax earnings and free cash flow conversion was 97 percent of adjusted after-tax earnings. Dividends paid decreased 2 percent to $1.3 billion, driven by lower average shares outstanding. General Mills repurchased approximately 19 million shares of common stock in fiscal 2025 for a total of $1.2 billion compared to $2.0 billion in share repurchases a year ago. Average diluted shares outstanding decreased 4 percent in fiscal 2025 to 558 million. Global Transformation Initiative In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, General Mills announced a multi-year global transformation initiative aligned with its Accelerate strategy and designed to accelerate growth. The initiative is focused on streamlining end-to-end business processes and identifying new ways of working that match today’s evolving business environment, using new tools, technologies, and operating models to enable greater agility. By optimizing how work gets done, General Mills will be able to invest more resources in driving growth. The company expects the global transformation initiative and additional efficiency efforts to generate $100 million in incremental cost savings in fiscal 2026. Dividend Increase The General Mills board of directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.61 per share, payable August 1, 2025, to shareholders of record July 10, 2025. This represents a 2 percent increase from the previous quarterly rate of $0.60 per share. General Mills and its predecessor company have paid dividends without interruption for 126 years. Fiscal 2026 Outlook General Mills’ top priority in fiscal 2026 is to restore volume-driven organic net sales growth. The company expects category growth to be below its long-term projections, reflecting less benefit from price/mix amid a continued challenging consumer backdrop. To strengthen its categories and market share performance, the company plans to increase investment in consumer value, product news, innovation, and brand building, guided by its remarkable experience framework. This includes a significant strategic investment to launch Blue Buffalo into the fast-growing U.S. fresh pet food sub-category later in calendar 2025. The company expects the combination of these growth investments, input cost inflation (including the impact of recently enacted tariffs), and a reset of corporate incentive will outpace an expectation for HMM cost savings of 5 percent of cost of goods sold, $100 million in global transformation initiative savings, and benefits from a 53rd week in fiscal 2026. And as previously noted, the company expects the net impact of the U.S. and Canada Yogurt divestitures and the North American Whitebridge Pet Brands acquisition will reduce adjusted operating profit growth by approximately 5 points in fiscal 2026. With these assumptions in mind, General Mills outlined its full-year financial targets for fiscal 2026²: Organic net sales are expected to range between down 1 percent and up 1 percent. Adjusted operating profit is expected to be down 10 to 15 percent in constant currency from the base of $3.4 billion reported in fiscal 2025. Adjusted diluted EPS is also expected to be down 10 to 15 percent in constant currency from the base of $4.21 earned in fiscal 2025. Free cash flow conversion is expected to be at least 95 percent of adjusted after-tax earnings. The net impact of divestitures, acquisitions, foreign currency exchange, and the 53rd week is expected to reduce full-year net sales growth by approximately 4 percent. Foreign currency exchange is not expected to have a material impact on adjusted operating profit or adjusted diluted EPS growth. Given the completion of regulatory review, General Mills expects to close the sale of its U.S. Yogurt business by the end of June 2025, subject to the satisfaction of remaining customary closing conditions. This fiscal 2026 outlook assumes the transaction closes at the end of June 2025. ² Financial targets are provided on a non-GAAP basis because certain information necessary to calculate comparable GAAP measures is not available. Please see Note 7 to the Consolidated Financial Statements below for discussion of the unavailable information. General Mills will issue pre-recorded management remarks today, June 25, 2025, at approximately 6:30 a.m. Central time (7:30 a.m. Eastern time) and will hold a live, webcasted question and answer session beginning at 8:00 a.m. Central time (9:00 a.m. Eastern time). The pre-recorded remarks and the webcast will be made available at www.generalmills.com/investors. This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that are based on our current expectations and assumptions. These forward-looking statements, including the statements under the caption “Fiscal 2026 Outlook,” and statements made by Mr. Harmening, are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the potential results discussed in the forward-looking statements. In particular, our predictions about future net sales and earnings could be affected by a variety of factors, including: imposed and threatened tariffs by the United States and its trading partners; disruptions or inefficiencies in the supply chain; competitive dynamics in the consumer foods industry and the markets for our products, including new product introductions, advertising activities, pricing actions, and promotional activities of our competitors; economic conditions, including changes in inflation rates, interest rates, tax rates, tariffs, or the availability of capital; product development and innovation; consumer acceptance of new products and product improvements; consumer reaction to pricing actions and changes in promotion levels; acquisitions or dispositions of businesses or assets; changes in capital structure; changes in the legal and regulatory environment, including tax legislation, labeling and advertising regulations, and litigation; impairments in the carrying value of goodwill, other intangible assets, or other long-lived assets, or changes in the useful lives of other intangible assets; changes in accounting standards and the impact of critical accounting estimates; product quality and safety issues, including recalls and product liability; changes in consumer demand for our products; effectiveness of advertising, marketing, and promotional programs; changes in consumer behavior, trends, and preferences, including weight loss trends; consumer perception of health-related issues, including obesity; consolidation in the retail environment; changes in purchasing and inventory levels of significant customers; fluctuations in the cost and availability of supply chain resources, including raw materials, packaging, energy, and transportation; effectiveness of restructuring and cost saving initiatives; volatility in the market value of derivatives used to manage price risk for certain commodities; benefit plan expenses due to changes in plan asset values and discount rates used to determine plan liabilities; failure or breach of our information technology systems; foreign economic conditions, including currency rate fluctuations; and political unrest in foreign markets and economic uncertainty due to terrorism or war. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly revise any forward-looking statement to reflect any future events or circumstances. # # # Significant Items Impacting Comparability Several measures below are presented on an adjusted basis. The adjustments are either items resulting from infrequently occurring events or items that, in management’s judgement, significantly affect the year-to-year assessment of operating results. The following are descriptions of significant items impacting comparability of our results. Divestitures gain, net Divestiture gain related to the sale of our Canada yogurt business fiscal 2025. Net divestitures gain primarily related to the sale of our Helper main meals and Suddenly Salad side dishes business in fiscal 2023. Please see Note 2. Restructuring and transformation charges Restructuring and transformation charges related to global transformation actions and previously announced restructuring actions in fiscal 2025. Restructuring charges related to commercial strategy restructuring actions and previously announced restructuring actions in fiscal 2024. Restructuring charges related to global supply chain actions, network optimization actions, and previously announced restructuring actions in fiscal 2023. Please see Note 3. Transaction costs Fiscal 2025 transaction costs related to the definitive agreements to sell our North American yogurt businesses and the Whitebridge Pet Brands acquisition. Transaction costs primarily related to the acquisition of a pet food business in Europe in fiscal 2024. Transaction costs primarily related to the sale of our Helper main meals and Suddenly Salad side dishes business in fiscal 2023. Please see Note 2. CPW asset impairments and restructuring charges CPW impairment charges related to certain long-lived assets recorded in fiscal 2025. CPW restructuring charges related to previously announced actions recorded in fiscal 2024 and fiscal 2023. Mark-to-market effects Net mark-to-market valuation of certain commodity positions recognized in unallocated corporate items. Please see Note 4. Acquisition integration costs Integration costs related to the acquisitions of Whitebridge Pet Brands and a pet food business in Europe recorded in fiscal 2025. Integration costs primarily resulting from the acquisition of TNT Crust in fiscal 2024 and fiscal 2023. Please see Note 4. Capital appreciation paid on GMC Class A Interests Capital account appreciation attributable and paid to the third-party holder of General Mills Cereals, LLC Class A limited membership interests (GMC Class A Interests) in fiscal 2025. Investment activity, net Valuation adjustments of certain corporate investments in fiscal 2025. Valuation adjustments and the gain on sale of certain corporate investments in fiscal 2024. Valuation adjustments and the loss on sale of certain corporate investments in fiscal 2023. Please see Note 4. Project-related costs Restructuring initiative project-related costs related to previously announced restructuring actions were recorded in fiscal 2025, fiscal 2024, and fiscal 2023. Please see Note 3. Goodwill and other intangible assets impairments Non-cash impairment charges related to our Latin America reporting unit goodwill and our Top Chews, True Chews, and EPIC brand intangible assets in fiscal 2024. Please see Note 3. Legal recovery Legal recovery recorded in fiscal 2024. Product recall, net Net recoveries recorded in fiscal 2024 and costs recorded in fiscal 2023 related to the fiscal 2023 voluntary recall of certain international Häagen-Dazs ice cream products, net of recoveries. Please see Note 4. Adjusted Operating Profit and Related Constant-currency Growth Rate This measure is used in reporting to our Board of Directors and executive management and as a component of the measurement of our performance for incentive compensation purposes. We believe that this measure provides useful information to investors because it is the operating profit measure we use to evaluate operating profit performance on a comparable year-to-year basis. The measure is evaluated on a constant-currency basis by excluding the effect that foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations have on year-to-year comparability given the volatility in foreign currency exchange rates. Our adjusted operating profit growth on a constant-currency basis is calculated as follows: Adjusted Diluted EPS and Related Constant-currency Growth Rate This measure is used in reporting to our Board of Directors and executive management. We believe that this measure provides useful information to investors because it is the profitability measure we use to evaluate earnings performance on a comparable year-to-year basis. The reconciliation of our GAAP measure, diluted EPS, to adjusted diluted EPS and the related constant-currency growth rate follows: Adjusted Earnings Comparisons as a Percent of Net Sales We believe that these measures provide useful information to investors because they are important for assessing our adjusted earnings comparisons as a percent of net sales on a comparable year-to-year basis. Our adjusted earnings comparisons as a percent of net sales are calculated as follows: Constant-currency Segment Operating Profit Growth Rates We believe that this measure provides useful information to investors because it provides transparency to underlying performance of our segments by excluding the effect that foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations have on year-to-year comparability given volatility in foreign currency exchange markets. Our segments' operating profit growth rates on a constant-currency basis are calculated as follows: Adjusted Effective Income Tax Rate We believe this measure provides useful information to investors because it presents the adjusted effective income tax rate on a comparable year-to-year basis. Adjusted effective income tax rates are calculated as follows: Free Cash Flow Conversion Rate We believe this measure provides useful information to investors because it is important for assessing our efficiency in converting earnings to cash and returning cash to shareholders. The calculation of free cash flow conversion rate and net cash provided by operating activities conversion rate, its equivalent GAAP measure, follows: More News From General Mills, Inc.

General Mills Reports Fiscal 2025 Fourth-quarter and Full-year Results and Provides Fiscal 2026 Outlook

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