Exhibit 99

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 20, 2023

General Mills Reports Fiscal 2024 First-quarter Results

MINNEAPOLIS (September 20, 2023) – General Mills, Inc. (NYSE: GIS) today reported results for the first quarter ended August 27, 2023.

“We delivered growth on the top and bottom lines in the first quarter amid an evolving external environment characterized by moderating inflation, stabilizing supply chains, and a resilient but increasingly cautious consumer,” said General Mills Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Harmening. “Looking ahead, we will remain focused on executing our Accelerate strategy and driving strong growth for our brands. With confidence in our plans and our ability to adapt to continued change in the consumer landscape, we are reaffirming our guidance for fiscal 2024.”

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.

First Quarter Results Summary

Notes on Comparability

The following transactions impacted the comparability of financial results between fiscal 2023 and fiscal 2024: the acquisition of the TNT Crust foodservice business in the first quarter of fiscal 2023 and the divestiture of the Helper main meals and Suddenly Salad side dishes business in the first quarter of fiscal 2023. In addition, results in the first quarter of fiscal 2023 included the impact of a voluntary recall on certain international Häagen-Dazs ice cream products, which was a headwind to net sales and operating profit results in the International segment.

Operating Segment Results

Note: Tables may not foot due to rounding.

North America Retail Segment

First-quarter net sales for General Mills’ North America Retail segment increased 3 percent to $3.1 billion, driven by favorable net price realization and mix, partially offset by lower pound volume, including a 1-point headwind from divestitures. Organic net sales increased 4 percent. Net sales performance outpaced Nielsen-measured retail sales growth due to faster growth in non-measured channels and a modest rebuild of retailer inventory. Net sales were up high-single digits for the U.S. Snacks operating unit, up low-single digits for U.S. Morning Foods, and roughly flat for Canada. Net sales for U.S. Meals & Baking Solutions down low-single digits due to the impact of the Helper and Suddenly Salad divestiture. Segment operating profit of $798 million was up 3 percent as reported and in constant currency, driven primarily by favorable net price realization and mix, partially offset by higher input costs, lower volume, and higher SG&A expenses, including a double-digit increase in media investment.

Pet Segment

First-quarter net sales for the Pet segment of $580 million essentially matched year-ago levels, driven by favorable net price realization and mix, offset by lower pound volume. Organic net sales were also flat to last year. Net sales were up mid-single digits for dry pet food, roughly flat for wet pet food, and were down double digits for pet treats. Segment operating profit of $111 million was down 10 percent, driven primarily by higher input costs, lower volume, and higher SG&A expenses, partially offset by favorable net price realization and mix.

North America Foodservice Segment

First-quarter net sales for the North America Foodservice segment increased 8 percent to $536 million, including a 4-point benefit from the TNT Crust acquisition. Organic net sales were up 4 percent despite a 6-point headwind from market index pricing on bakery flour. Segment operating profit increased 10 percent to $59 million, driven primarily by favorable net price realization and mix, partially offset by higher input costs.

International Segment

First-quarter net sales for the International segment increased 10 percent to $716 million, driven by favorable net price realization and mix and a 1-point benefit from foreign currency exchange, partially offset by lower pound volume. Organic net sales were up 9 percent, led by double-digit growth in distributor markets and Europe & Australia. Segment operating profit of $50 million was up 44 percent as reported and up 52 percent in constant currency from year-ago results that included the impact of the ice cream recall, driven by favorable net price realization and mix, partially offset by higher input costs.

Joint Venture Summary

First-quarter constant-currency net sales increased 8 percent for Cereal Partners Worldwide (CPW), driven by favorable net price realization and mix, partially offset by lower pound volume. Constant-currency net sales for Häagen-Dazs Japan (HDJ) were up 4 percent, driven by favorable net price realization and mix and strong contributions from innovation. Combined after-tax earnings from joint ventures increased 19 percent to $24 million, driven primarily by favorable net price realization and mix for CPW and HDJ and discrete tax items at CPW, partially offset by higher input costs for CPW and HDJ.

Other Income Statement Items

First-quarter unallocated corporate items totaled $87 million net expense in fiscal 2024 compared to $333 million net expense a year ago. Excluding mark-to-market valuation effects and other items affecting comparability, unallocated corporate items totaled $119 million net expense this year compared to $107 million net expense last year.

First-quarter results in fiscal 2024 did not include any divestiture activity while year-ago results included a net $431 million pre-tax gain on divestitures (please see Note 2 below for more information on this item). Benefit plan non-service income totaled $17 million in the first quarter compared to $22 million a year ago, driven primarily by an increase in interest costs, partially offset by lower amortization of losses.

Net interest expense totaled $117 million in the first quarter compared to $88 million a year ago, primarily driven by higher interest rates and higher average long-term debt levels. The effective tax rate in the quarter was 20.9 percent compared to 21.2 percent last year (please see Note 6 below for more information on our effective tax rate). The first-quarter adjusted effective tax rate was 21.1 percent compared to 19.7 percent a year ago, driven primarily by certain non-recurring discrete tax benefits in fiscal 2023 and unfavorable earnings mix by jurisdiction in fiscal 2024.

Cash Flow Generation and Cash Returns

Cash provided by operating activities totaled $378 million in the first quarter compared to $389 million in the prior year. Capital investments totaled $142 million compared to $91 million a year ago. Dividends paid increased 7 percent to $348 million. General Mills repurchased approximately 6.4 million shares of common stock in the first quarter for a total of $500 million compared to $501 million in share repurchases a year ago. Average diluted shares outstanding in the quarter decreased 2 percent to 591 million.

Fiscal 2024 Outlook

General Mills expects the largest factors impacting its performance in fiscal 2024 will be the economic health of consumers, the moderating rate of input cost inflation, and the increasing stability of the supply chain environment. The company expects to drive organic net sales growth in fiscal 2024 through strong marketing, innovation, in-store support, and net price realization generated through its Strategic Revenue Management (SRM) capability, most of which will be carried over from SRM actions taken in fiscal 2023. For the full year, input cost inflation is expected to be approximately 5 percent of total cost of goods sold, driven primarily by labor inflation that impacts sourcing, manufacturing, and logistics costs. The company expects to generate Holistic Margin Management (HMM) cost savings of roughly 4 percent of cost of goods sold, compared to 3 percent achieved in fiscal 2023.

Based on the above assumptions, the company reaffirmed its full-year fiscal 2024 financial targets²:

General Mills will issue pre-recorded management remarks today, September 20, 2023, 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 2024 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: 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, 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 significant 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.

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Contacts

(Investors) Jeff Siemon: +1-763-764-2301

(Media) Chelcy Walker: +1-763-764-6364

Consolidated Statements of Earnings and Supplementary Information

GENERAL MILLS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

(Unaudited) (In Millions, Except per Share Data)

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

Operating Segment Results and Supplementary Information

GENERAL MILLS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

(Unaudited) (In Millions)

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements. 

Consolidated Balance Sheets

GENERAL MILLS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

(In Millions, Except Par Value)

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements. 

Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows

GENERAL MILLS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

(Unaudited) (In Millions)

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements. 

GENERAL MILLS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

(Unaudited)

During the first quarter of fiscal 2023, we completed the asset sale of our Helper main meals and Suddenly Salad side dishes business to Eagle Family Foods Group for $607 million and recorded a pre-tax gain of $442 million.

Restructuring and impairment charges and project-related costs are recorded in our Consolidated Statement of Earnings as follows:

We provide organic net sales growth rates for our consolidated net sales and segment net sales. This measure is used in reporting to our Board of Directors and executive management and as a component of the Board of Directors’ measurement of our performance for incentive compensation purposes. We believe that organic net sales growth rates provide useful information to investors because they provide transparency to underlying performance in our net sales by excluding the effect that foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations, acquisitions, divestitures, and a 53rd fiscal week, when applicable, have on year-to-year comparability. A reconciliation of these measures to reported net sales growth rates, the relevant GAAP measures, are included in our Operating Segment Results above.

Certain measures in this release are presented excluding the impact of foreign currency exchange (constant-currency). To present this information, current period results for entities reporting in currencies other than United States dollars are translated into United States dollars at the average exchange rates in effect during the corresponding period of the prior fiscal year, rather than the actual average exchange rates in effect during the current fiscal year. Therefore, the foreign currency impact is equal to current year results in local currencies multiplied by the change in the average foreign currency exchange rate between the current fiscal period and the corresponding period of the prior fiscal year. We believe that these constant-currency measures provide useful information to investors because they provide transparency to underlying performance by excluding the effect that foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations have on period-to-period comparability given volatility in foreign currency exchange markets.

Our fiscal 2024 outlook for organic net sales growth, adjusted operating profit growth, adjusted diluted EPS growth, and free cash flow conversion are non-GAAP financial measures that exclude, or have otherwise been adjusted for, items impacting comparability, including the effect of foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations, acquisitions, divestitures, and a 53rd week, when applicable. We are not able to reconcile these forward-looking non-GAAP financial measures to their most directly comparable forward-looking GAAP financial measure without unreasonable efforts because we are unable to predict with a reasonable degree of certainty the actual impact of changes in foreign currency exchange rates or the timing of acquisitions and divestitures throughout fiscal 2024. The unavailable information could have a significant impact on our fiscal 2024 GAAP financial results.

For fiscal 2024, we currently expect: foreign currency exchange rates (based on a blend of forward and forecasted rates and hedge positions) and acquisitions and divestitures to reduce net sales growth by one half of one percent and restructuring charges to total approximately $15 million to $20 million.

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.

Mark-to-market effects

Net mark-to-market valuation of certain commodity positions recognized in unallocated corporate items. Please see Note 4.

Restructuring charges

Restructuring charges and project-related costs for previously announced restructuring actions recorded in fiscal 2024. Restructuring charges for previously announced restructuring actions recorded in fiscal 2023. Please see Note 3.

Investment activity, net

Valuation adjustments 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.

Acquisition integration costs

Integration costs primarily resulting from the acquisition of TNT Crust in fiscal 2024 and fiscal 2023. Please see Note 2.

Product recall

Costs related to the fiscal 2023 voluntary recall of certain international Häagen-Dazs ice cream products. Please see Note 4.

Divestitures gain, net

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.

Transaction costs

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 restructuring charges

CPW restructuring charges related to previously announced restructuring actions.

Adjusted Operating Profit Growth on a Constant-currency Basis

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:

Note: Table may not foot due to rounding.

For more information on the reconciling items, please refer to the Significant Items Impacting Comparability section above.

Adjusted Diluted EPS and Related Constant-currency Growth Rates

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 rates follows:

Note: Table may not foot due to rounding.

For more information on the reconciling items, please refer to the Significant Items Impacting Comparability section above.

See our reconciliation below of the effective income tax rate as reported to the adjusted effective income tax rate for the tax impact of each item affecting comparability.

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:

Note: Table may not foot due to rounding.

For more information on the reconciling items, please refer to the Significant Items Impacting Comparability section above.

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:

Note: Table may not foot due to rounding.

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:

Note: Table may not foot due to rounding.

For more information on the reconciling items, please refer to the Significant Items Impacting Comparability section above.