General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Chris Carey: Hi, good morning. So just a couple of quick follow-ups for me. So just number one, do you think that, I guess, inventory availability is impacting consumption that we can see in data at all, right? So on-shelf availability, is that becoming a factor with these inventory cuts? Or is it reasonable to assume that what we see coming through is kind of consumption? The second question would be just around a follow-up around pricing for fiscal 2024. The press release said that most of the pricing in fiscal 2024 would be carry over. Obviously, inflation will still be quite a bit above historical norms. So are you embedding any yet taken pricing into the fiscal 2024 outlook is just overall thoughts on the potential to take incremental pricing not already in market? So thanks for those too.

Jon Nudi: Yes. So on the first question, on-shelf availability is significantly higher today than it was a year ago across most of our categories. So again, everyone has gotten better. I think the supply situation become more stable. So as a result, retailers feel like they don’t have to hold as much inventory to service the demand. The other thing I would tell you is we’ve invested in digital capabilities to have retailers. I can tell you their inventory systems are much more sophisticated today than they were a few years ago. So, obviously, their goal is to keep the shelf full, but at the same time, hold as little inventory as possible. At this point, we don’t see inventory as a hindrance to us being on the shelf or getting the displays when we find them. Again, I think they’re just focusing on the working capital and trying to manage it as efficiently as they can.

Jeff Harmening: Yes. And when it comes to pricing, we’re not going to comment specifically on forward-looking pricing. Having said that, we did say that the majority is in the marketplace already. That is true. We operate in markets all over the world, some with different inflationary pressures than others. So it’s not just – it’s not really just about the U.S. But we feel good about what we see right now with our pricing and the inflationary environment that we see, but we all know these things can change over time. And so we think we have most of what we need in the marketplace already, but there may be a category where we need a little bit more than maybe a geography or where we need a little bit more because the inflationary prices are different.

Chris Carey: Okay. Thanks. One question just and then I’ll be done. But Jeff, you’ve been talking for a number of quarters now about promotional levels and how promotions would remain rational. And you listed kind of a number of reasons why? I just wonder with supply chains coming back and you’ve already commented it on the call today, but how do you think about the tools that you would have to reignite volume growth? So obviously, there’s a concern about some normalizing of volume. Like what’s in your — what’s in kind of — what are the kind of errors in the quiver, I guess, right? Could you — is it more promotion? Is it more advertising? Is it more merchandising? Can you just talk to maybe how you think about potentially lifting volumes over the next 12 months, if we see any shifts in the consumer environment? Thanks, so much.

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