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The Cheerios maker also raised its quarterly dividend by 6%, sending shares up nearly 3% in premarket trade on Wednesday, even though it forecast annual earnings below expectations.
U.S. packaged food makers have jacked up prices of everything from condensed soup to chocolates to protect their profit margins from rising freight and raw material expenses.
So far, demand has held up, but analysts have said further hikes would be hard to implement as inflation-hit Americans turn frugal.
General Mills is “planning for volume elasticities to increase” over the course of the year, it said, and expects input cost inflation to touch about 14% in fiscal 2023 from 8% in the reported year.
The Blue Buffalo pet foods maker is reshaping its portfolio to focus on more profitable businesses such as pet foods, with deals to carve off its Helper main meals, Suddenly Salad side dishes and its European yogurt division.
Net sales increased 8% to $4.89 billion for the fourth quarter ended May 29, beating estimates of $4.81 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
The company forecast fiscal 2023 adjusted per-share profit growth between flat and a 3% rise. Analysts were expecting a 3.5% increase.
It still forecast fiscal 2023 organic net sales to rise 4% to 5% from a year earlier.
