General Mills raises annual sales forecast on steady demand, price hikes

(Reuters) – General Mills Inc (NYSE:) raised its annual sales forecast after posting better-than-expected quarterly sales on Thursday, benefiting from price increases and resilient demand for its snack bars, breakfast cereals and pet-food products.

Multinational packaged food companies have been bumping up their product prices throughout the past year to shield their profit margins from spiraling supply chain, labor, raw materials and freight costs.

The steady price hikes have benefited producers of staple food and seen little resistance from customers as they prefer to make their meals at home than spending more on eating outside amid growing fears of a recession in the United States.

The company now expects organic net sales, which excludes the impact of foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations, acquisitions and divestitures, to rise 10% to 11% in fiscal 2023.

It had earlier forecast growth of about 10%.

The Cheerios cereal maker’s net sales in the third quarter rose to about $5.13 billion from $4.54 billion a year earlier. Analysts had expected $4.97 billion, according to Refinitiv data.