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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

(Mark One)

☑ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15 (d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended May 26, 2024

or

☐TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15 (d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from                   to

Commission File No. 1-7275

CONAGRA BRANDS, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

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Registrant’s telephone number, including area code (312) 549-5000

Securities registered pursuant to section 12(b) of the Act:

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Securities registered pursuant to section 12(g) of the Act: None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.   Yes  ☑    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act.   Yes  ☐    No  ☑

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.   Yes  ☑    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files).   Yes  ☑    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.:

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If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☑

If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b). □

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act).   Yes  ☐     No  ☑

The aggregate market value of the voting common stock of Conagra Brands, Inc. held by non-affiliates on November 24, 2023 (the last business day of the Registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter) was approximately $13,618,363,248 based upon the closing sale price on the New York Stock Exchange on such date.

At June 23, 2024, 478,208,750 common shares were outstanding.

Documents Incorporated by Reference

Portions of the Registrant’s definitive Proxy Statement for the Registrant’s 2024 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the “2024 Proxy Statement”) are incorporated by reference into Part III.

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PART I

This annual report on Form 10-K contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Actual results, performance, or achievements could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of a number of risks, uncertainties, and other factors. For a discussion of important factors that could cause our results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by our forward-looking statements, please refer to Item 1A, Risk Factors and Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations below.

ITEM 1. BUSINESS

General Development of Business

Conagra Brands, Inc. (the “Company”, “Conagra Brands”, “we”, “us”, or “our”), headquartered in Chicago, is one of North America’s leading branded food companies. We combine a 100-year history of making quality food with agility and a relentless focus on collaboration and innovation. The company’s portfolio is continuously evolving to satisfy consumers’ ever-changing food preferences. Conagra’s brands include Birds Eye^®, Duncan Hines^®, Healthy Choice^®, Marie Callender’s^®, Reddi-wip^®, Slim Jim^®, Angie’s^® BOOMCHICKAPOP^®, and many more.

We began as a Midwestern flour-milling company and entered other commodity-based businesses throughout our history. We were initially incorporated as a Nebraska corporation in 1919 and reincorporated as a Delaware corporation in 1976. Over time, we transformed into the branded, pure-play consumer packaged goods food company we are today. Growing our food businesses has also been fueled by innovation, organic growth of our brands, and expansion into adjacent categories, including through acquisitions. We are focused on delivering sustainable, profitable growth with strong and improving returns on our invested capital.

Narrative Description of Business

We compete throughout the food industry and focus on adding value for our customers who operate in the retail food and foodservice channels.

Our operations, including our reporting segments, are described below. Our locations, including manufacturing facilities, within each reporting segment, are described in Item 2, Properties.

Reporting Segments

Our reporting segments are as follows:

Grocery & Snacks

The Grocery & Snacks reporting segment principally includes branded, shelf-stable food products sold in various retail channels in the United States.

Refrigerated & Frozen

The Refrigerated & Frozen reporting segment principally includes branded, temperature-controlled food products sold in various retail channels in the United States.

International

The International reporting segment principally includes branded food products, in various temperature states, sold in various retail and foodservice channels outside of the United States.

Foodservice

The Foodservice reporting segment includes branded and customized food products, including meals, entrees, sauces, and a variety of custom-manufactured culinary products packaged for sale to restaurants and other foodservice establishments primarily in the United States.

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Unconsolidated Equity Investments

We have two unconsolidated equity investments. Our most significant equity method investment is our joint venture with respect to Ardent Mills, a milling business.

General

The following discussion pertains to all of our reporting segments.

Conagra Brands is a branded consumer packaged goods food company that operates in many sectors of the food industry, with a significant focus on the sale of branded, value-added consumer food products, as well as foodservice items and ingredients.

Raw Materials and Packaging

We use many different raw materials, most of which are commodities, to make and package our products. The prices paid for raw materials used in making our food generally reflect factors such as global economic conditions, trade barriers or restrictions, supply and demand, weather, commodity market fluctuations, currency fluctuations, tariffs, and the effects of governmental agricultural programs, and may be impacted by supply chain disruptions including disruptions caused by pandemics, epidemics, and disease, in humans and animals, such as the avian flu. Although the prices of raw materials can be expected to fluctuate as a result of these factors, we believe such raw materials to be in adequate supply and generally available from numerous sources. From time to time, we have faced increased costs for many of our significant raw materials, packaging, and energy inputs. We seek to mitigate higher input costs through productivity and pricing initiatives and the use of derivative instruments to economically hedge a portion of forecasted future consumption.

Competition

We experience intense competition for sales of our food items in our major markets. Our food items compete with widely advertised, well-known, branded food, as well as private branded and customized food items. Some of our competitors are larger and have greater resources than we have. We compete primarily on the basis of quality, product innovation, value, customer service, brand recognition, and brand loyalty.

Seasonality

Demand for certain of our food items may be influenced by holidays, changes in seasons, or other annual events. For example, sales of frozen foods tend to be marginally higher during the winter months, pie sales are highest in November and December due to holidays, and production of certain of our products occurs seasonally, during or immediately following the purchase of agricultural crops.

Trademarks and Intellectual Property

Our intellectual property rights, including our trademarks, licensing agreements, trade secrets, patents, and copyrights are of material importance to our business, and we attempt to protect such rights by pursuing remedies available to us under trademark, copyright, trade secret, and patent laws, as well as entering into licensing, third-party nondisclosure and assignment agreements, and policing of third-party misuses of our intellectual property. Some of our products are sold under licensing arrangements with others, including our licensing arrangement with Dolly Parton and our licenses of the P.F. Chang’s^®, Bertolli^®, Wendy’s^®, and Libby’s^® trademarks. We also own certain intellectual property rights that are licensed to third parties, such as the Alexia^® and Marie Callender’s^® trademarks. While many of these licensing arrangements are perpetual in nature, others must be periodically renegotiated or renewed pursuant to their terms. We also actively develop and maintain a portfolio of patents, although no single patent is considered material to the business as a whole. We have proprietary trade secrets, technology, know-how, processes, and other intellectual property rights that are not registered.

Government Regulation

The manufacture and sale of consumer food is highly regulated. Our operations, our products, and our practices are subject to various federal, state, local, and international laws and regulations and related regulatory oversight by various government agencies, including, but not limited to, the United States Department of Agriculture, the Federal Food and Drug Administration, the Federal Trade Commission, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Environmental

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Protection Agency, the Department of Labor, and various other federal, state, local, and international authorities (including government authorities in Canada and Mexico). In particular, the processing, packaging, transportation, storage, distribution, advertising, labeling, quality, and safety of food products, the health and safety of our employees, and the protection of the environment are each subject to governmental regulation. Additionally, we are subject to data privacy and security regulations, anticorruption, anti-bribery, trade sanction and export, tax, and securities laws and regulations, accounting and reporting standards, and other financial laws and regulations. We rely on our procedures, policies, and compliance programs, as well as legal advice from in-house and outside counsel, to align our operations, products, and practices with applicable laws and regulations.  We believe that we are in compliance with such laws and regulations in all material respects and do not expect that continued compliance with such regulations will have a material effect upon capital expenditures, earnings, or our competitive position.

Customers

Our products are sold, directly and through distributors, to chain, wholesale, value, cooperative, club, and independent grocery, pharmacy and drug, convenience and other store operators; and foodservice customers, including restaurants and bars, travel and leisure customers, schools, health care facilities, and government customers. Our products are also sold online through various e-commerce platforms and retailers. Our largest customer, Walmart, Inc. and its affiliates, accounted for approximately 28% of consolidated net sales for fiscal 2024 and 2023 and 27% for fiscal 2022.

Human Capital Resources

At Conagra, we believe that our employees are the driving force behind our success and that the success and growth of our business depends in large part on our ability to attract, develop, and retain a diverse population of talented and high-performing employees at all levels of our organization. We leverage our six timeless values, which form the framework of our Company culture, to guide our approach to human capital management:

As of May 26, 2024, we had approximately 18,500 employees, primarily in the United States. Approximately 46% of our employees are parties to collective bargaining agreements. We believe our relationships with employees and their representative organizations are good.

Safety and Health

The health and safety of our employees is our top priority. We are focused on maintaining a strong culture of safety, in which all employees strive to protect themselves and their colleagues by being proactive towards risk identification and mitigation for people and our food products. Our health and safety team audits each of our facilities every 2-5 years, depending on risk profile, to review compliance with Conagra’s safety management system. This audit includes examination of leadership, accountability, defect loss identification processes, inspections, training, safety regulation adherence and compliance with corporate policies. The team documents the audit results and tracks corrective actions to ensure progress and create accountability for providing a safe work environment. Any workplace injury, illness, or fatality (an “incident”), including any “significant near miss” or an incident with the potential to have resulted in workplace injury, illness or fatality, requires a thorough investigation to identify and address the root cause.

During fiscal 2024, our Occupational Safety and Health Administration Incident Rate was 1.40 incidents per 100 full-time workers, as compared to 1.58 incidents per 100 full-time workers in fiscal 2023 and 1.67 incidents per 100 full-time workers in fiscal 2022. There were no incidents of fatalities involving Conagra employees in fiscal 2024, 2023, and 2022. We compare our incident rate to that of the average for companies in the food manufacturing sector, as published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In each of the last three fiscal years, our incident rate has been below the industry average.

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Human Capital Management

We have implemented key recruitment, development, engagement, and retention strategies and objectives to guide our human capital management approach. These strategies and objectives are advanced through a number of programs, policies, and initiatives.

Recruitment:

We believe Conagra offers one of the most impactful, energized and inclusive cultures in the food industry and provides a comprehensive employee experience for a long and prosperous career.

Conagra has made differential investments in our recruitment tools and our talent acquisition programs to help us continue to attract the right candidates.

Development:

The Conagra Promise to our employees is to provide every employee with tools and programs to help them reach their full potential. By providing employees with growth opportunities, we empower them to build knowledge and skills and make an impact through their work at Conagra. We believe that by enabling employee growth and development, we better position Conagra to meet current and future business needs while driving employee retention.

We leverage a variety of tools and processes to promote a culture of employee learning and development at Conagra:

Employees also have access to coaching, feedback, and leadership support; employees are encouraged to establish mentoring relationships across the enterprise.

Engagement, Diversity & Inclusion:

We believe our focus on broad-mindedness, one of our timeless values, fosters a culture of collaboration and engagement. We encourage our employees to engage with leaders, managers, and peers and to share their individual perspectives. In September 2023, we launched a new structured survey, released on a quarterly basis, to better understand employee engagement and how employees experience our culture.

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Additionally, we believe that it is a competitive advantage to cultivate an inclusive culture of belonging where diverse backgrounds, perspectives, styles, and opinions are leveraged to drive innovation and growth. At Conagra, diversity is measured by more than age, race, gender, sexual orientation, and disability. All backgrounds, perspectives, styles, and opinions are valued and belong at Conagra. Our recipe for inclusion consists of five key ingredients:

We believe this recipe nourishes our inclusive culture by encouraging openness, acceptance, and individual authenticity.

Our eight employee-led Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) are intended to contribute to an engaged and inclusive culture at Conagra. Our ERGs provide our employees with an opportunity to express their views, facilitate learning on cultural and business topics, and support our employees’ personal growth, professional development, and community impact. Our ERGs are open to all salaried employees in the U.S. and, where indicated below, in Canada and Mexico. As of May 26, 2024, our ERGs and their stated goals consisted of:

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Compensation, Benefits, and Wellness:

We offer competitive compensation and benefits to attract and retain the best talent and to support the overall well-being of our employees. Our compensation program, which includes equity-based compensation for our employees at director level and above, aims to align our leaders’ interest with our shareholders and is designed to incentivize strong company and individual performance.

Additionally, through our holistic approach to benefits and wellness, we provide our employees with resources to help them thrive. We offer a wide range of benefits across areas such as health, family, finance, community, and time away, including healthcare and wellness benefits such as employee assistance programs supporting mental health, adoption assistance, family care resources, a 401(k) plan, family leave, and paid time off.

Information About Our Executive Officers

The names, ages, and positions of our executive officers as of July 11, 2024 are listed below:

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Sean M. Connolly has served as our President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board since April 6, 2015. Prior to that, he served as President and Chief Executive Officer and a director of The Hillshire Brands Company (a branded food products company) from June 2012 to August 2014, Executive Vice President of Sara Lee Corporation (a branded food products company and the predecessor to Hillshire), and Chief Executive Officer, Sara Lee North American Retail and Foodservice, from January 2012 to June 2012. Prior to joining Sara Lee in anticipation of the spin-off of Hillshire, Mr. Connolly served as President of Campbell North America, the largest division of Campbell Soup Company (a branded food products company), from October 2010 to December 2011, President, Campbell USA from 2008 to 2010, and President, North American Foodservice for Campbell from 2007 to 2008. Before joining Campbell in 2002, he served in various marketing and brand management roles at The Procter & Gamble Company (a consumer packaged goods company).

David S. Marberger has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer since August 2016. Prior to joining Conagra Brands, he served as Chief Financial Officer of Prestige Brands Holdings, Inc. (a provider of over-the-counter healthcare products) from October 2015 until July 2016. Prior to that, Mr. Marberger served as the Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Godiva Chocolatier, Inc. (a global manufacturer and supplier of premium chocolates) from 2008 until October 2015. Prior to that, Mr. Marberger served Tasty Baking Company (a manufacturer and supplier of baked goods) as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer from 2006 to 2008 and as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer from 2003 to 2006. From 1993 until 2003, he served in various roles at Campbell Soup Company (a branded food products company), where he last held the position of Vice President, Finance, Food and Beverage Division.

Carey L. Bartell has served as Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary since June 2022. In this role, Ms. Bartell oversees all legal and governmental affairs activity for the company. Previously, Ms. Bartell served as Vice President and Chief Counsel leading the company’s litigation efforts and compliance programs. Ms. Bartell joined Conagra in 2016. Prior to Conagra, Ms. Bartell worked for eight years at Hospira, Inc., a global pharmaceutical and medical device company, as Senior Counsel and then Vice President, Legal. In this role, she oversaw the company’s litigation, labor, employment, and immigration law, and advised senior management and the board of directors regarding diverse legal and business risks. Ms. Bartell began her career in private practice at a Chicago law firm, first as an Associate and then Partner, where she practiced primarily in the areas of litigation and labor & employment law.

Charisse Brock has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer since November 2015 and previously served as Senior Vice President and Interim Chief Human Resources Officer from August 2015 until November 2015. Prior

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to serving in these roles, Ms. Brock served as Vice President of Human Resources for the Consumer Foods segment of Conagra Brands from September 2010 until August 2015. Ms. Brock joined Conagra Brands in 2004 as Director of Human Resources, supporting the Refrigerated Foods Group. Prior to joining Conagra Brands, she served for 15 years at The Quaker Oats Company (a branded food products company) (which was acquired by PepsiCo during her tenure) in its Consumer Foods Division.

Alexandre “Ale” O. Eboli has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Supply Chain Officer for Conagra Brands since August 2021. Mr. Eboli has end-to-end supply chain responsibilities for the company, overseeing the manufacturing, procurement, environment, health and safety, plant quality, logistics, and transportation and warehousing teams. Mr. Eboli joined Conagra Brands with 25 years of experience of global end-to-end supply chain leadership within the consumer packaged goods industry and has held a variety of roles in finance, planning, distribution, logistics and manufacturing. Prior to Conagra, Mr. Eboli served as the Head of Supply Chain, North America for The Unilever Group, where he was responsible for overseeing manufacturing facilities and co-manufacturers producing personal care, food and ice cream products as well as the related planning, procurement, manufacturing, engineering, logistics, quality, manufacturing excellence and customer service functions.

Thomas M. McGough has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer since May 2024. He served as the Company’s Executive Vice President and Co-Chief Operating Officer from October 2018 until May 2024; as the Company’s President, Operating Segments from May 2017 until October 2018 and as the Company’s President of Consumer Foods from May 2013 until May 2017. Mr. McGough also served as the Company’s President, Grocery Products from 2011 until May 2013 and as Vice President in the Company’s Consumer Foods organization from 2007 to 2011. Prior to joining the Company, he served in various roles at H.J. Heinz (a food processing company), where he began his career in 1990.

Noelle O’Mara has served as Executive Vice President and President, New Platforms and Acquisitions since May 2024. Prior to joining Conagra, she served as Group President and Chief Marketing Officer at Tyson Foods, from August 2019 to November 2022, where she was responsible for their prepared foods business unit. Prior to joining Tyson in 2016, Ms. O'Mara spent over a decade at Kraft Foods Group leading various brands and portfolios.

William E. Johnson has served as Senior Vice President and Corporate Controller since June 2023. He joined the Company as Assistant Controller in September 2019 and, prior to that, he was Director of Internal Audit at Kiewit Corporation, a North American construction and engineering organization, from June 2018 to August 2019. Mr. Johnson began his career at KPMG, spending more than 12 years in positions of increasing responsibility from 2005 to 2018.

Foreign Operations

Foreign operations information is set forth in Note 20, “Business Segments and Related Information”, to the Consolidated Financial Statements contained in this report.

Available Information

We make available, free of charge through the “Investors—Financial Reports & Filings” link on our website at http://www.conagrabrands.com, our annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, as soon as reasonably practicable after such material is electronically filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). We use our website, through the “Investors” link, as a channel for routine distribution of important information, including news releases, presentations, and financial information. The information on our website is not, and will not be deemed to be, a part of this annual report on Form 10-K or incorporated into any of our other filings with the SEC.

We have also posted on our website our (1) Corporate Governance Principles, (2) Code of Conduct, (3) Code of Ethics for Senior Corporate Officers, and (4) Charters for the Audit/Finance Committee, Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, and Human Resources Committee. Stockholders may also obtain copies of these items at no charge by writing to: Corporate Secretary, Conagra Brands, Inc., 222 Merchandise Mart Plaza, Suite 1300, Chicago, IL, 60654.

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

Our business is subject to various risks and uncertainties. Any of the risks and uncertainties described below could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations and should be considered in evaluating us. Although the risks are organized by headings and each risk is described separately, many of the risks are interrelated. While we believe we have identified and discussed below the key risk factors affecting our business, there may be additional risks and uncertainties that are not

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presently known or that are not currently believed to be significant that may adversely affect our business, performance, or financial condition in the future. You should not interpret the disclosure of any risk factor to imply that the risk has not already materialized.

Market Risks

Deterioration of general economic conditions, an economic recession, periods of inflation, or economic uncertainty have in the past harmed and could continue to harm our business and results of operations.

Our business and results of operations have in the past been and may continue to be adversely affected by changes in national or global economic conditions, including inflation, rising interest rates, decreased availability of capital, volatility in financial markets, declining consumer spending rates, recessions, decreased energy availability and increased energy costs (including fuel surcharges), supply chain challenges, labor shortages, the effects of governmental initiatives to manage economic conditions, geopolitical conflicts (including as discussed in the next risk factor), and the negative impacts caused by pandemics, epidemics, and disease, in humans and animals, such as the avian flu.

These economic factors could continue to impact our business and operations in a variety of ways, including as follows:

Our business, financial condition and results of operations have in the past been and could continue to be adversely affected by disruptions in the global economy caused by geopolitical conflicts.

Our business, financial condition and results of operations have been impacted in the past and may be impacted in the future by disruptions in the global economy. The global economy has been negatively impacted by geopolitical conflicts, such as the continuing military conflicts between Russia and Ukraine, which has resulted in governments in the U.S., United Kingdom, and European Union imposing export controls on certain products and financial and economic sanctions on certain industry sectors and parties in Russia, the conflict between Israel and Hamas, and rising tensions elsewhere in the Middle East and between China and Taiwan. Although we have no direct operations in Russia, Ukraine, Israel, elsewhere in the Middle East, China, or Taiwan, we have experienced, or may experience, shortages in materials from these regions, increased costs for transportation, energy, and raw materials from and in these regions, and reduced consumer confidence and consumption in these regions due in part to the negative impact of these conflicts and tensions on the global economy. Further escalations of geopolitical tensions related to military conflicts, including increased trade barriers or restrictions on global trade, could also result in, among other things, cyberattacks, supply disruptions, lower consumer demand, and changes to foreign exchange rates and financial markets, any of which may adversely affect our business and supply chain. In addition, the effects of the ongoing conflicts could heighten many of our known risks described in this Item 1A, Risk Factors.

Credit Risks

Our existing and future debt may limit cash flow available to invest in the ongoing needs of our business and could prevent us from fulfilling our debt obligations, financing at attractive borrowing costs, or returning cash to stockholders.

As of May 26, 2024, we had total debt of approximately $8.44 billion, including approximately $7.02 billion aggregate principal amount of outstanding senior notes. Our ability to make payments on our debt, fund our other liquidity needs, make planned capital

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expenditures, and return cash to stockholders will depend on our ability to generate cash in the future. Our historical financial results have been, and we anticipate that our future financial results will be, subject to fluctuations. Our ability to generate cash, to a certain extent, is subject to general economic, financial, competitive, legislative, regulatory, and other factors that are beyond our control. We cannot guarantee that our business will generate sufficient cash flow from our operations or that future borrowings will be available to us in an amount sufficient to enable us to make payments of our debt, fund other liquidity needs, make planned capital expenditures, or return cash to stockholders.

Our level of debt could have important consequences. For example, it could:

Additionally, any failure to meet required payments on our debt, or failure to comply with any covenants in the instruments governing our debt, could result in an event of default under the terms of those instruments and a downgrade to our credit ratings. In the event of a default, the holders of our debt could elect to declare all the amounts outstanding under such instruments to be due and payable. Any default under the agreements governing our debt and the remedies sought by the holders of such debt could render us unable to pay principal and interest on our debt.

A downgrade to our credit ratings would increase our borrowing costs and could affect our ability to issue debt and access the commercial paper markets, which we actively utilized in fiscal 2024 for our ongoing funding requirements. Additionally, disruptions in the commercial paper market or other effects of volatile economic conditions on the credit markets could also reduce the amount of commercial paper that we could issue and raise our borrowing costs.

We rely on cash from our subsidiaries to meet our cash flow needs and service our debt.

A significant portion of our operations are conducted through our subsidiaries. As a result, our ability to generate sufficient cash flow for our needs is dependent to some extent on the earnings of our subsidiaries and the payment of those earnings to us in the form of dividends, loans, or advances and through repayment of loans or advances from us. Our subsidiaries are separate and distinct legal entities. Our subsidiaries have no obligation to pay any amounts due on our debt to provide us with funds to meet our cash flow needs, whether in the form of dividends, distributions, loans, or other payments. In addition, any payment of dividends, loans, or advances by our subsidiaries could be subject to statutory or contractual restrictions. Payments to us by our subsidiaries will also be contingent upon our subsidiaries’ earnings and business considerations. Our right to receive any assets of any of our subsidiaries upon their liquidation or reorganization will be effectively subordinated to the claims of that subsidiary’s creditors, including trade creditors. In addition, even if we are a creditor of any of our subsidiaries, our rights as a creditor would be subordinate to any security interest in the assets of our subsidiaries and any indebtedness of our subsidiaries senior to that held by us. Finally, changes in the laws of foreign jurisdictions in which we operate may adversely affect the ability of some of our foreign subsidiaries to repatriate funds to us.

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Inflation, increased interest rates and other economic conditions including potential recession and credit market disruptions could negatively impact our business.

Customer and consumer demand for our products may be impacted by heightened inflation, increased interest rates and other weak economic conditions including recessionary conditions and credit market disruptions and volatility. Continued weak economic conditions may adversely impact consumers causing a decrease in demand for our products from our customers and consumers. Additionally, these economic conditions may adversely impact some of our customers, suppliers and other vendors who are highly leveraged increasing the risk of uncollectible accounts or trade receivables, extended payment terms, and bankruptcy. We have experienced and may continue to experience negative impacts to our business ranging from an inability to collect accounts receivable to supply chain disruptions caused by failures of our counterparties to continue as a going concern due to financial and liquidity issues.

Competition Risks

Increased competition may result in reduced sales or profits.

The food industry is highly competitive. Retail customer consolidation, proliferation of new, competitive products, consumer behavior shifts including retail channel preferences, and consumer price sensitivity continue to contribute to increased competition. Our principal competitors have substantial financial, marketing, and other resources. Increased competition can reduce our sales due to loss of market share or the need to reduce prices to respond to competitive and customer pressures. Competitive pressures also may restrict our ability to increase prices and maintain those price increases, including price increases made in response to commodity and other cost increases. In addition, we may experience delays between the time that we take inflation-related pricing actions and the time that we realize the impact of those actions on our margins and results of operations. Furthermore, our inflation-related pricing actions in response to increased costs of goods sold may negatively impact demand for our products, our market share, and our sales volumes.

We sell branded, private brand, and customized food products, as well as commercially branded foods. Our branded products have an advantage over private brand products primarily due to advertising and name recognition, although private brand products typically sell at a discount to those of branded competitors. In addition, when branded competitors focus on price and promotion, the environment for private brand producers becomes more challenging because the price difference between private brand products and branded products may become less significant.

In most product categories, we compete not only with other widely advertised branded products, but also with other private label and store brand products that are generally sold at lower prices. A strong competitive response from one or more of our competitors to our marketplace efforts, or a consumer shift towards more generic, lower-priced, or other value offerings, could result in us reducing pricing, increasing marketing or other expenditures, or losing market share. Our margins and profits could decrease if a reduction in prices or increased costs are not counterbalanced with increased sales volume.

In fiscal 2024, we made targeted investments in advertising and promotions in response to market conditions. While our activities generally resulted in increased sales volumes in fiscal 2024 for the targeted products, there is no guarantee that our advertising and promotional activities will be successful or that our competitors will not engage in more aggressive advertising and promotion activities which could negatively impact our sales volumes.

In addition, substantial growth in e-commerce has encouraged the entry of new competitors and business models, intensifying competition by simplifying distribution and lowering barriers to entry. The expanding presence of e-commerce retailers has impacted, and may continue to impact, consumer preferences and market dynamics, which in turn may negatively affect our sales or profits.

If we do not achieve the appropriate cost structure in the highly competitive food industry, our profitability could decrease.

Our future success and earnings growth depend in part on our ability to achieve the appropriate cost structure and operate efficiently in the highly competitive food industry, particularly in an environment of volatile input costs. We continue to implement profit-enhancing initiatives that impact our supply chain and general and administrative functions. These initiatives are focused on cost-saving opportunities in procurement, manufacturing, logistics, and customer service, as well as general and administrative overhead levels. Gaining additional efficiencies may become more difficult over time. Our failure to reduce costs through productivity gains or by eliminating redundant costs resulting from acquisitions could adversely affect our profitability and weaken our competitive position. If we do not continue to effectively manage costs and achieve additional efficiencies, our competitiveness and our profitability could decrease. Additionally, our profitability and ability to achieve the appropriate cost structure depends on our ability to fully utilize our manufacturing capacity. If we do not maximize our manufacturing capacity, our profitability could be negatively impacted.

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Commodity Risks

We are subject to increases in the price of raw materials, labor, manufacturing, distribution, and other inputs necessary for the production and distribution of our products, and we may not be able to fully offset this input cost inflation on a timely basis or at all.

Many of the components of our cost of goods sold are subject to price increases that are attributable to factors beyond our control, including but not limited to, global economic conditions, trade barriers or restrictions, supply chain disruptions, changes in crop size, product scarcity, demand dynamics, currency rates, water supply, weather conditions, import and export requirements, and other factors. The cost of raw materials, labor, manufacturing, energy, fuel, packaging materials, transportation and logistics, and other inputs related to the production and distribution of our products have increased and may continue to increase unexpectedly.

In recent years, input costs have increased materially and at a rapid rate. While we expect moderate input cost inflation in fiscal 2025, we could experience unexpectedly high input cost inflation in specific commodities or across multiple commodities.

The Company uses a variety of strategies to seek to offset this input cost inflation such as increasing productivity, cutting costs, increasing pricing and engaging in commodity hedging. However, we may not be able to generate sufficient productivity improvements or sustain our price increases. Commodity price volatility may result in unfavorable commodity positions, the costs of which we may not be able to fully offset on acceptable timelines or at all. To the extent we are unable to offset present and future input cost increases, our operating results could be materially and adversely affected.

Increases in commodity costs have in the past and may continue to have a negative impact on profits.

We use many different commodities such as wheat, corn, oats, various vegetables, vegetable oils, beef, pork, poultry, dairy products, steel, aluminum, and energy. Commodities are subject to price volatility caused by global economic conditions, trade barriers or restrictions, supply chain disruptions, commodity market fluctuations, supply and demand, currency fluctuations, external conditions such as weather, and changes in governmental agricultural and energy policies and regulations. In addition, recent world events have increased the risks posed by international trade disputes, tariffs, and sanctions. We procure a wide spectrum of commodities globally and in the past have faced increased prices for commodities sourced from nations that have been impacted by trade disputes, tariffs, or sanctions. Commodity price increases have resulted and may in the future result in increases in raw material, packaging, and energy costs and operating costs. We have experience in hedging against commodity price increases; however, these practices and experience reduce, but do not eliminate, the risk of negative profit impacts from commodity price increases. We do not fully hedge against changes in commodity prices, and the risk management procedures that we use may not always work as we intend.

To mitigate commodity cost increases, we have implemented various strategies that include, among other things, entering into contracted pricing with certain vendors, procuring commodities in periods of favorable market conditions, or entering into various derivative instruments. These actions may in part mitigate these increased costs, but even by increasing our product prices or implementing cost savings efforts, we may not be able to fully offset these increased costs. Additionally, increased prices may not be sustainable over time and may result in reduced sales volume, which can negatively impact our margins, and profitability.

Volatility in the market value of derivatives we use to manage exposures to fluctuations in commodity prices will cause volatility in our gross margins and net earnings.

We utilize derivatives to manage price risk for some of our principal ingredients and energy costs, including grains (wheat and corn), vegetable oils, pork, dairy products, and energy. Changes in the values of these derivatives are generally recorded in earnings currently, resulting in volatility in both gross margin and net earnings. These gains and losses are reported in cost of goods sold in our Consolidated Statements of Earnings and in unallocated general corporate expenses in our segment operating results until we utilize the underlying input in our manufacturing process, at which time the gains and losses are reclassified to segment operating profit. We may experience volatile earnings as a result of these accounting treatments.

Operating Risks

Supply chain disruptions have in the past and could continue to negatively impact our profitability.

In recent years, our industry has been impacted by supply chain disruptions, transportation issues, labor challenges and continued changes in global economic conditions, which have impacted and could continue to impact our operations and profitability. Continued inflation, rising interest rates, decreased availability of capital, volatility in financial markets, declining consumer spending rates, recessions, decreased energy availability and increased energy costs (including fuel surcharges) have in the past caused and could

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continue to cause challenges for us, our suppliers, vendors, customers and consumers of our products and may negatively impact our profitability. These supply chain disruptions have impacted our ability to source ingredients and manufacture and distribute our products, and may make it difficult for our customers to accurately forecast and plan for their purchases of our products to optimize restocking, all of which could negatively impact our business and profitability.

We have in the past been and may in the future be subject to product recalls, product liability and labeling claims, and changing legal or regulatory requirements, any of which could negatively impact our profitability.

We sell food products for human consumption, which involves risks such as product contamination or spoilage, product tampering, other adulteration of food products such as foreign material, mislabeling, and misbranding. We may be subject to liability if the consumption of any of our products causes injury, illness, or death. In addition, we may take marketplace action such as a voluntary product recall in the event of contamination or damage. We have issued recalls and have from time to time been and currently are involved in lawsuits relating to our food products. A significant product liability judgment or a widespread product recall may negatively impact our sales and profitability for a period of time depending on the costs of the recall, the destruction of product inventory, product availability, competitive reaction, customer reaction, and consumer attitudes.

In addition, we could be the target of claims of false or deceptive advertising under U.S. federal and state laws as well as foreign laws, including consumer protection statutes of some states. The marketing of food products has come under increased regulatory scrutiny in recent years, and the food industry has been subject to an increasing number of proceedings and claims relating to alleged false or deceptive labeling and marketing under federal, state and foreign laws or regulations. Changes in legal or regulatory requirements (such as new food safety requirements, new food labeling requirements for allergens and nutrition information, updated requirements for the use of “healthy” in connection with our food products, and bans on certain food ingredients or packaging materials), evolving interpretations of existing legal or regulatory requirements, or changes in enforcement priorities may result in increased compliance costs, capital expenditures, higher production costs, and other financial obligations that could adversely affect our business or financial results. If we are found to be out of compliance with applicable laws and regulations in these areas, we could be subject to civil remedies, including fines, injunctions, termination of necessary licenses or permits, or recalls, as well as potential criminal sanctions, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Even if a product liability or labeling claim is unsuccessful or is not fully pursued, the negative publicity surrounding any assertion that our products caused illness or injury could adversely affect our reputation with existing and potential customers and our corporate and brand image.

Additionally, as a manufacturer and marketer of food products, we are subject to extensive regulation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and other federal, state, and local government agencies. The Federal Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act (including as amended by the Food Safety Modernization Act), the Federal Meat, Poultry Products, and Egg Products Inspection Acts, and their respective regulations govern, among other things, the manufacturing, composition and ingredients, packaging, labeling, and safety of food products. Some aspects of these laws use a strict liability standard for imposing sanctions on corporate behavior; meaning that no intent is required to be established. If we fail to comply with applicable laws and regulations, we may be subject to civil remedies, including fines, injunctions, recalls, or seizures, as well as criminal sanctions, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, or results of operations.

Any damage to our reputation could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Maintaining a good reputation is critical to selling our products. Product contamination or tampering, the failure to maintain high standards for product quality, safety, and integrity, including with respect to raw materials and ingredients obtained from suppliers, or allegations of product quality issues, mislabeling, or contamination, even if untrue, may reduce demand for our products or cause production and delivery disruptions. Our reputation could also be adversely impacted by any of the following, or by adverse publicity (whether or not valid) relating thereto: product recalls, the failure to maintain high ethical, social, and environmental standards for all of our operations and activities including our expectations for our supply chain regarding ethical sourcing; the failure to achieve any stated goals with respect to the nutritional profile of our products; our research and development efforts; or our environmental impact, including use of agricultural materials, packaging, energy use, and waste management.

Moreover, the growing use of social and digital media by consumers has greatly increased the speed and extent that information or misinformation and opinions can be shared. Negative posts or comments about us, our brands, or our products on social or digital media could seriously damage our brands and reputation. Additionally, negative reaction to our marketing and advertising, including our social media content, could result in damage to our brands and reputation.

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Failure to comply with local laws and regulations, to maintain an effective system of internal controls or to provide accurate and timely financial information could also hurt our reputation. Damage to our reputation or loss of consumer confidence in our products for any of these or other reasons could result in decreased demand for our products and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations, as well as require additional resources to rebuild our reputation.

Due to the seasonality of the business, our revenue and operating results may vary from quarter to quarter.

Our sales and cash flows are affected by seasonal cyclicality. For example, sales of frozen foods, including frozen vegetables and frozen complete bagged meals, tend to be marginally higher during the winter months and pie sales peak during the months of November and December due to holidays. Since many of the raw materials we process are agricultural crops, production of these products is predominantly seasonal, occurring during and immediately following the purchase of such crops. For these reasons, sequential quarterly comparisons are not a good indication of our performance or how we may perform in the future. If we are unable to obtain access to working capital or if seasonal fluctuations are greater than anticipated, there could be a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations, or cash flows.

Consumer and Customer Risks

We must identify changing consumer preferences and develop and offer food products and packaging to meet their preferences.

Consumer preferences evolve over time and the success of our food products depends on our ability to identify the priorities, tastes and dietary habits of consumers and to offer products that appeal to their preferences. Consumer response to our products may be influenced by a growing number and complexity of factors influencing consumer purchasing decisions beyond taste, nutrition and value, including concerns of consumers regarding broader health and wellness perceptions, obesity, product attributes, sourcing of packaging materials, use of organic or natural ingredients, human rights impacts, environmental impacts, recyclability of packaging and local sourcing of ingredients. Growing use of weight loss medication may cause shifts in consumer preferences and, if we fail to anticipate and appropriately respond to customer preferences, may impact our product sales, financial condition, and operating results.

Introduction of new products and product extensions requires significant development and marketing investment. If our products fail to meet changing consumer preferences or habits, or if we fail to introduce new and improved products on a timely basis, then the return on that investment will be less than anticipated and our strategy to grow sales and profits with investments in acquisitions, marketing, and innovation will be less successful. Similarly, demand for our products could be affected by consumer concerns or perceptions regarding the health effects of certain packaging materials (such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances commonly referred to as PFAS), ingredients such as colors or preservatives, sodium, trans fats, sugar, genetically modified ingredients, or other product attributes.

Changes in our relationships with significant customers, including our largest customer, could adversely affect us.

During fiscal 2024, our largest customer, Walmart, Inc. and its affiliates, accounted for approximately 28% of our consolidated net sales. There can be no assurance that Walmart, Inc. and other significant customers will continue to purchase our products in the same quantities or on the same terms as in the past, particularly as increasingly powerful retailers continue to demand lower pricing. The loss of a significant customer or a material reduction in sales to a significant customer could materially and adversely affect our product sales, financial condition, and results of operations.

Our customers are generally not contractually obligated to purchase from us and their decision to purchase from us is driven by multiple factors including consumer preferences and demand, price, product quality, customer service performance, availability, and other factors. Strategic and financial goals of our customers can impact their purchasing decisions including store space allocation among product categories and shelf placement of our products.

The sophistication and buying power of our customers could have a negative impact on profits.

Our customers, such as supermarkets, warehouse clubs, and food distributors, have continued to consolidate, resulting in fewer customers on which we can rely for business. These consolidations, the growth of supercenters, and the growth of e-commerce customers have produced large, sophisticated customers with increased buying power and negotiating strength who are more capable of resisting price increases and who can demand lower pricing, increased promotional programs, or specialty tailored products. In addition, larger retailers have the scale to develop supply chains that permit them to operate with reduced inventories or to develop and market their own retailer brands. These customers may also in the future use more of their shelf space, currently used for our products, for their store

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brand products. We continue to implement initiatives to counteract these pressures. However, if the larger size of these customers results in additional negotiating strength and/or increased private label or store brand competition, our profitability could decline.

Consolidation also increases the risk that adverse changes in our customers’ business operations or financial performance will have a corresponding material adverse effect on us. For example, if our customers cannot access sufficient funds or financing, then they may delay, decrease, or cancel purchases of our products, or delay or fail to pay us for previous purchases.

Third-Party Partner Risks

Disruption of our supply chain has had and could continue to have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Our ability to make, move, and sell our products is critical to our success. Disruptions to our supply chain, including disruptions to our third-party manufacturing or transportation and distribution capabilities, due to labor shortages, increased labor costs, weather, including any potential effects of climate change, natural disaster, fire or explosion, terrorism, strikes, government action, geopolitical turmoil, pandemics, or other reasons beyond our control or the control of our suppliers and business partners, could impair our ability to manufacture or sell our products. Failure to take adequate steps to mitigate the likelihood or potential impact of such events, or to effectively manage such events if they occur, particularly when a product is sourced from a single supplier or location, could adversely affect our business or financial results. In addition, disputes with significant suppliers, including disputes regarding pricing or performance, could adversely affect our ability to supply products to our customers and could materially and adversely affect our product sales, financial condition, and results of operations.

Although our products are manufactured in North America and we source the significant majority of our ingredients and raw materials from North America, global supply has at times been and may continue to be constrained, which has caused and may continue to cause the price of certain ingredients and raw materials used in our products to increase and/or we may experience disruptions to our operations. Additionally, although we have no direct operations in Russia, Ukraine, Israel, elsewhere in the Middle East, China, or Taiwan, we have experienced, or may experience, shortages in materials from these regions, increased costs for transportation, energy, and raw materials from and in these regions, and reduced consumer confidence and consumption in these regions due in part to the negative impact of military conflicts and rising tensions in these areas on the global economy. To date, these conflicts have not had a material impact on our business, financial condition, or results of operations, but continued geopolitical turmoil may negatively impact our supply chain and our ability to manufacture or sell our products.

The termination or expiration of current co-manufacturing arrangements could reduce our sales volume and adversely affect our results of operations.

Our businesses periodically enter into co-manufacturing arrangements with manufacturers of products. The terms of these agreements vary. Although many agreements are for a relatively short period of time, some of the co-manufacturing agreements are for extended periods. Volumes produced under each of these agreements can fluctuate significantly based upon the product’s life cycle, product promotions, alternative production capacity, and other factors, none of which are under our direct control. Our future ability to enter into co-manufacturing arrangements is not guaranteed, and an inability for the Company to obtain favorable co-manufacturing pricing or a decrease in co-manufacturing availability or production capacity could have a significant negative impact on sales volume.

As we outsource certain functions, we become more dependent on the third parties performing those functions.

As part of a concerted effort to achieve cost savings and efficiencies, we have entered into agreements with third-party service providers under which we have outsourced certain information systems, sales, finance, accounting, and other functions, and we may enter into managed services agreements with respect to other functions in the future. If any of these third-party service providers do not perform according to the terms of the agreements, or if we fail to adequately monitor their performance, we may not be able to achieve the expected cost savings or we may have to incur additional costs to correct errors made by such service providers, and our reputation could be harmed. Depending on the function involved, such errors may also lead to business interruption, damage or disruption of information technology systems, processing inefficiencies, the loss of or damage to intellectual property or non-public company sensitive information, effects on financial reporting, litigation or remediation costs, or damage to our reputation, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

In addition, if we transition functions to one or more new, or among existing, external service providers, we may experience challenges such as delays, errors, additional costs, service interruptions, and disruptions to our operations that could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations or financial condition.

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Our operations are dependent on a wide array of third parties.

The success of our end-to-end supply chain relies on the continued performance of a wide array of third parties. Suppliers, co-manufacturers, third-party outsourcers, warehousing partners, and transportation providers are among our critical partners. Although we take steps to qualify and audit third parties with whom we do business, we cannot guarantee that all third parties will perform dependably or at all. It is possible that events beyond our control, such as operational failures, financial failure, labor issues, cybersecurity events, pandemics, epidemics, and disease, in humans and animals, or other issues could impact our unaffiliated third parties. If our third parties fail to deliver on their commitments, introduce unplanned risk to our operations, or are unable to fulfill their obligations, we could experience manufacturing challenges, shipment delays, increased costs, or lost revenue.

We may be negatively impacted by cybersecurity incidents involving third parties in our supply chain.

If any of our third party service providers or any other third parties in our supply chain experience a cyber breach or system failure, their businesses may be negatively impacted, which can disrupt our end-to-end supply chain or affect our ability to fulfill customer orders, both of which could have a material adverse effect on our business. For example, in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023, we incurred charges totaling $4.4 million ($3.3 million after-tax) related to supply chain disruptions caused by a third-party vendor’s system shutdown in connection with the third party experiencing a cybersecurity incident. The vendor’s shut-down disrupted our operations and negatively impacted our ability to fulfill customer orders.

Legal, Regulatory, and Environmental Risks

If we fail to comply with the many laws applicable to our business, we may face lawsuits or incur significant fines and penalties. In addition, changes in such laws may lead to increased costs.

Our business is subject to a variety of governmental laws and regulations, including food and drug laws, environmental laws, laws related to advertising and marketing practices, accounting standards, taxation requirements, competition laws, employment laws, data privacy laws, human rights laws, and anti-corruption laws, among others, in and outside of the United States. Our operations are subject to various laws and regulations administered by federal, state, local and foreign government agencies, including, but not limited to, the United States Department of Agriculture, the Federal Food and Drug Administration, the Federal Trade Commission, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of Labor. In particular, the processing, packaging, transportation, storage, distribution, advertising, labeling, quality, and safety of food products, the health and safety of our employees, and the protection of the environment are each subject to governmental regulation. Additionally, we are subject to data privacy and security regulations, tax and securities regulations, accounting and reporting standards, and other financial laws and regulations. Our failure to comply with applicable laws and regulations could subject us to lawsuits, administrative penalties, and civil remedies, including fines, injunctions, and recalls of our products.

We may suffer losses if changes to regulations require us to change the ingredients we use or how we process, package, transport, store, distribute, advertise, or label our products or include changes that increase our risk of liability for deceptive advertising. Moreover, depending on the implementation of such regulatory changes, we could have increased risk for a product recall or have existing inventory become unsellable, which could materially and adversely impact our product sales, financial condition and operating results.

In addition, changes in applicable laws and regulations, including changes in taxation requirements and new or increased tariffs on products imported from certain countries, may lead to increased costs and could negatively affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Our operations are also subject to extensive and increasingly stringent regulations administered by the Environmental Protection Agency and similar state, local, and foreign government agencies, which pertain to the discharge of materials into the environment and the handling and disposition of wastes. Failure to comply with these regulations can have serious consequences, including civil and administrative penalties and negative publicity. Changes in applicable laws or regulations or evolving interpretations thereof, including increased government regulations to limit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions as a result of concern over climate change, may result in increased compliance costs, capital expenditures, and other financial obligations for us, which could affect our profitability or impede the production or distribution of our products, and affect our net operating revenues.

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Climate change, or legal, regulatory, or market measures to address climate change, may negatively affect our business and operations.

There is growing concern that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere may have an adverse impact on global temperatures, weather patterns, and the frequency and severity of extreme weather and natural disasters. In the event that such climate change has a negative effect on agricultural productivity, we may be subject to decreased availability or less favorable pricing for certain commodities that are necessary for our products, such as wheat, tomatoes, and a wide array of vegetables. Adverse weather conditions and natural disasters can reduce crop size and crop quality, which in turn could reduce our supplies of raw materials, lower recoveries of usable raw materials, increase the prices of our raw materials, increase our cost of transporting and storing raw materials, or disrupt our production schedules.

We may also be subjected to decreased availability or less favorable pricing for water as a result of such change, which could impact our manufacturing and distribution operations. In addition, natural disasters and extreme weather conditions may disrupt the productivity of our facilities or the operation of our supply chain. The increasing concern over climate change also may result in more regional, federal, and/or global legal and regulatory requirements including changes to energy policies, increased mandatory disclosure, carbon pricing regulations or carbon taxes. In the event that such additional regulations are enacted and are more aggressive than the climate risk mitigation measures that we are currently undertaking to monitor our emissions and improve our energy efficiency, we may experience significant increases in our costs of operation and delivery. In particular, increasing regulation of fuel emissions could substantially increase the distribution and supply chain costs associated with our products. As a result, climate change could negatively affect our business and operations.

While we continue to take important steps to strive toward mitigation of climate risk and impact on climate change, transitioning our business to adapt to and comply with evolving policy, legal, and regulatory changes may impose substantial operational and compliance burdens. As a result, climate change could negatively affect our business and operations. Collecting, measuring and analyzing information relating to such matters can be costly, time-consuming, dependent on third-party cooperation and unreliable. Furthermore, methodologies for measuring, tracking and reporting on such matters continue to change over time, which requires our processes and controls for such data to evolve as well. Additionally, we may face increased pressure from customers, consumers, investors, activists and other stakeholders to modify our products or operations away from ingredients or activities that are considered to have a higher impact on climate change. Such changes to methodologies or lack of progress (whether actual or perceived) could adversely affect our business, operations, and reputation, and increase risk of litigation.

From time to time, we establish strategies and expectations related to climate change and other environmental matters. Our ability to achieve any such strategies or expectations is subject to numerous factors and conditions, many of which are outside of our control. Examples of such factors include, but are not limited to, evolving regulatory and other standards, processes, and assumptions, the pace of scientific and technological developments, increased costs and the availability of requisite financing, market trends that may alter business opportunities, the conduct of third-party manufacturers and suppliers, constraint or disruptions to our supply chain, and changes in carbon markets or carbon taxes. We may be required to expend significant resources to achieve these strategies and expectations, which could significantly increase our operational costs. There can be no assurance of the extent to which any of our strategies or expectations will be achieved, or that any future investments we make in furtherance of achieving these strategies or expectations will meet customer or investor expectations. Failures or delays (whether actual or perceived) in achieving our strategies or expectations related to climate change and other environmental matters could adversely affect our business, operations, and reputation, and increase risk of litigation.

Cybersecurity and Information Technology Risks

Our business operations could be disrupted if our information technology systems fail to perform adequately.

We rely on information technology networks and systems, including the Internet, to process, transmit, and store information, to manage and support a variety of business processes and activities, and to comply with regulatory, legal, and tax requirements. Our information technology systems, some of which are dependent on services provided by third parties, may be vulnerable to damage, interruption, or shutdown due to any number of causes outside of our control such as catastrophic events, natural disasters, fires, power outages, systems failures, telecommunications failures, employee error or malfeasance, security breaches, computer viruses or other malicious codes, ransomware, unauthorized access attempts, denial of service attacks, phishing, social engineering, hacking, and other cyberattacks. Additionally, the increase in hybrid working where employees, including third-party employees, access technology infrastructure remotely may create additional information technology and data security risks.

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If we do not allocate and effectively manage the resources necessary to build and sustain the proper technology infrastructure and associated automated and manual control processes, we could be subject to billing, payment, and collection errors, business disruptions, or damage resulting from security breaches. If any of our significant information technology systems suffer severe damage, disruption, or shutdown, and our business continuity plans do not effectively resolve the issues in a timely manner, our product sales, financial condition, and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected, and we could experience delays in reporting our financial results. In addition, there is a risk of business interruption, violation of data privacy laws and regulations, litigation, and reputational damage from leakage of confidential information. Any interruption of our information technology systems could have operational, reputational, legal, and financial impacts that may have a material adverse effect on our business.

We are exposed to cybersecurity risk through our information systems and our use of third-party information systems.

While we have experienced threats to our data and systems, to date, we are not aware that we have experienced a breach that had a material impact on our operations or business. Cyberattacks are occurring more frequently, are constantly evolving in nature and are becoming more sophisticated. Additionally, continued geopolitical turmoil, including the Russia-Ukraine military conflict, has heightened the risk of cyberattacks. While we attempt to continuously monitor and mitigate against cyber risks, including through leveraging multi-sourced threat intelligence, investing in new technologies, and developing third-party cybersecurity risk management capability in support of strategic suppliers, we may incur significant costs in protecting against or remediating cyberattacks or other cyber incidents.

Sophisticated cybersecurity threats pose a potential risk to the security and viability of our information technology systems, as well as the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the data stored on those systems, including cloud-based platforms. In addition, new technology that could result in greater operational efficiency may further expose our computer systems to the risk of cyberattacks. Our initiatives to continue to modernize our operations, increase data digitalization and improve connectively of our production facilities may increase our potential exposure to cybersecurity risks and add additional complexity to our cybersecurity program.  Similarly, rapid development and increased adoption of artificial intelligence technology may create the need for rapid modifications to our cybersecurity program and increase our cybersecurity risks.  Additionally, the technology and techniques used in cyberattacks are constantly evolving and the pace and extent of that evolution may accelerate with the use of emerging technologies including artificial intelligence.

While we maintain a cyber insurance policy that provides coverage for security incidents, we cannot be certain that our coverage will be adequate for liabilities actually incurred, that insurance will continue to be available to us on financially reasonable terms, or at all, or that any insurer will not deny coverage as to any future claim. Increased cyber incidents, both in terms of frequency and scale, may impact the availability and cost of cyber insurance globally which may negatively impact our ability to maintain sufficient coverage. There is no assurance that the measures we have taken to protect our information technology systems will prevent or limit the impact of a future cyber incident.

We are subject to a variety of privacy and data protection laws and regulations.

Additionally, we regularly move data across national borders to conduct our operations and, consequently, are subject to a variety of laws and regulations in the United States and other jurisdictions regarding privacy, data protection, and data security, including those related to the collection, storage, handling, use, disclosure, transfer, and security of personal data, including the European Union General Data Protection Regulation, the California Privacy Rights Act, and similar laws in other countries, states and jurisdictions. Our efforts to comply with privacy and data protection laws may impose significant costs and challenges that are likely to increase over time.

Employee Risks

We rely on our management team and other key personnel.

We depend on the skills, working relationships, and continued services of key personnel, including our experienced management team. In addition, our ability to achieve our operating goals depends on our ability to identify, attract, hire, train, retain, and develop qualified individuals in the locations we need. If key employees terminate their employment, our business activities may be adversely affected by shortages of personnel with the skills, knowledge and talent that we need to effectively run and grow our business. Our business activities may also be adversely affected if we are unable to locate suitable replacements for any key employees who leave or to offer employment to potential replacements on reasonable terms.

We offer robust training and development programs to help our employees develop the skills they need. Increased employee turnover results in significant time and expense relating to identifying, recruiting, hiring, relocating and integrating qualified individuals. High employee turnover of key personnel may deplete our institutional knowledge base and erode our competitiveness.

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We compete with other companies both within and outside of our industry for talented personnel. We continue to experience increased competition for talent and at times, in recent years, have experienced periods of increased employee turnover. We could experience shortages of employees with specialized skills, such as skills in emerging technologies including artificial intelligence and data analytics, especially emerging technology enabling us to formulate our business strategies based on consumer insights. If we do not successfully compete for the best talent, our business activities may be adversely affected.

A number of factors may adversely affect the labor force available to us at our multiple locations or increase labor costs, including high employment levels, population migration, unemployment programs and subsidies, immigration laws, and other government regulations, and volatility in general macroeconomic factors impacting the labor market. Although we have not experienced any material labor shortage to date, over the past few years, we have experienced a tighter and increasingly competitive labor market. A sustained labor shortage or increased turnover rates within our employee base (or within the employee base of key suppliers or third-party manufacturers), could negatively affect our supply chain or our ability to efficiently operate our manufacturing and distribution facilities and overall business.

Our results could be adversely impacted as a result of increased pension, labor, and people-related expenses.

Our labor costs include wages and the cost of providing employee benefits including pension, health and welfare, and severance benefits. The annual cost of providing these benefits varies as a result of factors such as the availability of skilled labor, the costs of health care, and the outcome of collectively bargained wage and benefit agreements. In addition, changes in interest rates, mortality rates, health care costs, early retirement rates, investment returns, and the market value of plan assets can affect the funded status of our defined benefit plans and cause volatility in the future funding requirements of the plans. A significant increase in our wage and benefit costs, pension obligations, or future funding requirements could have a negative impact on our results of operations and cash flows from operations.

Goodwill or Other Intangible Assets Risks

Impairment in the carrying value of goodwill or other intangibles could result in the incurrence of impairment charges and negatively impact our net worth.

As of May 26, 2024, we had goodwill of $10.58 billion and other intangibles of $2.71 billion. The net carrying value of goodwill represents the fair value of acquired businesses in excess of identifiable assets and liabilities as of the acquisition date (or subsequent impairment date, if applicable). The net carrying value of other intangibles represents the fair value of trademarks, customer relationships, and other acquired intangibles as of the acquisition date (or subsequent impairment date, if applicable), net of accumulated amortization. Goodwill and other acquired intangibles expected to contribute indefinitely to our cash flows are not amortized, but must be evaluated by management at least annually for impairment. Amortized intangible assets are evaluated for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstance indicate that the carrying amounts of these assets may not be recoverable. Impairments to goodwill and other intangible assets may be caused by multiple factors including increasing competitive pressures, reduced demand for our products, disruption in our operations as a result of internal and external events including disruptions involving co-manufacturing arrangements, lower than expected revenue and profit growth rates, changes in industry earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization multiples, changes in discount rates based on changes in cost of capital (interest rates, etc.), or the bankruptcy of a significant customer. Any impairment to goodwill or other intangible assets could negatively impact our net worth.

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Securities Risks

We may not repurchase the full share repurchase value currently authorized.

The Company's total remaining share repurchase authorization as of May 26, 2024 was $916.6 million of our outstanding common stock.  This authorization does not obligate us to repurchase any shares at any time. The amount and timing of any stock repurchases will be determined based on multiple factors including stock price, liquidity, economic and market conditions. We cannot guarantee that we will continue share repurchases up to the authorized amount, and furthermore, if we do repurchase any of our stock, such action may not result in increased value for our stockholders.  

Strategic Transactions Risks

If we are unable to successfully identify, complete or realize the benefits from strategic acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures or investment, our financial results could be materially and adversely affected.

From time to time, we evaluate acquisition candidates that may strategically fit our business objectives. If we are unable to complete acquisitions or successfully integrate and develop acquired businesses, our financial results could be materially and adversely affected.

Similarly, we may consider divesting businesses that do not meet our strategic objectives or do not meet our growth or profitability targets. We may not be able to complete desired divestitures on terms favorable to us. If we do complete such desired divestitures, gains or losses on the sales of, or lost operating income from, those businesses may affect our profitability and margins.

Moreover, in connection with contemplated or completed acquisitions or divestitures, we may incur related asset impairment charges that reduce our profitability.

Our acquisition, joint venture and investment activities may present financial, managerial, and operational risks.

Our acquisition, joint venture and investment activities may present certain risks, including diversion of management attention from existing businesses, difficulties integrating personnel and financial and other systems, effective and immediate implementation of control environment processes across our employee population, adverse effects on existing business relationships with suppliers and customers, inaccurate estimates of fair value made in the accounting for acquisitions and amortization of acquired intangible assets which would reduce future reported earnings, potential loss of customers or key employees, and indemnities and potential disputes with sellers, joint venture partners and investment targets. Any of these factors could affect our sales, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Similarly, our divestiture activities may present financial, managerial, and operational risks such as diversion of management attention from existing businesses. Additionally, divestitures may present difficulties separating personnel and financial and other systems, possible need for providing transition services to buyers, adverse effects on existing business relationships with suppliers and customers and indemnities and potential disputes with the buyers and others. Any of these factors could adversely affect our product sales, financial condition, and results of operations.

Intellectual Property Risks

Our intellectual property rights are valuable, and any inability to protect them could have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Our intellectual property rights, including our trademarks, licensing agreements, trade secrets, patents, and copyrights, are a significant and valuable aspect of our business. We attempt to protect our intellectual property rights by pursuing remedies available to us under trademark, copyright, trade secret, and patent laws, as well as entering into licensing, third-party nondisclosure and assignment agreements and policing of third-party misuses of our intellectual property. If we fail to adequately protect the intellectual property rights we have now or may acquire in the future, or if there occurs any change in law or otherwise that serves to reduce or remove the current legal protections of our intellectual property, then our financial results could be materially and adversely affected.

Certain of our products are sold under licensing arrangement with others, including our licensing arrangement with Dolly Parton, and our licenses of the P.F. Chang’s^®, Bertolli^®, Wendy’s^®, and Libby’s^® trademarks. Additionally, we have licensed certain of our intellectual property rights to third parties, such as Alexia^® and Marie Callender’s^®. While many of these licensing arrangements

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are perpetual in nature, others must be periodically renegotiated or renewed pursuant to their terms. If in the future we are unable to renew such a licensing arrangement pursuant to its terms and conditions, or if we fail to renegotiate such a licensing arrangement, then our financial results could be materially and adversely affected.

There is also a risk that other parties may have intellectual property rights covering some of our brands, products, or technology. If any third parties bring a claim of intellectual property infringement against us, we may be subject to costly and time-consuming litigation, diverting the attention of management and our employees. If we are unsuccessful in defending against such claims, we may be subject to, among other things, significant damages, injunctions against development and sale of certain products, or we may be required to enter into costly licensing agreements, any of which could have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

None.

ITEM 1C. CYBERSECURITY

Risk Management and Strategy

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Assessing, Identifying and Managing Material Risks

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Our cybersecurity program is focused on assessing, identifying, and managing risks arising out of our use of information technology including the risk of cybersecurity incidents and threats. Our program is informed by recognized frameworks (such as the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology Cybersecurity Framework) and leverages external and internal expertise. Our program is integrated into our operations and is widely communicated to employees through annual employee and contractor cybersecurity awareness training, regular awareness exercises, and employee outreach activities including cybersecurity tech talks, on-site digital signage, intranet resources, CEO cybersecurity champion recognition at quarterly town hall meetings, and other targeted communications. These awareness measures are coupled with ongoing implementation of technology aimed to reduce vulnerabilities (including external testing and validation) and to monitor and assess threats. Our program includes monitoring on an ongoing basis by automated tools that detect threats and trigger alerts for assessment, investigation, and remediation by our internal cybersecurity team.

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Integration with Enterprise Risk Management

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The cybersecurity program is an important part of the Company’s enterprise risk management (ERM), with our Senior Vice President & Chief Information Officer serving on our ERM Committee and our Vice President of ERM serving as the strategic crisis management coordinator under our cybersecurity incident response plan. We have developed processes for managing cybersecurity incidents including clear allocation of responsibilities and defined incident classifications, escalation requirements based on materiality, and prioritization parameters. Our cybersecurity incident response plan is integrated into our ERM Committee risk mitigation action plan process, our Senior Leadership Team (SLT) strategic crisis management action plan process, and our Disclosure Committee protocol for cybersecurity incidents. We also maintain business continuity and disaster recovery plans to prepare for potential information technology disruptions.

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Cybersecurity Program Components

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Our cybersecurity program structure consists of our cybersecurity operations center; identity and access management; governance, risk, and compliance; architecture; and operational technology. Aspects of our program include:  

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Learnings from these activities are used to inform our training, guide our incident response preparedness and enhance our plans and processes.  We have also participated in discussions with third-party service providers who have experienced cybersecurity incidents to inform our cybersecurity program.

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Investment in Cybersecurity Program

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The cybersecurity threat landscape is dynamic and volatile, and requires significant investment on the part of the Company in terms of investing in our employees through talent recruitment, retention, training and development, investing in external resources including procuring and deploying the correct tools to monitor, evaluate, and address threats, investing employee resources to maintain effective processes, and investing in strategic relationships to monitor evolving risks including third-party service provider vulnerabilities. While our third-party services providers have experienced cybersecurity incidents and we have experienced threats to our data and systems, to date, we are not aware that we have experienced a breach that had a material impact on our operations or business, however, cybersecurity risks that may materially impact the Company are discussed in more detail in Item 1A of Part I, “Risk Factors,” under the heading “Cybersecurity and Information Technology Risks,” which should be read in conjunction with the foregoing information.

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Governance

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General

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Our management is responsible for identifying, assessing, and managing our exposure to cybersecurity risk. Management identifies and assesses risks through its cross functional ERM committee that is responsible for:

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Our Board of Directors and its Audit / Finance Committee play an active part in overseeing cybersecurity risks relevant to the Company. The Board and its Audit / Finance Committee routinely receive reports from our management and external advisors on critical risk areas.

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Management

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The Company maintains a dedicated internal cybersecurity team that is supported by internal and external software, third-party experts, and threat intelligence resources.  Members of our cybersecurity team provide cybersecurity reports to our Board, SLT, and cross-functional leaders and teams.  The internal cybersecurity team is responsible for implementing our cybersecurity strategy including policies, standards, architecture, and processes including our processes for identifying cybersecurity risks and threats and recommending mitigating actions to strengthen cybersecurity resilience. In addition, our internal cybersecurity team is responsible for managing detection, mitigation, and remediation of all cybersecurity incidents.

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Conagra’s Cybersecurity Team is led by our Chief Information Security Officer (CISO). Our CISO, a certified information security professional, has over 25 years of cybersecurity leadership experience across multiple industries and holds a Doctor of Science (DSc) degree in Cybersecurity. The CISO reports to our Chief Information Officer (CIO), who has been with Conagra for more than 20

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years serving in various leadership roles in information technology, finance, and business services. We believe our CIO possesses a firm understanding of the Company’s cybersecurity landscape, risks, and knowledge of the capabilities of our cybersecurity and information systems personnel.    

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Additionally, members of our internal cybersecurity team have experience in cybersecurity risk management, threat monitoring, threat emulation, penetration testing, cyber incident response management, and data protection. Team members have both individual responsibilities and a team focus, and manage both internal and third-party cybersecurity risk mitigation, covering areas such as network, endpoint device, and e-mail security as well as operations and threat management, monitoring, and response. Our CISO, CIO and CFO are responsible for determining that the Company has appropriate people, process and technology capabilities to identify, mitigate and report on cybersecurity risks to the SLT and Board of Directors.

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Our cybersecurity incident response plan provides that our ERM, strategic crises management coordinator is informed about significant cybersecurity incidents for escalation to our internal Incident Disclosure Committee, SLT, and Board, as appropriate in accordance with our strategic crisis management action plan. Our cybersecurity incident response team is responsible for maintaining our cybersecurity incident response plan, which is periodically tested through our tabletop exercises. We have involved outside experts, our strategic crises management coordinator, members of our SLT, and members of our Incident Disclosure Committee in our tabletop exercises and preparedness drills to strengthen these response plans.

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Additionally, our Corporate Cybersecurity Steering Committee, chaired by the CISO and whose members include our Senior Vice President, Corporate Controller (our principal accounting officer), as well as other members of the information technology, finance, supply chain, security and facilities, research and development, product, human resources, and legal teams, meets regularly to provide a forum for senior leaders and key stakeholders to strengthen their understanding and strategize on managing cybersecurity challenges at the Company.  

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Board of Directors and its Audit/Finance Committee

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Our Board and its Audit/Finance Committee exercises oversight over our enterprise risk management including our cybersecurity program. The Audit/Finance Committee receives updates from our CIO or CISO at each of its regularly scheduled meetings regarding matters related to information technology and cybersecurity including the state of the Company’s cybersecurity programs, emerging cybersecurity developments and threats, and the Company’s strategy to mitigate cybersecurity risks. Additionally, our full Board receives reports on our cybersecurity program at least annually which includes a review of our cybersecurity incident response plans which are described above.

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ITEM 2. PROPERTIES

Our headquarters are located in Chicago, Illinois. Other general offices, shared service centers, and product development facilities are located in Nebraska and the District of Columbia. We also lease a limited number of domestic sales offices. International general offices are located in Canada, Mexico, Panama, and the Philippines.

We maintain a number of stand-alone distribution facilities. In addition, there are warehouses at most of our manufacturing facilities.

Utilization of manufacturing capacity varies by manufacturing plant based upon the type of products assigned and the level of demand for those products. Management believes that our manufacturing and processing plants are well maintained and are generally adequate to support the current operations of the business.

As of July 11, 2024, we had 39 domestic manufacturing facilities located in Arkansas, California, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Washington, and Wisconsin. We also have international manufacturing facilities in Canada and Mexico, and interests in the ownership of international manufacturing facilities in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Mexico.

We own most of our manufacturing facilities. However, a limited number of plants and parcels of land with the related manufacturing equipment are leased. Substantially all of our transportation equipment and forward-positioned distribution centers containing finished goods are leased or operated by third parties.

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The majority of our manufacturing assets are shared across multiple reporting segments. Output from these facilities used by each reporting segment can change over time. Therefore, it is impracticable to disclose them by segment.

ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

For information on legal proceedings, please refer to Note 16 “Contingencies,” to the Consolidated Financial Statements contained in this report.

ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES

Not applicable.

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PART II

ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS, AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

Our common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, where it trades under the ticker symbol: CAG. At June 23, 2024, there were approximately 12,260 stockholders of record.

Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers

No shares of common stock were purchased during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024.

ITEM 6. [RESERVED]

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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The following discussion and analysis is intended to provide a summary of significant factors relevant to our financial performance and condition. The discussion and analysis should be read together with our consolidated financial statements and related notes in Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data. Results for the fiscal year ended May 26, 2024 are not necessarily indicative of results that may be attained in the future.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

The information contained in this report includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Examples of forward-looking statements include statements regarding our expected future financial performance or position, results of operations, business strategy, plans and objectives of management for future operations, and other statements that are not historical facts. You can identify forward-looking statements by their use of forward-looking words, such as “may”, “will”, “anticipate”, “expect”, “believe”, “estimate”, “intend”, “plan”, “should”, “seek”, or comparable terms.

Readers of this report should understand that these forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance or results. Forward-looking statements provide our current expectations and beliefs concerning future events and are subject to risks, uncertainties, and factors relating to our business and operations, all of which are difficult to predict and could cause our actual results to differ materially from the expectations expressed in or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties, and factors include, among other things: risks associated with general economic and industry conditions, including inflation, reduced consumer confidence and spending, recessions, increased energy costs, supply chain challenges, labor shortages, and geopolitical conflicts; risks related to our ability to deleverage on currently anticipated timelines, and to continue to access capital on acceptable terms or at all; risks related to the Company’s competitive environment, cost structure, and related market conditions; risks related to our ability to execute operating and value creation plans and achieve returns on our investments and targeted operating efficiencies from cost-saving initiatives, and to benefit from trade optimization programs; risks related to the availability and prices of commodities and other supply chain resources, including raw materials, packaging, energy, and transportation, weather conditions, health pandemics or outbreaks of disease, actual or threatened hostilities or war, or other geopolitical uncertainty; risks related to our ability to respond to changing consumer preferences and the success of our innovation and marketing investments; risks associated with actions by our customers, including changes in distribution and purchasing terms; risks related to the effectiveness of our hedging activities and ability to respond to volatility in commodities; disruptions or inefficiencies in our supply chain and/or operations; risks related to the ultimate impact of, including reputational harm caused by, any product recalls and product liability or labeling litigation, including litigation related to lead-based paint and pigment and cooking spray;  risks related to the seasonality of our business; risks associated with our co-manufacturing arrangements and other third-party service provider dependencies; risks associated with actions of governments and regulatory bodies that affect our businesses, including the ultimate impact of new or revised regulations or interpretations including to address climate change or implement changes to taxes and tariffs; risks related to the Company’s ability to execute on its strategies or achieve expectations related to environmental, social, and governance matters, including as a result of evolving legal, regulatory, and other standards, processes, and assumptions, the pace of scientific and technological developments, increased costs, the availability of requisite financing, and changes in carbon pricing or carbon taxes; risks related to a material failure in or breach of our or our vendors’ information technology systems and other cybersecurity incidents; risks related to our ability to identify, attract, hire, train, retain and develop qualified personnel; risk of increased pension, labor or people-related expenses; risks and uncertainties associated with intangible assets, including any future goodwill or intangible assets impairment charges; risk relating to our ability to protect our intellectual property rights; risks relating to acquisition, divestiture, joint venture or investment activities; the amount and timing of future dividends, which

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remain subject to Board approval and depend on market and other conditions; the amount and timing of future stock repurchases; and other risks described in our reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). We caution readers not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements included in this report, which speak only as of the date of this report. We undertake no responsibility to update these statements, except as required by law.

The discussion that follows should be read together with the consolidated financial statements and related notes contained in this report. Results for fiscal 2024 are not necessarily indicative of results that may be attained in the future.

EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW

Conagra Brands, Inc. (the “Company”, “Conagra Brands”, “we”, “us”, or “our”), headquartered in Chicago, is one of North America’s leading branded food companies. We combine a 100-year history of making quality food with agility and a relentless focus on collaboration and innovation. The company’s portfolio is continuously evolving to satisfy consumers’ ever-changing food preferences. Conagra’s brands include Birds Eye^®, Duncan Hines^®, Healthy Choice^®, Marie Callender’s^®, Reddi-wip^®, Slim Jim^®, Angie’s^® BOOMCHICKAPOP^®, and many more.

Fiscal 2024 Results

Fiscal 2024 performance compared to fiscal 2023 reflected a decrease in net sales, with organic (excludes the impacts of foreign exchange) decreases in our Grocery & Snacks and Refrigerated & Frozen segments, partially offset by increases in our International and Foodservice segments. The overall decrease in net sales was primarily due to lower consumption trends, consumer behavior shifts, and strategic trade investment as consumers continue to adapt to the current environment of new reference prices. Overall gross profit increased primarily as a result of higher productivity, lower transportation costs, and lower inventory write-offs, which were partially offset by input cost inflation, lower net sales, and unfavorable operating leverage. Excluding items impacting comparability, overall segment operating profit increased in our Grocery & Snacks, International, and Foodservice segments, which was more than offset by a decrease in our Refrigerated & Frozen segment. Corporate expenses were lower primarily due to lower share-based payment expense and items impacting comparability, as discussed below. Selling, general and administrative ("SG&A") expenses were higher due primarily to items impacting comparability and higher payroll and incentive compensation expense. We recognized lower equity method investment earnings, higher interest expense, and higher income tax expense, in each case compared to fiscal 2023. Excluding items impacting comparability, our effective tax rate was slightly lower compared to fiscal 2023.

Diluted earnings per share were $0.72 and $1.42 in fiscal 2024 and 2023, respectively. Diluted earnings per share were affected by lower net income as well as several significant items affecting the comparability of year-over-year results (see “Items Impacting Comparability” below).

Trends Impacting our Business

Our industry continues to be impacted by commodity cost fluctuations, labor cost inflation, input cost inflation, supply chain disruptions, and other global macroeconomic challenges. While in recent years we experienced material increases to input costs and supply chain disruptions, during fiscal 2024, we experienced a moderate amount of input cost inflation and increased supply chain stability, which we expect to continue throughout fiscal 2025.

We also have experienced a reduction to our volumes due to lower consumption trends seen throughout the industry and consumer behavior shifts, including retail channel preferences. We expect consumer trends to continue to evolve and our volumes to improve over time, however, economic pressures on consumers, including the challenges of high inflation, may continue to negatively impact our volumes throughout fiscal 2025. We will continue to evaluate the evolving macroeconomic environment to take action to mitigate the impact on our business, consolidated results of operations, and financial condition.

Items Impacting Comparability

Items of note impacting comparability of results for fiscal 2024 included the following:

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Items of note impacting comparability of results for fiscal 2023 included the following:

Segment presentation of gains and losses from derivatives used for economic hedging of anticipated commodity input costs and economic hedging of foreign currency exchange rate risks of anticipated transactions are discussed in the segment review below.

SEGMENT REVIEW

We reflect our results of operations in four reporting segments: Grocery & Snacks, Refrigerated & Frozen, International, and Foodservice.

Grocery & Snacks

The Grocery & Snacks reporting segment principally includes branded, shelf-stable food products sold in various retail channels in the United States.

Refrigerated & Frozen

The Refrigerated & Frozen reporting segment principally includes branded, temperature-controlled food products sold in various retail channels in the United States.

International

The International reporting segment principally includes branded food products, in various temperature states, sold in various retail and foodservice channels outside of the United States.

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Foodservice

The Foodservice reporting segment includes branded and customized food products, including meals, entrees, sauces, and a variety of custom-manufactured culinary products that are packaged for sale to restaurants and other foodservice establishments primarily in the United States.

Presentation of Derivative Gains (Losses) from Economic Hedges of Forecasted Cash Flows in Segment Results

Derivatives used to manage commodity price risk and foreign currency risk are not designated for hedge accounting treatment. We believe these derivatives provide economic hedges of certain forecasted transactions. As such, these derivatives are generally recognized at fair market value with realized and unrealized gains and losses recognized in general corporate expenses. The gains and losses are subsequently recognized in the operating results of the reporting segments in the period in which the underlying transaction being economically hedged is included in earnings. In the event that management determines a particular derivative entered into as an economic hedge of a forecasted commodity purchase has ceased to function as an economic hedge, we cease recognizing further gains and losses on such derivatives in corporate expense and begin recognizing such gains and losses within segment operating results, immediately. See Note 17, “Derivative Financial Instruments”, to the Consolidated Financial Statements contained in this report for further discussion.

Presentation of Information

Below is a detailed discussion and comparison of our results of operations for the fiscal years ended May 26, 2024 and May 28, 2023. For a discussion of changes from the fiscal year ended May 29, 2022 to the fiscal year ended May 28, 2023, refer to Part II, Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended May 28, 2023 (filed July 13, 2023).

Fiscal 2024 compared to Fiscal 2023

Net Sales

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Net sales for fiscal 2024 in our Grocery & Snacks segment included a decrease in volumes of 3.1% compared to fiscal 2023 primarily due to the elasticity impact from inflation-driven pricing actions and lower consumption trends seen throughout the industry. Price/mix increased by 2.6% compared to fiscal 2023 primarily due to favorable brand mix and favorability in inflation-driven pricing, partially offset by an increase in strategic trade investments. In fiscal 2023, we had a product recall primarily related to our Armour Star^® brand, which resulted in a $7.8 million reduction to net sales for customer returns and fees in addition to estimated lost sales of approximately $40 million.

Net sales for fiscal 2024 in our Refrigerated & Frozen segment included a decrease in volumes of 4.1% compared to fiscal 2023 primarily due to lower consumption trends seen throughout the industry partially offset by the impacts of our strategic trade investments. Price/mix decreased by 1.5% compared to fiscal 2023 primarily attributable to an increase in strategic trade investments slightly offset by favorability in inflation-driven pricing that was implemented in the prior year.

Net sales for fiscal 2024 in our International segment reflected a 2.9% increase due to favorable foreign exchange rates, a 2.6% increase in volumes, and a 2.1% increase in price/mix, in each case compared to fiscal 2023. The increase in volumes was driven by growth in our Mexico business compared to fiscal 2023. The increase in price/mix was primarily due to favorability in inflation-driven pricing that was implemented in the prior year.

Net sales for fiscal 2024 in our Foodservice segment included an increase in price/mix of 6.7% compared to fiscal 2023, reflecting inflation-driven pricing. Volumes decreased by 5.7% compared to fiscal 2023. The decrease in volumes was driven by the ongoing impact of lost business, ongoing softness in restaurant traffic, and the elasticity impact from inflation-driven pricing actions.

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SG&A Expenses (Includes general corporate expenses)

SG&A expenses totaled $2.48 billion for fiscal 2024, an increase of $291.1 million compared to fiscal 2023. SG&A expenses for fiscal 2024 reflected the following:

Items impacting comparability of earnings

Other changes in expenses compared to fiscal 2023

SG&A expenses for fiscal 2023 included the following items impacting the comparability of earnings:

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Segment Operating Profit (Loss) (Earnings before general corporate expenses, pension and postretirement non-service income, interest expense, net, income taxes, and equity method investment earnings)