General Mills Targets $3B in Cost Cuts Amid Consumer Slump

General Mills has laid out a plan to cut $3 billion in costs through fiscal 2030, unveiled alongside fiscal fourth-quarter results that topped Wall Street estimates. The company posted adjusted earnings per share of $0.95 against a forecast of $0.81, with revenue of roughly $4.6 billion narrowly ahead of expectations. Management said the savings, split between about $2 billion in Holistic Margin Management initiatives and $1 billion in transformation and other efficiency work, are meant to offset inflation, fund reinvestment, and restore earnings and cash flow growth.

The push comes as GIS navigates a prolonged consumer spending slump that has pressured volumes across its cereal, snacks and pet food portfolio. Shoppers have traded down to private-label alternatives and pulled back on discretionary grocery spending, while GLP-1 weight-loss drug adoption has added a longer-term question mark over demand for calorie-dense packaged foods. General Mills expects roughly $750 million of the total savings to land in fiscal 2027, the first year of the four-year program, giving it room to absorb persistent input-cost inflation.

A key piece of the growth side of the plan is protein innovation, which management has framed as central to reversing declining organic sales. The company is preparing protein-enhanced Cheerios variants delivering 8 grams of protein per serving, entering the granola category with chocolate, honey nut and apple cinnamon flavors, and expanding Nature Valley's protein lineup alongside new offerings at Annie's, Old El Paso and its Blue Buffalo, Tiki Cat and Blue Tastefuls pet food brands. Investors will be watching whether these launches can reaccelerate volume growth enough to offset the cuts needed just to keep earnings flat, and whether the cost program crowds out marketing or innovation spend elsewhere in the portfolio.