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Conagra Brands (CAG 0.68%)
Q3 2024 Earnings Call
Apr 04, 2024, 9:30 a.m. ET
Contents:
- Prepared Remarks
- Questions and Answers
- Call Participants
Prepared Remarks:
Operator
Good day and welcome to the Conagra Brands third quarter fiscal year 2024 earnings conference call. All participants will be in a listen-only mode. [Operator instructions] After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. [Operator instructions] Please note, this event is being recorded.
I would now like to turn the conference over to Melissa Napier, SVP, investor relations. Please go ahead.
Melissa Napier -- Senior Vice President, Investor Relations
Good morning. Thank you for joining us today for our live question-and-answer session on today's results. Once again, I'm joined this morning by Sean Connolly, our CEO; and Dave Marberger, our CFO. We may be making some forward-looking statements and discussing non-GAAP financial measures during this session.
Please see our earnings release, prepared remarks, presentation materials, and filings with the SEC, which can all be found in the investor relations section of our website for more information, including descriptions of our risk factors, GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliations, and information on our comparability items. Operator, please introduce the first question.
Questions & Answers:
Operator
The first question today comes from Andrew Lazar with Barclays. Please go ahead.
Andrew Lazar -- Barclays -- Analyst
Great. Thanks so much. Good morning, everybody.
Sean Connolly -- Chief Executive Officer
Good morning.
Dave Marberger -- Chief Financial Officer
Good morning.
Andrew Lazar -- Barclays -- Analyst
Good morning. I guess, Sean, based on scanner data, most expected, I think, some upside in grocery and snacks and maybe a bit more weakness in refrigerated and frozen. This dynamic was certainly more extreme, I think, in the quarter than I think many had modeled. So, I guess, in grocery and snacks, Conagra had about a 4% benefit from price mix, and that was, you know, well ahead of what we'd thought.
So, curious kind of what drove that. And then in refrigerated and frozen, you talked about success in single-serve meals, but trying to, you know, corroborate how we sort of marry that with the 8% organic sales decline in that segment? And maybe that's more of a function of refrigerated, you know, versus frozen in some way. So, those two aspects would be really helpful.
Sean Connolly -- Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, let me unpack all of that for you, Andrew. As I said in the prepared remarks, things unfolded very much in line with what we expected. And as you heard us say, our investments in frozen have driven a nearly 7-point swing in our scanner volume from Q1 to the most recent four weeks, where volume came in down a fairly modest 1.2%. So, very strong progress in frozen overall, which is important because that's been the focus of our investment.
What you're seeing and the reason for the optics being a bit confusing is the reason the R&F segment in total numbers don't show the same magnitude of inflection is noise in the refrigerated part of the business, which was, by the way, also consistent with what we anticipated. Recall, our refrigerated businesses are predominantly pass-through categories and one of the rare areas in our portfolio where we've actually experienced deflation and rolled back prices accordingly, as pass-through categories do. And while, you know, that creates some short-term volatility in dollars until it's in the base as deflation passes through, importantly, margins are preserved due to the lower COGS. The other dynamic that I'll point out there in R&F is, in addition to that piece, our table spreads business benefited in Q3 a year ago due to a large competitor having a particularly weak quarter due to supply chain challenges.
So, that's kind of some color on R&F and why the divergence between frozen and refrigerated. With respect to grocery and snacks segment, we also expected a solid quarter in the G&S segment, and we got it. And there were several factors there, from pricing in tomatoes to bounce back in canned meat like chili, Vienna sausage, where, you know, remember, we had a recall in the year-ago period, but also strong innovation like our new Wendy's chili, where we've grown significant market share. So, overall, our grocery brands are great consumer options for people who are seeking to make convenient meals at a great value.
It's also a good mix for us. But I think the big picture is one of the benefits of a scale, diversified portfolio is that, as they say, there are horses for courses. So, you -- you're inherently hedged when the macro environment is less stable than normal. Big picture for us, I like the volume momentum we saw in Q3, I like what I've seen so far in Q4, and I expect further progress from here.
Andrew Lazar -- Barclays -- Analyst
Got it. Got it. Then I guess, just lastly, it's -- you know, obviously, volumes in the quarter we're still down, but a sequential improvement, and that's obviously what the expected step-up in investment spend. So, I guess, you know, you kind of talked to this a little bit, but how would you characterize like the current volume momentum and would you expect volume trends to inflect positively, you know, by the time we get to the start of FY '25 or are dynamics still such, in the broader industry, that that's a little bit hard to peg right now? Thank you.
Sean Connolly -- Chief Executive Officer
Well, it's one of the reasons why, you know, we're looking at this so closely. It's one of the reasons why I referenced the most recent four-week scanner data and frozen being down a mere 1.2. We obviously are seeing and expect to continue to see further progress. You know, we're not going to draw the line in the sand and say, you know, this is the month, this is the day where it's going to cross over.
You know, next quarter, obviously, when we give '25 guidance and have our annual operating plans fully rolled up, we'll give you that color. But, you know, it's moving in the right direction. That's the bottom line. I mean, this is a food thing.
Everybody wants to see volumes go in the right direction. I think companies and investors are, you know, willing to see investment in order to do that. But what I think people want to see overall is can you hold your gross margins while you're making those investments in getting the volume results that you want to see. And that's what was particularly encouraging to me in the quarter is we pretty much got -- we made the investments we intended to make, we got the volume improvements that we wanted to see, we've got continued volume progress into Q4, and we've done all this while maintaining, even expanding, gross margins that we worked very hard to kind of claw back after the initial compression from all the huge inflation we experienced a couple of years ago.
So, you know, that, I think, is a positive, and I think it foreshadows just continued momentum from here.
Andrew Lazar -- Barclays -- Analyst
Thank you.
Operator
The next question comes from Ken Goldman with J.P. Morgan. Please go ahead.
Ken Goldman -- JPMorgan Chase and Company -- Analyst
Hi. Thanks and good morning. I just wanted to ask a quick question about 4Q. Your implied guidance might suggest around minus 2% in organic sales growth.
It's pretty similar to what you posted in 3Q. You know, some might say it's a little prudent, though, just given you do have an easier comparison both on one-, two-, three-, and four-year basis, just looking that through. You have the lapping of the Americold issue. So, I'm just curious if it's right to think that's a little bit prudent or there may be, you know, some offsets that maybe a little bit of a less of a help from mix perhaps.
Just throwing that out there. Just trying to get a bit of color on those building blocks as you think about that.
Sean Connolly -- Chief Executive Officer
Ken, I'll make a -- just a quick overall comment and flip it to Dave. But, you know, after the last nine months of kind of elongated volume recovery, our posture has been one of let's lean toward prudent because, you know, the macro environment's been more volatile than I think anybody expected. And so, that's been our posture. That's why we didn't bake in anything heroic in our back half plans.
And I think that will continue to be our posture until we see a macro that is just inherently bouncier than it's been. But it's going in the right direction, and that's good. And I think we're in the -- I like the way we're set up for Q4. Dave, do you want to make any additional comments on Ken's points?
Dave Marberger -- Chief Financial Officer
No, I think you pretty much hit it. I mean, Ken, we're expecting sequential volume improvement, and we've been talking about that and we've seen it through Q3, but we also expect to continue investing. So, obviously, both of those things impact the top line. And you referenced mix.
You know, we do have mix impacts in this portfolio and they can be, you know, slightly positive or slightly negative any quarter. So, you know, as Sean mentioned, we want to be prudent, but, you know, they're the three key drivers that get us to the -- you know, toward the low end of the sales guidance range for the year.
Sean Connolly -- Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. And just to also to think about it this way, too, Ken is, you know, our fiscal ends in May, which is kind of an odd month. But, you know, what's happening for us in May is our new innovation is rolling into the marketplace. We are focused at that point of the year always on the next fiscal year and how do we build momentum in the next fiscal and big events like Fourth of July, back to school.
And so, you know, we're really getting so late in the year now that a lot of our attention is focused on getting these annual operating plans finalized and trying to set up next year to be as strong as possible, including around, you know, key dates and holidays and things like that.
Ken Goldman -- JPMorgan Chase and Company -- Analyst
And then while we're talking about next year, and thank you for that, I realize it's too soon to provide any kind of quantitative numbers. I wouldn't ask for them -- or quantitative information rather. But at CAGNY, you said you're doing what you can to be as close as possible to be on algo, and I was just curious, you know, where your level of confidence on that topic stood today, how you're thinking about maybe balancing what might continue to be a challenging consumer environment, I guess, with, you know, maybe what also could be some friendly top-line comparisons, progress on cost savings, cash flow, and so forth. Just trying to think directionally how you guys are thinking about that now.
Sean Connolly -- Chief Executive Officer
Well, I -- you know, you were 100% right. We will give you our complete and total view of fiscal '25 on our next call. I think, for this call, I think the key messages to our investors are we are getting momentum on the volume line. We are moving kind of toward that Mendoza Line here that everybody wants to see us cross over at some point.
Exactly when that happens, as you've heard from other companies, I think you'll get more perspective on that in the coming months as people finalize their plans. That will be true of us. But, you know, make no mistake about it, we've been watching the consumer for their readiness to kind of reestablish, well, you know, their typical behaviors, and we've said we're willing to kind of nudge them along if we see that readiness. And so, we've been methodical in not only monitoring their readiness but putting the investment out there to nudge them and measuring the response we -- very carefully.
And we're getting a good response. We're getting close. You know, it's not as if the momentum is slowing. If anything, it accelerated in the last quarter.
So, I think all I can say at this point is I like the setup. We just have to continue to do more of what we've been doing, continue to drive it, which is that mindset of volume is important but so is protecting margin. And that's, you know, one of the things in our materials today that you saw is why our supply chain team is so important. You know, that work we've got going on in supply chain to really maximize cost savings provides critical fuel for growth, and, you know, we expect that to continue.
And that's how -- you know, ultimately, over the long haul, that's how we're going to drive volumes back positive again. We've got a really tremendous stuff going on in the supply chain. We have cost savings right now. And as you saw in our chief supply chain officer, Ale Eboli's presentation at CAGNY, we are on track to implement our connected shop floor program in half our facilities in the next couple of years, and that is outstanding performance overall.
If you look across the industry, that's a leading position in the industry, and that will be key to margin expansion going forward. And so, we're very excited about that work and the legs that it still has in front of us.
Operator
The next question comes from David Palmer with Evercore. Please go ahead.
David Palmer -- Evercore ISI -- Analyst
Good morning, guys. A question on frozen. I'm curious, particularly on frozen entrees, what's your thought there about a return to growth in sales in that business? And if there's any sort of juxtaposition that you would make between frozen entrees and frozen vegetables and how you view the challenges and opportunities for each on returning to growth? Thanks.
Sean Connolly -- Chief Executive Officer
Sure. David, you saw in the presentation today that in Q3 of '24, our frozen single-serve meal business achieved over a 51% market share, which is up 1.7 points versus a year ago. And if you remember Tom McGough's comments from CAGNY, we have just -- we've become the leading frozen food producer in the United States largely because of the success we've had in frozen single-serve meals over the last five years. So, our performance there continues to be stellar and we continue to gain share.
And by the way, you know, I've made the comment many times that we under-index as a company in terms of competing with private label. Nowhere is that truer than in frozen single-serve meals. So, for example, the entire size of private label in frozen single-serve meals is 1.8 points. Our business is 51.2 points in market share.
And in fact, our growth in market -- unit market share in the last quarter was 1.7 points, which is almost the total equivalent of private label. So, we like our position -- our market -- in the market structure there. We like our brands, and we feel great about it. And it's been a growth juggernaut for us for the last five years, and I see no reason why that won't continue.
In terms of Birds Eye in vegetables, vegetables is one of the categories where, earlier in the year, we saw consumers exhibit value-seeking behaviors. So, for example, we saw some trade-down from fresh to frozen -- and frozen vegetables to canned vegetables despite the obvious quality trade-offs. But Birds Eye is also one of the businesses that we are investing against, with a clear focus on the superior relative value of frozen vegetables versus other choices. In fact, the advertising we're running now is directly comparative, as I mentioned to you previously, and features the clear benefit of our stay fresh flash freezing process, which basically freezes time for the consumer and keeps our vegetables at the peak of freshness until the consumer is ready.
So, it's a clear advantage. And in the most recent four weeks of scanner data, Birds Eye grew overall share even though our focus is really on the value-added tier. So, we've got investments there. We've got momentum there.
And it's an important brand, and you're not going to see us slow down on the marketing support and the innovation front.
David Palmer -- Evercore ISI -- Analyst
You know, I just wanted to follow up on Ken's question, maybe one way to ask how -- is what ways are you going to be really reviewing your business in the coming months as you contemplate how you're going to be guiding fiscal '25? Is it simply just, you know, volumes getting closer to flat overall in the business or are there any areas of the business you would be particularly focused on that you will be -- that will really help you think about how you guide for '25? Thanks.
Sean Connolly -- Chief Executive Officer
Well, I think -- the way I think about it principally, David, is we are an ROI-minded management team. We are not bashful about putting investments out there to support our brands if they drive the impact that we want to see in the marketplace, which, in turn, drives the return on investment. So, where we are in our typical annual operating planning process is, you know, brand by brand, looking at the market fundamentals on what's happening within the brand dynamics, the competitive dynamics, the category, what do we know about the need for those consumers in those categories to have some kind of stimulus to kind of nudge them back to their normal behaviors, and what kind of lifts can we expect. So, we do that on a brand-by-brand basis, and that ultimately leads to our investment profile.
So, we're in the midst of that right now. We are -- we've obviously run a lot of what you might consider to be test markets starting in Q2 in terms of those investments and understanding what those ROIs are, and we're racking it up right now. But I think what's encouraging is we are seeing responsiveness and we are seeing good ROI, and I think that, you know, bodes well going forward.
David Palmer -- Evercore ISI -- Analyst
Thank you.
Operator
The next question comes from Chris Carey with Wells Fargo. Please go ahead.
Chris Carey -- Wells Fargo Securities -- Analyst
Hi. Good morning. One thing that did stand out was that the inflation impact to margins did get a little bit worse quarter over quarter. Can you just expand on that if that's driven by commodities, non-commodities? I think you mentioned tomatoes with respect to some incremental pricing.
Just any context on what is driving that and if there are any nuances?
Sean Connolly -- Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, I'll make a quick comment, Chris, and flip it to Dave. You know, obviously, inflation has slowed, but we're still in an overall inflationary environment. And some things, more recently, have inflated, and that has led to taking some price. So, you get the benefit of that.
But it also -- you know, there's a lag effect. So, we've kind of taken you all through that -- the mechanics of how that works. And that's part of it, right, is you get -- when you get new inflation, you take new pricing, you got a bit of a lag effect, so you get a little bit of margin pressure in the early days while you're waiting for that to get reflected and then you see a pretty rapid inflection from that point on. So, that may be a piece of it.
Dave, do you want to add more color?
Dave Marberger -- Chief Financial Officer
Yeah, just a little color. So, Chris, yeah, we -- you know, our inflation rate as a percentage of cost of goods sold for the quarter was 2.9%, which drove the 1.9% margin impact that you see in the materials. So, we're still on track for -- we said full year approximately 3%. We're still on track for that.
Maybe a tick above that. But, you know, the inflationary areas, you mentioned tomatoes, we've talked about that. We've taken pricing. That was a big driver of the price mix in grocery and snacks for the quarter.
We've also seen inflation and more broadly in vegetables, in different ingredients and sweeteners, starches. You know, we have some inflationary areas. These things ebb and flow. We still -- and we've talked about this in the past.
We still have inflation in our manufacturing operations, both with our labor and overhead. And transportation, you know, is relatively flat, a little bit inflationary. So, we're pretty much in line. It is slightly higher.
But generally, we're managing it to the full year expectation.
Chris Carey -- Wells Fargo Securities -- Analyst
OK. Perfect. Just -- and then a follow-up regarding the comment on pricing, just, you know, you mentioned tomatoes, among other things, in the grocery and snacks business. How would you characterize the positive pricing there in the quarter? Was that, you know, due to, you know, anomalies in the base period, anomalies in the quarter itself, or are we looking at what appears to be a more durable positive price mix for that division from here on new pricing or lingering pricing, which is now being fully reflected in the P&L? Thank you very much.
Dave Marberger -- Chief Financial Officer
Yeah, I mean, we obviously got -- the biggest benefit was from the tomato pricing, and we saw the expected benefits there. The elasticities were good and in line with what we expected. We also did have the benefit of mix in the quarter. So, our price mix, which was a little over 4% for the quarter, we did get a benefit of mix, which contributed as well.
And so, you know, a lot of our businesses in grocery and snacks are, you know, progressing as we expected, and so that's driving a good mix for us. So, that was part of the equation as well in the quarter.
Chris Carey -- Wells Fargo Securities -- Analyst
OK. All right. Thank you.
Operator
The next question comes from Alexia Howard with Bernstein. Please go ahead.
Alexia Howard -- AllianceBernstein -- Analyst
Good morning, everyone.
Sean Connolly -- Chief Executive Officer
Good morning.
Dave Marberger -- Chief Financial Officer
Good morning, Alexia.
Alexia Howard -- AllianceBernstein -- Analyst
OK. So, can I ask to begin with just about the productivity improvements in the food service channels? It seemed as though they were particularly strong this quarter. Is that likely to continue going forward?
Sean Connolly -- Chief Executive Officer
It was definitely a strong margin performance for food service. They -- you know, there's been a little bit of weakness in traffic in food service, but I'd say, overall, it was a very good quarter. And I think, you know, that is just an example of the productivity and total cost savings performance we expect across the portfolio, Alexia. So, food service has opportunities, but we've also got opportunities across the international business and the retail business in the U.S.
as well. So, we expect strong continued cost savings performance across the total portfolio.
Alexia Howard -- AllianceBernstein -- Analyst
Great. Thank you. And then can I just hone in on private label in the frozen vegetable area? There seems to be some confusion out here about whether private label is becoming more of a problem just broadly or whether it's actually still fairly contained. Is there anything that you're seeing in terms of private label, either in frozen vegetables or more broadly, that would suggest it's becoming more of an issue, or is it really that, you know, it's the supply chain challenges have been overcome on the private label side but there doesn't seem to be any major red flags or anything on the horizon?
Sean Connolly -- Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, let me kind of frame that up for you so you've got the big picture of how that works. Overall, as a company, we under-index, as I mentioned a few minutes ago, versus private label. That is obviously category-specific. So, there are some categories that have more private label.
A good example is canned tomatoes, where you've basically got Hunts, you've got private label, and then you've got some kind of regional brands that are smaller in the area. One of the other categories where there is a larger piece of private label is frozen vegetables. But as you think about vegetables more broadly, vegetables are sold frozen, they're sold in the produce section, and they're sold in the canned food section in the center of the store, and there's been a lot of movement between that as value-seeking behaviors have been out there. And one of that has been actually about, you know, six months ago, some trade out of frozen into canned and we're seeing that come back.
Within frozen vegetables, Alexia, there are -- there's kind of the commodity vegetable tier and then there's the more premium steamer and then value-added tier, which is sauce, season, and things like that. For the last two years, we have been focused on building our business and our innovation pipeline in the premium value-added space and actually pulling back on the commodity veg space, doing more value over volume, as you've heard us talk before. And the reason for that is because that's a lower-margin business. Not surprisingly, it's more commodity-oriented.
So, there's a role for us to play or there's a -- that business plays a role for us as a company in terms of overhead absorption in our vegetable plants. But our aspiration is not to be, you know, the world leaders and fastest growers in commodity veg tier within frozen because, you know, that's just arguably a bit of a misuse of our resources that we can -- people and otherwise put elsewhere because there's not much of a profit pool there. So, you know, it's important for us to maintain a certain scale of business there for overhead absorption purposes, but that is not strategically where we play. When we look at frozen vegetables, we are looking, and you can see it in our innovation pipeline, in more premium products and more value-added tier.
Alexia Howard -- AllianceBernstein -- Analyst
Great. Thank you very much. I'll pass it on.
Operator
The next question comes from Rob Dickerson with Jefferies. Please go ahead.
Rob Dickerson -- Jefferies -- Analyst
Great. Thanks so much. Sean, just, I guess, you know, a question specific to frozen. You know, we -- it sounds like the ROIs, you know, on the investment -- on the investments have been attractive.
You seem very kind of upbeat and, you know, encouraged to the momentum on the business. But at the same time, you know, when we think about kind of what's happened in the quarter, it doesn't really seem like a lot of that was driven necessarily by kind of upside, so to speak, you know, within that volume component within refrigerated and frozen. So, I'm just curious, like, you know, as you speak to those investments, you know, are we talking kind of more promotional activity? You're doing better and better pack and bigger pack sizes. Just trying to gauge, you know, kind of what's like your perspective as to why the ROIs are good and kind of what you're doing right because, optically, as we look at the number in the segment, you know, which does include refrigerated, you know, it's not really better and there was, I think, a little bit of an easier compare? So, I'm just trying to gauge -- get a little bit more color on that one piece.
Sean Connolly -- Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, I think to not get too twisted up in the optics of the combined R&F segment, if you look at I think it was Page 10 of our presentation today, which was consumption in our consumer domains, that's really the key kind of evidence point of what we're seeing from our investments. So, our investments have been heavily skewed toward frozen, as I mentioned, because that's a very strategic business for us. And that line -- that consumption line there in terms of volume change has moved from minus 7.8% in Q1 of fiscal '24 to minus 2.8% in Q3 '24. And in the most recent -- in the first month of the fourth quarter, that number is about a minus 1.2%.
So, that's -- when I referenced the nearly 7-point swing in consumption that we've seen over the last couple of quarters, that's precisely what I'm talking about. And that is a very, very meaningful move in terms of the category. I think you'll be hard-pressed to find a bigger move more broadly in food. What is creating the noise in the R&F segment data is the refrigerated, which I don't have here for you broken out, volumes, dollars in the absolute, which is a function of two things that I referenced.
One is the rollback in prices because of the deflationary categories there and also the wrap that we had in one of our -- in our table spreads business. So, that's really what's behind that. But the movement in the volume is the basis for the ROI comment that I made, and you can see how that movement has come out. It's been very material and continues to be.
Rob Dickerson -- Jefferies -- Analyst
And then just a quick question on gross margin, very simplistically. You know, clearly, we heard all your comments and prepared remarks around productivity, efficiencies, got a little bit more pricing in grocery and snacks. It's all positive. But I'm just curious, like, what changed relative to coming out of Q2, right, in early January? Because I think the commentary there previously for the year was gross margin would probably be similar back half maybe relative to Q2, but now, it seems like it'll clearly be better in the back half relative to Q2, and that kind of took place over the course of two months.
So, it seems like something changed to the upside, just like to know what. That's all. Thanks.
Dave Marberger -- Chief Financial Officer
Yeah, Rob. So, I think you'd agree that if you'd look over the last six quarters, there's been a lot of volatility in our supply chain. And so, you know, when forecasting gross margin, we want to be -- we want to make sure that we're considering, you know, all scenarios around operations. The fact of the matter is that if you look a year ago, we had a lot of -- we still had a lot of things going on in the supply chain with some recalls and some other challenges that we had that did impact the profitability.
So, as Sean talked about, you know, our core productivity programs are on track. We're focused on the projects we're executing. So, we're really seeing that benefit. You know, the inflation still coming in.
We're still investing, and you see those as part of margin. And we still have a headwind from absorption so -- because the volumes are down. And importantly, we're driving inventory down, so our production in our plants has been down, and we're managing that. That's been a headwind.
But we haven't had any other disruptions like we've had the last couple of years in supply chain given the environment that, you know, now, we're able to -- we're really encouraged that we're able to make -- fund the investments we want to fund and execute our productivity programs and drive, you know, the gross margins that we're looking for. So, you know, one quarter doesn't make a year, but, you know, we're really encouraged by what we saw this quarter, and we're going to build on it.
Rob Dickerson -- Jefferies -- Analyst
All right. Super. Thanks, Dave. Appreciate it.
Dave Marberger -- Chief Financial Officer
Yup.
Operator
[Operator signoff]
Duration: 0 minutes
Call participants:
Melissa Napier -- Senior Vice President, Investor Relations
Andrew Lazar -- Barclays -- Analyst
Sean Connolly -- Chief Executive Officer
Dave Marberger -- Chief Financial Officer
Ken Goldman -- JPMorgan Chase and Company -- Analyst
David Palmer -- Evercore ISI -- Analyst
Chris Carey -- Wells Fargo Securities -- Analyst
Alexia Howard -- AllianceBernstein -- Analyst
Rob Dickerson -- Jefferies -- Analyst
