CHICAGO — Volume improved sequentially at Conagra Brands, Inc. in the third quarter ended Feb. 25, but it still declined 1.8% when compared to the previous year’s third quarter. Volume declines were 6.6% in the first quarter and 2.9% in the second quarter.

Net income of $309 million, equal to 64¢ per share on the common stock, marked a 10% decrease from $342 million, or 72¢ per share, in the previous year’s third quarter. The decrease was driven primarily by a 37% increase, to $387 million in the quarter, in selling, general and administrative expenses.

“Everybody wants to see volumes go in the right direction,” said Sean M. Connolly, president and chief executive officer, in an April 4 earnings call. “I think companies and investors are 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 and getting the volume results that you want to see?

“And that’s what was particularly encouraging to me in the quarter is 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.”

Net sales in the third quarter decreased 1.7% to $3.03 billion from $3.09 billion. Organic net sales dropped 2% as investments largely drove a 0.2% negative impact from price/mix and lower consumption trends drove the decrease in volume.

“As the environment for pricing is well behind us, much like most of their peers, volume growth comes into focus for Conagra,” said John Oh, analyst at global research firm Third Bridge. “While their 3Q earnings show good progress in certain areas such as grocery and snacks, our experts indicate that due to the significant amount of pricing that has been taken over the past year, volume growth overall will still be challenging.”

Within Conagra’s Refrigerated & Frozen segment, sales fell 8.1% to $1.20 billion as price/mix decreased 4.8% and volume decreased 3.3%. The decline in price/mix mostly was due to investments in the frozen food business. Conagra gained dollar share in several categories, including frozen sides, frozen single-serve meals, frozen breakfast and frozen seafood.

“We are outperforming the (frozen food) market on a volume basis amidst what’s been a challenging volume environment overall,” Connolly said in pre-recorded comments issued April 4. “We realized a one-point unit share gain in the total category with single-serve meals, sides and desserts driving the increase and strong performance from some of our biggest and most strategic brands like Healthy Choice, Banquet, P.F. Chang’s Home Menu and Marie Callender’s.”

Conagra investments are coming in frozen vegetables, including the Birds Eye brand.

“In terms of Birds Eye and vegetables, vegetables is one of the categories where, earlier in the year, we saw consumers exhibit value-seeking behaviors,” Connolly said in the earnings call. “So, for example, we saw some trade down from fresh 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.”

Within the Grocery & Snacks segment, net sales increased 3.4% to $1.29 billion due to a price/mix increase of 4.2%, which was offset partially by a volume decrease of 0.8%. Conagra gained dollar share in snacking and staples categories, including chili, pudding, microwave popcorn, seeds and canned meat.

Declining tomato prices, increased volume in canned meat after a recall in the previous year’s third quarter and innovation in Wendy’s chili all benefited the segment, Mr. Connolly said in the earnings call.

“So overall, our grocery brands are great consumer options for people who are seeking to make convenient meals at a great value,” he said.

In International, sales increased 4.6% to $272 million, which reflected a 3.6% increase from a favorable foreign exchange impact and a 1% increase in organic net sales. In Foodservice, sales dipped 1% to $273 million as volume declines of 4.8% offset a price/mix increase of 3.8%.