MINNEAPOLIS — Despite lower sales in its North America Retail business, General Mills Inc. said it strengthened market share in 6 of its top 10 US categories during the fiscal 2025 first quarter.

Net sales for North America Retail fell 2% on a reported and an organic basis for the quarter ended Aug. 25., reflecting a 3% decrease in volume that was partially offset by a 1% uptick in price/mix, according to General Mills. Sales were flat for US Meals & Solutions but down by 5% in US snacks and by 3% for US Morning Foods. Canadian sales rose 3% and were up 6% in constant currency.

However, the Minneapolis-based food company said its North America Retail share was flat or improved in snack bars, refrigerated dough, desserts, hot snacks, soup and fruit snacks.

“With strong plans focused on delivering remarkable experiences to consumers throughout our biggest brands, we’re starting to see improvement in our competitiveness across our business,” said Jeffrey Harmening, chairman and chief executive officer. “In North America Retail, our market share trends in the first quarter were improved over fiscal ’24 in 6 of our top 10 US categories. We’ll look to continue that improvement in Q2 through scaled cross-category merchandising events, improved customer service levels and strong seasonal activations on Pillsbury refrigerated dough, Progresso soup and Betty Crocker desserts.”

In a Sept. 18 conference call with analysts, Harmening cited Pillsbury refrigerated dough and Gushers fruit snacks as among product areas where General Mills expects to make further progress.

“With refrigerated dough, we have some phenomenal advertising coming up in the second quarter using the (Pillsbury) Doughboy,” he said. “We have lots of product news in that category, launching some new products. So I would anticipate our dough business to get better in the second quarter. We’ll see about share. Our market share in dough is already about 75% or so. The key to dough is really just to grow it. I have a high degree of confidence in our plans as we look forward. We’ll see what they yield, but our dough business I feel good about.”

Fruit snacks stand to get a boost going forward from additional production capacity. General Mills’ brands in that category include Fruit Roll-Ups, Fruit by the Foot and Gushers.

“And then (in) fruit snacks, we’re bringing additional capacity starting in the second quarter, particularly for our Gushers business, which has been capacity constrained,” Harmening said. “We have some really good new products, especially in Gushers, also coming in the second quarter. But as we move through the year, I would expect us to see improvement in our fruit snacks business.”

In response to an analyst question, Harmening said General Mills’ pending sale of its North American yogurt business — a $2.1 billion deal with Lactalis Group and Sodiaal unveiled last week — won’t have any cross-category effect on its cereal business in breakfast foods.

“I wouldn’t see an impact on cereal from that divestiture,” he noted.

“There’s not a category strategy when it comes to yogurt and cereal,” Harmening explained. “They both participate in a lot of the morning occasion. So those are the things they have in common, as well as a combination of taste good and good for you. But there’s not broader implication with our retailers, there’s not a broader implication on insights.”

Meanwhile, in its North American foodservice segment, General Mills said it lifted market share with educational and health care institutions, while its bread platform gained more traction at in-store bakeries.

“In North America Foodservice, we continued to drive growth and market share gains in Q1 on cereal, biscuits and frozen baked goods in key away-from-home channels where consumer traffic has been growing, including K-12 schools, health care, and colleges and universities,” Harmening said about first-quarter results. “And we sustained our strong momentum on bread in in-store bakeries.”

General Mills North America Foodservice offers products ranging from cereal, baked goods and snacks to baking ingredients and mixes, flour, pizza and meals to educational institutions, health care organizations, restaurants, convenience outlets, bakeries and distributors, among other customers.