The company is focused on reinvesting in the business through capital expenditures, including capacity expansions for Hormel Fire Braised products, Applegate products, and the Jiaxing, China, facility. These investments are aimed at driving growth, innovation, cost savings, automation, and maintenance.

The Company completed the sale of its equity interests in Hormel Health Labs, LLC, resulting in a pre-tax gain of $3.9 million. This divestiture is part of the company's strategy to focus on core businesses.

The company anticipates organic net sales growth of 1-3% in fiscal 2025, driven by higher volumes, growth in key categories and markets, higher brand support and innovation, market-based pricing actions, and current raw material cost assumptions.

The Company made meaningful progress on its multi-year Transform and Modernize (T&M) initiative, which is expected to deliver long-term value to the organization. The company expects fiscal 2025 to be a year of acceleration in its T&M initiative.

Selling, general, and administrative (SG&A) expenses increased due to higher employee-related expenses and higher consulting fees related to the Company's T&M initiative. This indicates potential challenges in managing costs effectively.

Despite experiencing supply chain disruptions and inflationary pressures, the company maintained a strong financial position and expects its T&M initiative to deliver cost savings in fiscal 2025.

The Company's business may be adversely affected by changes in national or global economic conditions, including inflation, interest rates, tax rates, and consumer spending rates. Decreases in consumer spending rates and shifts in consumer product preferences could also negatively impact the Company.

The Company may be adversely impacted if it is affected by cybersecurity attacks, security breaches, or other IT interruptions, involving its own systems or those with whom it does business. Cyber incidents are occurring more frequently across U.S. industries and are being made by groups and individuals with a wide range of motives and expertise.

The Company is subject to risks associated with the outbreak of disease in pork and beef livestock, and poultry flocks, including African swine fever (ASF), Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), pneumo-virus, Porcine Circovirus 2 (PCV2), Porcine Reproduction & Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS), Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD), Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus (PEDv), and Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI).

The Company faces competition from a variety of sources, including other national brands, private label producers, and producers of alternative meats and protein sources, including pork, beef, turkey, chicken, fish, nuts, nut butters, whey, and plant-based proteins.

Market demand for the Company's products may fluctuate, including due to private label products and lower-priced alternatives. The factors on which the Company competes include price, product quality and attributes, brand identification, breadth of product line, and customer service.

The Company faces risks related to its ability to respond to changing consumer preferences, diets and eating patterns, including through its innovation and marketing investments. Consumer preferences for food products are impacted by a variety of factors, including convenience, flavor variety and developments in options for weight management.

The Company expects its Transform and Modernize (T&M) initiative to deliver cost savings in fiscal 2025, targeting the procurement of ingredients and supplies, logistics, and production costs.

Cost of products sold for the fourth quarter and full year of fiscal 2024 decreased due to lower sales. Cost of products sold per pound increased one percent in fiscal 2024, driven primarily by product mix changes and inflationary pressures, partially offset by cost savings from the Company's T&M initiative.

In fiscal 2025, raw material costs for pork, beef, and nuts are anticipated to be above historical levels. Feed costs are expected to be lower as compared to the prior year. The Company is anticipating normalized levels of inflation for employee, packaging, and production related expenses.

The Company plans to continue capital expenditure investments including investments for data and technology related to its T&M initiative and capacity expansions for Hormel Fire Braised products, Applegate products and the Jiaxing, China, facility.

The Company also relies on a variety of third-party service providers to support its operations. Disruption in services from third-party service providers used to support business functions such as benefit plan administration, payroll processing, information technology (IT) and cloud computing services could have a negative impact on the Company's business.

The Company may be adversely affected if it fails to timely replace legacy technologies. The Company has been evolving its IT infrastructure but continues to rely on a variety of legacy technologies across its business.

The Company returned a record amount of cash to shareholders in the form of dividends. Dividends paid to shareholders were a record $615 million. The annual dividend for 2025 will be $1.16 per share, representing an increase of 3 percent and marking the 59th consecutive year of dividend increases.

The Company regularly engages in construction and other capital improvement projects with a focus on value-added capacity projects and automation, as well as projects to support regulatory requirements, maintenance needs, and cost-reduction opportunities.

During fiscal 2023, the Company repurchased 310,000 shares of its common stock for $12 million. The Company is authorized to repurchase 3,677,494 shares of common stock as part of an existing plan approved by the Company's Board of Directors.

The Company is subject to stringent environmental regulations and potentially subject to environmental litigation, proceedings, and investigations. The Company's past and present business operations and the Company's ownership and operation of real property are subject to stringent international, federal, state, and local environmental laws and regulations pertaining to the discharge of materials into the environment and the handling and disposition of wastes.

The Company has developed, publicly announced, and had validated through the Science Based Targets initiative, goals to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. The Company's ability to achieve its greenhouse gas emissions goals, and its other environmentally focused goals set forth in its 20 by 30 Challenge, is subject to numerous factors and conditions, many of which are outside of its control.

Demand for the Company's products is also affected by competitors' promotional spending, the effectiveness of the Company's advertising and marketing programs, and consumer perceptions, including those related to food trends such as sustainability of product sources and animal welfare.

The Company's foreign operations pose additional risks to the Company's business. The Company operates its business and markets its products internationally. The Company's foreign operations are subject to the risks described above, as well as risks related to fluctuations in currency values, foreign currency exchange controls, compliance with foreign regulations and tax laws, compliance with applicable U.S. laws, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and other economic or political uncertainties.

Government regulation, present and future, exposes the Company to potential sanctions and compliance costs that could adversely affect the Company's business. The Company's operations, and those of its suppliers, are subject to extensive regulation in the U.S. and abroad, by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, international, federal, and state taxing authorities and other international, federal, state, and local authorities.

Climate change may also cause decreased availability of, or less favorable pricing for, water, which could have an adverse effect on the Company's financial results, operations, and supply chain. In addition, natural disasters and extreme weather, including those caused by climate change, have caused and could continue to cause disruption in the Company's operations and supply chain and increases in property insurance premiums.