UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

_______________________

FORM 10-K

_______________________

(Mark One)

☒ ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended September 30, 2021

or

☐ TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

Commission file number: 1-35305 

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POST HOLDINGS, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

_______________________

Missouri			45-3355106
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)			(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)
2503 S. Hanley Road	St. Louis	Missouri	63144
(Address of principal executive offices)			(Zip Code)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (314) 644-7600

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Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Title of each class	Trading Symbol(s)	Name of each exchange on which registered
Common Stock, $0.01 par value	POST	New York Stock Exchange

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

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Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.    ☒  Yes   ☐ No

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act.    ☐  Yes    ☒  No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    ☒  Yes    ☐  No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files).    ☒  Yes   ☐  No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

Large accelerated filer	☒	Accelerated filer	☐
Non-accelerated filer	☐	Smaller reporting company	☐
		Emerging growth company	☐

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act).    ☐  Yes    ☒  No

The aggregate market value of the registrant’s Common Stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant as of March 31, 2021, the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter, was $5,433,797,774.

Number of shares of Common Stock, $0.01 par value, outstanding as of November 15, 2021: 62,543,115

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Certain portions of the registrant’s definitive proxy statement for its 2022 annual meeting of shareholders, to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days after September 30, 2021, are incorporated by reference into Part III of this report.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Statements		1
Risk Factors Summary		3
PART I
Item 1.	Business	5
Item 1A.	Risk Factors	15
Item 1B.	Unresolved Staff Comments	35
Item 2.	Properties	35
Item 3.	Legal Proceedings	36
Item 4.	Mine Safety Disclosures	36
PART II
Item 5.	Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Shareholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities	37
Item 6.	[Reserved]	38
Item 7.	Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations	39
Item 7A.	Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk	60
Item 8.	Financial Statements and Supplementary Data	62
Item 9.	Changes in and Disagreements With Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure	119
Item 9A.	Controls and Procedures	119
Item 9B.	Other Information	119
Item 9C.	Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections	119
PART III
Item 10.	Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance	120
Item 11.	Executive Compensation	120
Item 12.	Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Shareholder Matters	120
Item 13.	Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence	120
Item 14.	Principal Accountant Fees and Services	120
PART IV
Item 15.	Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules	120
Item 16.	Form 10-K Summary	124
Signatures		125

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CAUTIONARY STATEMENT ON FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Forward-looking statements, within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, are made throughout this report, including statements regarding the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on our businesses and our continuing response to the COVID-19 pandemic. These forward-looking statements are sometimes identified from the use of forward-looking words such as “believe,” “should,” “could,” “potential,” “continue,” “expect,” “project,” “estimate,” “predict,” “anticipate,” “aim,” “intend,” “plan,” “forecast,” “target,” “is likely,” “will,” “can,” “may” or “would” or the negative of these terms or similar expressions elsewhere in this report. Our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on management’s current views and assumptions and involve risks and uncertainties that could affect expected results. Those risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the following:

•the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, including negative impacts on our ability to manufacture and deliver our products, workforce availability, the health and safety of our employees, operating costs, demand for our foodservice and on-the-go products, the global economy and capital markets and our operations generally;

•our high leverage, our ability to obtain additional financing (including both secured and unsecured debt), our ability to service our outstanding debt (including covenants that restrict the operation of our businesses) and a downgrade or potential downgrade in our credit ratings;

•disruptions or inefficiencies in our supply chain, including as a result of our reliance on third parties for the supply of materials for and the manufacture of many of our products, pandemics (including the COVID-19 pandemic) and other outbreaks of contagious diseases, labor shortages, fires and evacuations related thereto, changes in weather conditions, natural disasters, climate change, agricultural diseases and pests and other events beyond our control;

•significant volatility in the cost or availability of inputs to our businesses (including freight, raw materials, energy and other supplies);

•our ability to hire and retain talented personnel, increases in labor-related costs, the ability of our employees to safely perform their jobs, including the potential for physical injuries or illness (such as COVID-19), employee absenteeism, labor strikes, work stoppages and unionization efforts;

•our ability to continue to compete in our product categories and our ability to retain our market position and favorable perceptions of our brands;

•our ability to anticipate and respond to changes in consumer and customer preferences and behaviors and introduce new products;

•changes in economic conditions, disruptions in the United States (the “U.S.”) and global capital and credit markets, changes in interest rates, volatility in the market value of derivatives and fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates;

•allegations that our products cause injury or illness, product recalls and withdrawals and product liability claims and other related litigation;

•our ability to identify, complete and integrate or otherwise effectively execute acquisitions or other strategic transactions and effectively manage our growth;

•our ability to successfully execute the proposed distribution of our interest in BellRing Brands, Inc. (“BellRing”) and realize the strategic and financial benefits from the proposed transactions;

•the possibility that Post Holdings Partnering Corporation (“PHPC”), a publicly-traded special purpose acquisition company in which we indirectly own an interest (through PHPC Sponsor, LLC, our wholly-owned subsidiary), may not consummate a suitable partnering transaction within the prescribed two-year time period, that the partnering transaction may not be successful or that the activities for PHPC could be distracting to our management;

•conflicting interests or the appearance of conflicting interests resulting from several of our directors and officers also serving as directors or officers of one or more of our related companies;

•impairment in the carrying value of goodwill or other intangibles, or other-than-temporary impairment in the carrying value of investments in unconsolidated subsidiaries;

•our ability to successfully implement business strategies to reduce costs;

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•legal and regulatory factors, such as compliance with existing laws and regulations, as well as new laws and regulations and changes to existing laws and regulations and interpretations thereof, affecting our businesses, including current and future laws and regulations regarding tax matters, food safety, advertising and labeling, animal feeding and housing operations and environmental matters;

•the loss of, a significant reduction of purchases by or the bankruptcy of a major customer;

•the failure or weakening of the ready-to-eat cereal category and consolidations in the retail and foodservice distribution channels;

•the ultimate impact litigation or other regulatory matters may have on us;

•costs, business disruptions and reputational damage associated with information technology failures, cybersecurity incidents or information security breaches;

•our ability to successfully collaborate with third parties that have invested with us in 8th Avenue Food & Provisions, Inc. (“8th Avenue”) and to effectively realize the strategic and financial benefits expected as a result of the separate capitalization of 8th Avenue;

•costs associated with the obligations of Bob Evans Farms, Inc. (“Bob Evans”) in connection with the sale and separation of its restaurants business in April 2017, which occurred prior to our acquisition of Bob Evans, including certain indemnification obligations under the restaurants sale agreement and Bob Evans’s payment and performance obligations as a guarantor for certain leases;

•our ability to protect our intellectual property and other assets and to continue to use third party intellectual property subject to intellectual property licenses;

•the ability of our and our customers’, and 8th Avenue’s and its customers’, private brand products to compete with nationally branded products;

•risks associated with our international businesses;

•changes in estimates in critical accounting judgments;

•losses or increased funding and expenses related to our qualified pension or other postretirement plans;

•significant differences in our, 8th Avenue’s and BellRing’s actual operating results from any of our guidance regarding our and 8th Avenue’s future performance and BellRing’s guidance regarding its future performance;

•our, BellRing’s and PHPC’s ability to satisfy the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002; and

•other risks and uncertainties included under “Risk Factors” in Item 1A of this report.

You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee that the future results, levels of activity, performance or events and circumstances reflected in the forward-looking statements will be achieved or occur. Moreover, we undertake no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason after the date of this report to conform these statements to actual results or to changes in our expectations.

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RISK FACTORS SUMMARY

We are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, including industry and operating risks, strategic risks, financial and economic risks, legal and regulatory risks, risks related to ownership of our common stock and certain general risks, which could have a material adverse effect on our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Risks that we deem material are described under “Risk Factors” in Item 1A of this report. These risks include, but are not limited to, the following:

•Global health developments and economic uncertainty resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic have adversely impacted, are adversely impacting and could continue to adversely impact our financial and operational performance.

•We have substantial debt and high leverage, which could have a negative impact on our financing options and liquidity position and could adversely affect our businesses.

•Despite our current level of indebtedness, we may be able to incur substantially more debt, which could further exacerbate the risks related to our debt and leverage.

•The agreements governing our debt, including the indentures governing our senior notes, contain, or may in future financings contain, various covenants that limit our ability to take certain actions and also require us to meet financial maintenance tests, and failure to comply with these covenants could have a material adverse effect on us.

•Disruption of our supply chain, including as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and changes in weather conditions, could have an adverse effect on our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

•We are currently dependent upon third parties for the supply of materials for and the manufacture of many of our products. Our businesses could suffer as a result of a third party’s inability to supply materials for our products or produce our products for us on time or to our specifications.

•Increased input costs, including costs for freight, raw materials, energy and other supplies, or limited availability of such inputs could negatively impact our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

•We may not be able to operate successfully if we are unable to recruit, hire, retain and develop key personnel and a qualified and diverse workforce. In addition, temporary workforce disruptions or the inability of our employees to safely perform their jobs for any reason, including as a result of illness (such as COVID-19) or based upon shelter in place or other restrictions put in place by governmental authorities, could adversely impact our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

•We operate in categories with strong competition.

•We must identify changing consumer and customer preferences and behaviors and develop and offer products to meet these preferences and behaviors.

•Our results may be adversely impacted if consumers do not maintain favorable perceptions of our brands.

•Uncertain or unfavorable economic conditions, including as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, could limit consumer and customer demand for our products or otherwise adversely affect us.

•Our borrowing costs and access to capital and credit markets could be adversely affected by a downgrade or potential downgrade of our credit ratings.

•U.S. and global capital and credit market issues, including those that have arisen or may arise as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, could negatively affect our liquidity, increase our costs of borrowing and disrupt the operations of our suppliers and customers.

•If our products become adulterated or contaminated, or if they are misbranded or mislabeled, we might need to recall or withdraw those items and may experience product liability claims if consumers are injured.

•Our business strategy depends upon us identifying and completing additional acquisitions and other strategic transactions. We may not be able to successfully consummate favorable strategic transactions in the future. Our corporate development activities also may have an adverse impact on our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

•Our pending distribution of our interest in BellRing is subject to inherent risks.

•We are subject to a number of uncertainties while PHPC pursues a partnering transaction, which could adversely affect our businesses, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and stock price.

•Our Company has overlapping directors and management with one or more of our related companies, including PHPC, BellRing and 8th Avenue, each of which may lead to conflicting interests or the appearance of conflicting interests.

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•We may experience difficulties in integrating acquired businesses, or acquisitions may not perform as expected.

•Impairment in the carrying value of intangible assets could negatively impact our financial condition and results of operations. If our goodwill or other intangible assets become impaired, we will be required to record additional impairment charges, which may be significant.

•Violations of laws or regulations, as well as new laws or regulations or changes to existing laws or regulations or to interpretations thereof, could adversely affect our businesses.

• The loss of, a significant reduction of purchases by or the bankruptcy of a major customer may adversely affect our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. In addition, consolidation of our customer base, as well as competitive, economic and other pressures facing our customers, may hurt our volumes or profit margins.

•Our Post Consumer Brands and Weetabix segments operate in the mature ready-to-eat cereal category, and the failure or weakening of this category could materially adversely affect our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

•Pending and future litigation may impair our reputation or cause us to incur significant costs.

•Technology failures, cybersecurity incidents or corruption of our data privacy protections could disrupt our operations and negatively impact our businesses.

•Our intellectual property rights are valuable and any inability to protect them could reduce the value of our products and brands.

•Our international operations subject us to additional risks, including, among others, restrictions on the transfer of funds to and from foreign countries; unfavorable changes to tariffs, quotas, trade barriers, export or import restrictions or treaties; challenges with cross-border product distribution; increased exposure to general market conditions, political and economic uncertainty and other events outside of the U.S.; compliance with additional U.S. laws as well as laws outside of the U.S.; and the difficulty of conducting operations across diverse regions and employee bases.

•Labor strikes or work stoppages by our employees could harm our business.

•Agricultural diseases or pests could harm our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

•Actual operating results may differ significantly from our or BellRing’s guidance and our, BellRing’s and PHPC’s forward-looking statements.

Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial also may impair our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

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PART I

ITEM 1.    BUSINESS

Introduction

We are a consumer packaged goods holding company operating in the center-of-the-store, refrigerated, foodservice, food ingredient and convenient nutrition food categories. We also participate in the private brand food category, including through our investment with third parties in 8th Avenue Food & Provisions, Inc. (“8th Avenue”). Unless otherwise stated or the context otherwise indicates, all references in this Form 10-K to “Post,” “the Company,” “us,” “our” or “we” mean Post Holdings, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries.

Post is a Missouri corporation incorporated on September 22, 2011. On February 3, 2012, Post completed its legal separation via a tax free spin-off from its former parent company. On February 6, 2012, Post common stock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE”) under the ticker symbol “POST”. We operate in five reportable segments:

•Post Consumer Brands: Includes branded and private label ready-to-eat (“RTE”) cereals from the businesses of Post Foods, LLC, MOM Brands Company, LLC (“MOM Brands”), which Post acquired in May 2015, Weetabix North America (“Weetabix NA”), which Post acquired in July 2017, and the RTE cereal operations of TreeHouse Foods, Inc., which Post acquired in June 2021, as well as nut butters under the Peter Pan brand, which Post acquired in January 2021;

•Weetabix: Includes the business of Weetabix Limited, which Post acquired in July 2017, which produces and distributes branded and private label RTE cereal, hot cereals and other cereal-based food products, breakfast drinks and muesli primarily outside of North America;

•Foodservice: Includes primarily egg and potato products in the foodservice and food ingredient channels from the businesses of MFI Holding Corporation (“Michael Foods”), which Post acquired in June 2014, Willamette Egg Farms (“Willamette”), which Post acquired in October 2015, National Pasteurized Eggs, Inc. (“NPE”), which Post acquired in October 2016, Bob Evans Farms, Inc. (“Bob Evans”), which Post acquired in January 2018, Henningsen Foods, Inc., which Post acquired in July 2020, and Almark Foods (“Almark”), which Post acquired in February 2021;

•Refrigerated Retail: Provides refrigerated retail products, inclusive of side dishes, eggs and egg products, sausage, cheese and other dairy and refrigerated products, from the businesses of Bob Evans, Michael Foods, including the business of Crystal Farms Dairy Company (“Crystal Farms”), which Post acquired as a part of its acquisition of Michael Foods in June 2014, Willamette, NPE and Almark, as well as the Egg Beaters brand, which Post acquired in May 2021; and

•BellRing Brands (historically referred to as Active Nutrition): Provides products in the convenient nutrition category, including ready-to-drink (“RTD”) protein shakes, other RTD beverages, powders and nutrition bars, from the businesses of Premier Nutrition Company, LLC, which Post acquired in September 2013, Dymatize Enterprises, LLC, which Post acquired in February 2014, and the PowerBar brand, which Post acquired in October 2014, and includes Active Nutrition International GmbH, which manufactures and sells convenient nutrition products in certain international markets.

On October 21, 2019, the initial public offering of a minority interest in our historical active nutrition business was completed (the “BellRing IPO”). As a result of the BellRing IPO and certain other transactions completed in connection with the BellRing IPO (the “BellRing formation transactions”), BellRing Brands, Inc. (“BellRing”) became a holding company owning 28.8% of the non-voting membership units (the “BellRing Brands, LLC units”) of BellRing Brands, LLC and a publicly-traded company whose Class A common stock, $0.01 par value per share (the “BellRing Class A Common Stock”), is traded on the NYSE under the ticker symbol “BRBR”. Post owns 71.2% of the BellRing Brands, LLC units and one share of BellRing’s Class B common stock, $0.01 par value per share (the “BellRing Class B Common Stock”), which, for so long as Post or its affiliates (other than BellRing and its subsidiaries) directly own more than 50% of the BellRing Brands, LLC units, represents 67% of the combined voting power of the common stock of BellRing. BellRing Brands, LLC is the holding company for Post’s historical active nutrition business. Effective October 21, 2019, the financial results of BellRing and its subsidiaries are consolidated within the Company’s financial results and 28.8% of the consolidated net income (loss) and net assets of BellRing and its subsidiaries, representing the percentage of economic interest in BellRing Brands, LLC held by BellRing (and therefore indirectly held by the public stockholders of BellRing through their ownership of the BellRing Class A Common Stock), are allocated to noncontrolling interest. For additional information, refer to Note 4 within “Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements” in Item 8 of this report.

On October 26, 2021, Post entered into a Transaction Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Transaction Agreement”) providing for the distribution of a significant portion of its ownership interest in BellRing to Post’s shareholders. Pursuant to the

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Transaction Agreement, Post will contribute its share of BellRing Class B Common Stock, all of its BellRing Brands, LLC units and cash to BellRing Distribution, LLC, a newly-formed wholly-owned subsidiary of Post (“New BellRing”), in exchange for all of the then-outstanding equity of New BellRing and New BellRing indebtedness (the “BellRing Separation”). New BellRing will convert into a Delaware corporation, and Post will then distribute at least 80.1% of its shares of New BellRing common stock to Post shareholders in a pro-rata distribution, an exchange offer or a combination of both, depending on market conditions. Upon completion of the distribution of New BellRing common stock to Post shareholders (the “BellRing Distribution”), BellRing Merger Sub Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of New BellRing, will merge with and into BellRing (the “BellRing Merger”), with BellRing as the surviving corporation and a wholly-owned subsidiary of New BellRing. Pursuant to the BellRing Merger, each outstanding share of BellRing Class A Common Stock will be converted into one share of New BellRing common stock plus a to-be-determined amount of cash per share. The exact amount of cash consideration will be determined in accordance with the Transaction Agreement based upon several factors, including the amount of New BellRing indebtedness to be issued. Immediately following the BellRing Distribution and the BellRing Merger, it is expected that Post will own no more than 14.2% of the New BellRing common stock and Post shareholders will own at least 57.0% of the New BellRing common stock. Legacy holders of BellRing Class A Common Stock will own approximately 28.8% of the New BellRing common stock, maintaining their current effective ownership in the BellRing business. Post expects to use the New BellRing indebtedness and shares of New BellRing common stock to repay creditors of Post. Completion of the BellRing Separation, the BellRing Distribution and the BellRing Merger is anticipated to occur in the first calendar quarter of 2022, the second quarter of fiscal 2022, subject to certain customary closing conditions, although there can be no assurance that these transactions will occur within the expected timeframe or at all.

For additional information regarding the above-mentioned transactions, refer to “Risk Factors” within Item 1A of this report.

On May 28, 2021, Post and Post Holdings Partnering Corporation (“PHPC”), a newly formed special purpose acquisition company (a “SPAC”), consummated the initial public offering of 30.0 million units of PHPC (the “PHPC Units”), of which PHPC Sponsor, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Post (“PHPC Sponsor”), purchased 4.0 million PHPC Units. On June 3, 2021, PHPC issued an additional 4.5 million PHPC Units pursuant to the underwriters’ exercise in full of their over-allotment option. The term “PHPC IPO” as used herein generally refers to the consummation of the initial public offering on May 28, 2021 and the underwriters’ exercise in full of their over-allotment option on June 3, 2021. Each PHPC Unit consists of one share of Series A common stock of PHPC, $0.0001 par value per share (“PHPC Series A Common Stock), and one-third of one redeemable warrant of PHPC, each whole warrant entitling the holder thereof to purchase one share of PHPC Series A Common Stock at an exercise price of $11.50 per share (the “PHPC Warrants”). The PHPC IPO generated gross proceeds to PHPC of $345.0 million. The PHPC Units, PHPC Series A Common Stock and PHPC Warrants each trade on the NYSE under the ticker symbols “PSPC.U”, “PSPC” and PSPC WS”, respectively. Under the terms of the PHPC IPO, PHPC is required to consummate a partnering transaction within 24 months (or 27 months under certain circumstances) of the completion of the PHPC IPO.

In connection with the completion of the initial public offering on May 28, 2021, PHPC also entered into a forward purchase agreement with PHPC Sponsor (the “Forward Purchase Agreement”), providing for the purchase by PHPC Sponsor, at the election of PHPC, of up to 10.0 million units of PHPC (the “PHPC Forward Purchase Units”), subject to the terms and conditions of the Forward Purchase Agreement, with each PHPC Forward Purchase Unit consisting of one share of PHPC’s Series B common stock, $0.0001 par value per share, and one-third of one warrant to purchase one share of PHPC Series A Common Stock, for a purchase price of $10.00 per PHPC Forward Purchase Unit, in an aggregate amount of up to $100.0 million in a private placement to occur concurrently with the closing of PHPC’s partnering transaction.

In addition, substantially concurrently with the closing of the initial public offering on May 28, 2021, PHPC completed the private sale of 1.0 million units of PHPC (the “PHPC Private Placement Units”), at a purchase price of $10.00 per PHPC Private Placement Unit, to PHPC Sponsor, and in connection with the underwriters’ exercise in full of their option to purchase additional PHPC Units, PHPC Sponsor purchased an additional 0.1 million PHPC Private Placement Units, generating proceeds to PHPC of $10.9 million (the “PHPC Private Placement”). The PHPC Private Placement Units sold in the PHPC Private Placement are identical to the PHPC Units sold in the PHPC IPO, except that, with respect to the warrants underlying the PHPC Private Placement Units (the “PHPC Private Placement Warrants”) that are held by PHPC Sponsor or its permitted transferees, such PHPC Private Placement Warrants (i) may be exercised for cash or on a cashless basis, (ii) are not subject to being called for redemption (except in certain circumstances when the PHPC Warrants are called for redemption and a certain price per share of PHPC Series A Common Stock threshold is met) and (iii) subject to certain limited exceptions, will be subject to transfer restrictions until 30 days following the consummation of PHPC’s partnering transaction. If the PHPC Private Placement Warrants are held by holders other than PHPC Sponsor or its permitted transferees, the PHPC Private Placement Warrants will be redeemable by PHPC in all redemption scenarios and exercisable by holders on the same basis as the PHPC Warrants.

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Proceeds of $345.0 million were deposited in a trust account established for the benefit of PHPC’s public stockholders consisting of certain proceeds from the PHPC IPO and certain proceeds from the PHPC Private Placement, net of underwriters’ discounts and commissions and other costs and expenses. The public stockholders of PHPC Series A Common Stock will be entitled in certain circumstances to redeem their shares of PHPC Series A Common Stock for a pro rata portion of the amount in the trust account at $10.00 per share of PHPC Series A Common Stock held, plus any pro rata interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to PHPC to pay income taxes.

In addition, Post, through PHPC Sponsor’s ownership of 8.6 million shares of Series F common stock of PHPC, $0.0001 par value per share (“PHPC Series F Common Stock”), has certain governance rights in PHPC. These rights include that, prior to PHPC’s partnering transaction, only holders of PHPC’s Series F Common Stock have the right to vote on the election of PHPC’s directors, as well as certain class voting rights regarding amendments of PHPC’s amended and restated certificate of incorporation.

As of September 30, 2021, Post beneficially owned 31.0% of the equity of PHPC and the net income and net assets of PHPC were consolidated within Post’s financial statements. The remaining 69.0% of the consolidated net income and net assets of PHPC, representing the percentage of economic interest in PHPC held by the public stockholders of PHPC through their ownership of PHPC equity, were allocated to redeemable noncontrolling interest. PHPC intends to partner with a company in the consumer products industry that complements the experience and expertise of Post’s management team and is a business to which Post believes it can add value.

For additional information regarding the PHPC IPO and related transactions, refer to “Risk Factors” within Item 1A of this report and Note 4 within “Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements” in Item 8 of this report.

On October 1, 2018, 8th Avenue was separately capitalized by Post and third parties through a series of transactions (the “8th Avenue Formation Transactions”), and 8th Avenue became the holding company for Post’s private brand food products business, which was historically reported as Post’s Private Brands segment. After completion of the 8th Avenue Formation Transactions, Post retained 60.5% of the common equity in 8th Avenue, which, effective October 1, 2018, is accounted for using the equity method and is no longer consolidated in the Company’s financial statements. The private brands business was no longer considered a reportable segment of Post as of October 1, 2018. For additional information regarding 8th Avenue, refer to Notes 4 and 7 within “Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements” in Item 8 of this report. 8th Avenue primarily manufactures and distributes private label peanut and other nut butters, pasta, dried fruit and nut products and granola.

COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused and continues to cause global economic disruption and uncertainty, including in our business. We continue to closely monitor the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and developments related thereto and to focus on protecting the health and safety of our employees, including their economic health, maintaining the continuity of our supply chain to serve customers and consumers and preserving financial liquidity to navigate the uncertainty caused by the pandemic. As the overall economy continues to recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, labor shortages, input and freight inflation and other supply chain disruptions, including input availability (and, with respect to our BellRing Brands segment, equipment delays), are pressuring our supply chain in all of our segments, resulting in missed sales and higher manufacturing costs, most notably in our Foodservice and Refrigerated Retail segments. Lower than anticipated production and delays in capacity expansion across the broader third party shake contract manufacturer network have resulted in low inventories and missed sales in our BellRing Brands segment. Service levels and fill rates remain below normal levels, and inventories are low, resulting in the placement of certain products on allocation. For additional discussion regarding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our businesses and financial results, see “Sales, Marketing and Distribution” below and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in Item 7 and “Risk Factors” in Item 1A of this report. Also, refer to “Human Capital - COVID-19 Response” below for information regarding actions we have taken on behalf of our employees.

Our Business Model

We operate a decentralized, adaptive business model, which provides us with flexibility to pursue acquisitions and other strategic transactions. Since our formation, we have expanded and established new platforms through numerous acquisitions. Our acquisition strategy has focused on businesses with product offerings that can strengthen our current portfolio, enable us to expand into complementary categories, geographic regions or distribution channels or provide diversification of cash flows in similar channels. In addition to acquisitions, we also have pursued and completed other types of strategic transactions. For example, we separately capitalized 8th Avenue with third parties, facilitated the completion of the BellRing IPO and the PHPC IPO and announced the signing of a transaction agreement to distribute a significant portion of our interest in BellRing to Post’s shareholders.

Our Businesses

Post Consumer Brands

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Our Post Consumer Brands segment includes our North America cereal business which manufactures, markets and sells branded and private label RTE cereal and hot cereal products. According to NielsenIQ’s Total U.S. expanded All Outlets Combined (“xAOC”) information, the category was approximately $8.4 billion in sales for the 52-week period ended October 30, 2021 (“NielsenIQ’s Total U.S. xAOC information”). We have leveraged the strength of our brands, category expertise and over a century of institutional knowledge to create a diverse portfolio of cereals. Post Consumer Brands is the third largest seller of RTE cereals in the United States (the “U.S.”) with a 19.3% branded share of retail dollar sales and a 22.1% branded share of retail pound sales, based on NielsenIQ’s Total U.S. xAOC information. NielsenIQ’s Total U.S. xAOC is representative of food, drug and mass merchandisers (including Walmart), some club retailers (including Sam’s Club and BJs), some dollar retailers (including Dollar General and Family Dollar) and military. Based on sales data for fiscal 2021, Post Consumer Brands’s core brands include the following RTE cereal brands: Honey Bunches of Oats, Pebbles, Great Grains, Grape-Nuts, Honeycomb and Malt-O-Meal. Post Consumer Brands’s brand portfolio also includes, among others, the RTE cereal brands of Oreo O’s and Mom’s Best, as well as the hot cereal brands of Malt-O-Meal hot wheat, CoCo Wheats, Better Oats and Mom’s Best oatmeal. In addition, Post Consumer Brands includes the natural and organic RTE cereal and snacking platform in both branded and private label of Weetabix NA, led by the Weetabix and Barbara’s brands, serving the natural and specialty channels and conventional retailers. Post Consumer Brands also markets and sells Peter Pan nut butters, which are co-manufactured by 8th Avenue. Post Consumer Brands’s products are primarily manufactured through a flexible production platform at nine owned facilities in the U.S. and Canada.

Weetabix

Our Weetabix segment primarily markets and distributes branded and private label RTE cereal products. According to Nielsen’s ScanTrack data, the United Kingdom (the “U.K.”) cereals and breakfast drinks category was approximately £1.4 billion in sales for the 52-week period ended October 9, 2021 (“Nielsen’s ScanTrack data”). According to Nielsen’s ScanTrack data, Weetabix holds the number two overall position for branded manufacturers in the U.K. cereals and breakfast drinks category, the Weetabix brand, a core brand in Weetabix’s portfolio, holds the number one brand position in the U.K. cereals and breakfast drinks category and the Alpen brand, another core brand in Weetabix’s portfolio, was the number one muesli brand in the U.K. Nielsen’s ScanTrack data is representative of grocery, health and beauty and beverage purchases, collating data from, among others, major grocery stores, independent grocery chains, convenience stores and gas stations. Other brands in Weetabix’s portfolio include Weetos, Ready Brek and Weetabix On The Go. Weetabix’s products are primarily manufactured at three owned manufacturing facilities in the U.K. Weetabix’s main markets are the U.K. and the Republic of Ireland, where Weetabix has deep relationships with all key retailers and key players in wholesale and foodservice. Weetabix distributes products to multiple countries throughout the world mainly through a network of third party distributors in the respective markets. Weetabix also has a physical presence in the emerging markets of China and Hong Kong, mainly served through the eCommerce channel. Additionally, Weetabix has operations in Africa through two joint ventures, each of which owns a manufacturing facility.

Cereal and granola products sold by our Post Consumer Brands and Weetabix segments together contributed 37.5% to our consolidated revenue for fiscal 2021. For additional information regarding our net sales by product, refer to Note 22 within “Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements” in Item 8 of this report.

Foodservice

Through our Foodservice segment, we primarily produce and distribute egg and potato products in the foodservice and food ingredient channels. We provide a broad portfolio of egg products under several brands, with the primary brands being Papetti’s and Abbotsford Farms, and potato products under several brands, with the primary brand being Simply Potatoes; the primary brands were determined based on sales data for fiscal 2021. The Foodservice segment also manufactures certain meat products. Our operations include sixteen egg products production facilities in the U.S., some of which are fully integrated, from the maintenance of laying flocks through the processing of egg products, potato processing facilities in Maine, Minnesota and Nevada, and meat products processing and production facilities in Nebraska. Several of these production facilities also produce products for our Refrigerated Retail segment.

Refrigerated Retail

Through our Refrigerated Retail segment, we produce and distribute side dishes, eggs and egg products, sausage, cheese and other dairy and refrigerated products to retail customers. Our refrigerated side dish, potato and sausage products are sold primarily under the Bob Evans, Bob Evans Farms and Simply Potatoes brands; processing facilities for these products are located in Michigan, Ohio and Texas, as well as Maine and Minnesota, which are referenced in the Foodservice segment discussion above. Our egg products are chiefly sold under the Bob Evans Egg Whites brand, which are produced at facilities located in Arizona, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska and New Jersey, which also produce products for our Foodservice segment, as well as the Egg Beaters brand, which are manufactured under a co-manufacturing agreement at a third party facility. Our cheese and other dairy case products are sold principally under the Crystal Farms brand. In addition to utilizing third party manufacturers, we operate a facility in Wisconsin that processes and packages various cheese products for the Crystal Farms brand and for private label customers.

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Eggs and egg products sold by our Foodservice and Refrigerated Retail segments together contributed 25.0% to our consolidated revenue for fiscal 2021. For additional information regarding our net sales by product, refer to Note 22 within “Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements” in Item 8 of this report.

BellRing Brands

Our BellRing Brands segment markets and distributes RTD protein shakes, other RTD beverages, powders and nutrition bars in the convenient nutrition category. BellRing Brands’s primary brands based on fiscal 2021 sales data are Premier Protein and Dymatize. The BellRing Brands segment’s products are primarily manufactured under co-manufacturing agreements at various third party facilities located in the U.S. and Europe. BellRing Brands also owns a facility in Germany that manufactures bars and gels primarily for the European Union (the “E.U.”), Switzerland and U.K. markets. Our BellRing Brands products are primarily sold in the club, food, drug and mass and eCommerce channels, as well as the specialty and convenience channels.

Protein-based products and supplements contributed 20.0% to our consolidated revenue for fiscal 2021. For additional information regarding our net sales by product, refer to Note 22 within “Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements” in Item 8 of this report.

Sales, Marketing and Distribution

Each of our businesses has developed marketing strategies specific to its product lines. For certain of our products, we have consumer-targeted marketing campaigns, which generally include television, digital and print advertisements, coupon offers, rebate programs, co-marketing arrangements with complementary consumer product and entertainment companies and joint advertising with select retail customers. We also generally use print and digital advertising, social media and billboards, as well as more targeted grass roots programs such as sampling events and business drops, in order to increase brand awareness and loyalty at both national and local levels. Our internet and social media efforts are used to educate consumers about the nutritional value and flavor profiles of our products and for product promotion and consumer entertainment.

Our Post Consumer Brands segment sells products primarily through an internal sales staff and broker organizations. Our Weetabix segment services its key U.K. markets through a centralized commercial team which manages relationships with customers at the corporate level while a third party sales force operates at the store level to ensure maximum availability and compliance with agreed plans. Weetabix has in-country sales and marketing teams in the growth markets of Spain, the United Arab Emirates and China, and it also services emerging markets, such as China and Hong Kong, through the eCommerce channel. Our Foodservice and Refrigerated Retail segments sell and market their products primarily through dedicated teams of internal sales staff and broker organizations. Our BellRing Brands segment uses a flexible sales model that combines a national and international direct sales force, broker network and distributors.

Generally, our products are distributed through a network of third party common carriers. In addition, our Refrigerated Retail segment has internal fleets that distribute certain of its products.

Demand for our products is impacted by changes in consumer behaviors and preferences, and we have experienced, and expect to continue to experience, changes in consumer consumption patterns as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures that have been and are being taken by governments, businesses, including us, and the public at large to limit the spread, variants and resurgences of COVID-19. Our products sold through retail channels generally experienced an uplift in sales starting in March 2020 and continuing through the first half of fiscal 2021, driven by increased at-home consumption in reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, most of our retail categories exhibited a mix shift to premium products. In the second half of fiscal 2021, most of our retail channel product categories trended toward growth rates in line with their pre-pandemic levels. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, our foodservice business was significantly impacted by lower away-from-home demand resulting from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on various channels, including full service restaurants, quick service restaurants, education and travel and lodging. Since then, the recovery of our foodservice volumes has been closely tracking with changes in the degree of restrictions on mobility and gathering. Volumes in certain channels and product categories have nearly fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels. Volumes in other channels impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic have recovered from low levels experienced at the height of the pandemic, but have recently plateaued at levels below pre-pandemic volumes. In the aggregate, overall foodservice volumes remain below pre-pandemic levels. Our BellRing Brands segment’s primary categories returned to growth rates in line with their pre-pandemic levels in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020 and have remained strong in subsequent periods. We continue to actively monitor the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on our businesses; however, we are unable to accurately predict the future impact that the COVID-19 pandemic will have due to various uncertainties, including the duration, severity and spread of COVID-19, actions that may be taken by governmental authorities in response to the pandemic, the availability and adoption of effective treatments and vaccines, changes in consumer behaviors and preferences and the impact on our supply chain, operations, workforce and the financial markets.

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Research and Development

Our research and development efforts span our business segments. These capabilities extend to ingredients, packaging technologies, product sizes and delivery formats; new product and process development, as well as analytical support; bench-top and pilot plant capabilities; and research support to operations.

Raw Materials and Energy

Raw materials used in our businesses (purchased from local, regional and international suppliers) consist of ingredients and packaging materials. The principal ingredients for most of our businesses are agricultural commodities, including wheat, oats, rice, corn, other grain products, vegetable oils, dairy- and vegetable-based proteins, sugar and other sweeteners, fruit and nuts. Additionally, the principal ingredients for the Foodservice and Refrigerated Retail businesses are eggs, pork, pasta, potatoes, cheese, milk and butter. A portion of our egg needs comes from Company-owned layer hens, and the balance is purchased under third party contracts and in the spot market. We also buy significant amounts of grain to feed layer hens. In addition, we procure live sows at prevailing market prices from terminals, local auctions, country markets and corporate and family farms in various U.S. locations. Each of our segments utilizes raw material sources that ensure that its products meet standards and certification requirements, where applicable, for example, non-GMO, organic, gluten-free and/or cage-free. The principal packaging materials used by our businesses are folding cartons, corrugated boxes, flexible and rigid plastic film, trays and containers, beverage packaging, and aseptic foil and plastic lined cartonboard.

Supply availability and prices paid for raw materials can fluctuate widely due to external factors, such as pandemics (including the COVID-19 pandemic) and other outbreaks of contagious diseases, weather conditions, feed costs, labor shortages, labor disputes, governmental programs, regulations and trade and tariff policies, industry consolidation, economic climate, energy shortages, transportation delays, commodity market prices, currency fluctuations and other unforeseen circumstances, such as avian influenza and diseases affecting livestock, which could affect the domestic poultry industry and our egg supply and our sow supply, respectively. We continuously monitor worldwide supply and cost trends of these raw materials to enable us to take appropriate action to obtain ingredients and packaging needed for production.

Cereal processing ovens and most of the Foodservice and Refrigerated Retail production facilities generally are fueled by natural gas, which is obtained from local utilities or other local suppliers. Electricity and steam (generated in on-site, gas-fired boilers) also are used in our manufacturing facilities. Short-term standby propane storage exists at several facilities for use in the event of an interruption in natural gas supplies. In addition, considerable amounts of diesel fuel are used in connection with the distribution of our products, including in our internal fleet. Refrigerated Retail also uses large quantities of carbon dioxide as a cooling agent during its sausage production. Weetabix owns and operates its own combined heat and power generation unit, which is capable of supplying the majority of the requirements of its main operation site with power and steam which means the site can be operated using either electricity or natural gas.

Trademarks and Intellectual Property

We own or have long-term licenses to use a number of trademarks that are critical to the success of our businesses. Our Post Consumer Brands business’s trademarks include Post®, Post Consumer Brands®, Honey Bunches of Oats®, Great Grains®, Post® Bran Flakes, Post® Shredded Wheat, Spoon Size® Shredded Wheat, Golden Crisp®, Alpha-Bits®, Ohs!®, Shreddies™, Post® Raisin Bran, Grape-Nuts®, Honeycomb®, Frosted Mini Spooners®, Golden Puffs®, Cinnamon Toasters®, Fruity Dyno-Bites®, Cocoa Dyno-Bites®, Berry Colossal Crunch®, Malt-O-Meal®, Farina™, Dyno-Bites®, Mom’s Best®, Better Oats®, CoCo Wheats®, Peter Pan®, Weetabix®, Barbara’s® and Puffins®, each of which we own, as well as several trademarks that our Post Consumer Brands business licenses from third parties or our BellRing Brands business for use in the U.S., Canada and several other international markets, such as Pebbles®, Oreo O’s®, Chips Ahoy!®, Honeymaid®, Premier Protein® and Dunkin’®. Our Weetabix segment’s trademarks include Weetabix®, Alpen®, Weetos™, Ready Brek™, Weetabix On The Go™ and Oatibix®, each of which we own, as well as Oreo O’s®, which we license from a third party. The trademarks for the Foodservice business include Michael Foods™, Papetti’s®, Abbotsford Farms®, Simply Potatoes®, Willamette Egg Farms®, Henningsen Foods™ and Almark Foods™, each of which we own, and Just® Egg, which we license for use in North America. The trademarks for the Refrigerated Retail business include Davidson’s Safest Choice®, Abbotsford Farms®, Better’n Eggs®, Crystal Farms®, Simply Potatoes®, Diner’s Choice®, Westfield Farms®, David’s Deli®, Crescent Valley®, Owens®, Country Creek Farm® and Egg Beaters®, each of which we own, and Bob Evans® (which is used in brands such as Bob Evans® Egg Whites), Bob Evans Farms® and Pineland Farms®, which we license for worldwide use. Our BellRing Brands segment’s trademarks include BellRing®, BellRing Brands®, Premier Protein®, Premier Nutrition®, Dymatize®, ISO.100®, PowerBar® and Joint Juice®, each of which we own, as well as several trademarks that our BellRing Brands business licenses from third parties or our Post Consumer Brands business, such as Dunkin® and Pebbles®. We also own the trademark for Airly® and have submitted an application for the trademark Oat Clouds™. Our owned trademarks are, in most cases, protected through registration in the U.S. or the U.K., as well as in many other countries where the related products are sold.

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We also own several patents in North America and elsewhere. While our patent portfolio as a whole is material to our business, no one patent or group of related patents is material to our business. In addition, we have proprietary trade secrets, technology, know-how processes and other intellectual property rights that are not registered.

We rely on a combination of trademark law, copyright law, trade secrets, non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements, provisions in other agreements and other measures to establish and protect our proprietary rights to our products, packaging, processes and intellectual property.

Seasonality

Demand for certain of our products may be influenced by holidays, changes in seasons or other events, which may impact customer and consumer spending patterns and the timing of promotional activities. For example, demand for our egg products, potatoes, sausage, side dishes, butter and cheese tends to increase during the Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter and other holiday seasons, which may result in increased net sales during the first and third quarters of our fiscal year. Demand for our Malt-O-Meal hot wheat, Better Oats oatmeal and Ready Brek hot oats cereals also tends to be seasonably skewed towards the colder winter season. Demand for various products in our BellRing Brands business tends to be lower during our first fiscal quarter as a result of the holiday season. However, on a consolidated basis our revenues and results of operations generally are distributed relatively evenly over the quarters of our fiscal year. For a discussion of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which impacted demand trends for fiscal 2020 and 2021, refer to “COVID-19 Pandemic” above.

Customers

We sell Post Consumer Brands products primarily to grocery stores, mass merchandise customers, supercenters, club stores, natural/specialty stores and drug store customers. We also sell Post Consumer Brands products in the military, eCommerce and foodservice channels. Our Weetabix segment’s products are primarily sold to grocery stores, discounters, wholesalers and convenience stores and through eCommerce. Our Foodservice segment’s primary customers include foodservice distributors and national restaurant chains. Our Refrigerated Retail segment’s primary customers include grocery stores and mass merchandise customers. Our BellRing Brands segment’s customers are predominately club stores, food, drug and mass customers and online retailers, and also include specialty retailers, convenience stores and distributors.

Our largest customer, Walmart, accounted for 19.0% of our consolidated net sales in fiscal 2021. No other customer accounted for more than 10% of our fiscal 2021 consolidated net sales, but each of our segments depend on sales to large customers. For example, the largest customer of our Post Consumer Brands segment, Walmart, accounted for 29.3% of Post Consumer Brands’s net sales in fiscal 2021. The largest customers of our Weetabix segment, Tesco, Asda and Morrison, accounted for 40.4% of Weetabix’s net sales in fiscal 2021. The largest customers of our Foodservice segment, Sysco and US Foods, accounted for 32.4% of the segment’s net sales in fiscal 2021. Additionally, the largest customers of our Refrigerated Retail segment, Walmart and Kroger, accounted for 31.7% of the segment’s net sales in fiscal 2021, and the largest customers of our BellRing Brands segment, Costco and Walmart, accounted for 65.3% of the segment’s net sales in fiscal 2021. For purposes of this disclosure, “Walmart” refers to Walmart Inc. and its affiliates, which include Sam’s Club.

Competition

The consumer food and beverage and convenient nutrition categories in which we operate are highly competitive and highly sensitive to both pricing and promotion. Competition is based on, among other things, brand recognition and loyalty, taste, nutritional value, price, ingredients, product quality, variety, innovation, distribution, packaging, convenience, effective promotional activities and the ability to identify and satisfy dynamic, emerging consumer preferences. Our principal competitors in these categories may have substantial financial, marketing and other resources. In addition, in many of our product categories, we compete not only with widely advertised branded products, but also with private label and store brand products. Our principal strategies for competing in each of our segments include effective customer relationship management, category insights, superior product quality and food safety, product innovation, an efficient supply chain and competitive pricing. The industries in which we operate are expected to remain highly competitive for the foreseeable future.

Governmental Regulation and Environmental Matters

We are subject to regulation by federal, state, local and foreign governmental entities and agencies. Our activities in Canada and Europe are subject to regulations similar to those applicable to our business in the U.S. As a producer and distributor of goods for human consumption, our operations must comply with stringent production, storage, distribution, labeling and marketing standards administered by the applicable government entities, namely the Food and Drug Administration (the “FDA”), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (the “USDA”), the Federal Trade Commission and state and local agencies in the U.S., as well as similar regulatory agencies in Canada, Mexico, the U.K., the E.U. and elsewhere. Products that do not meet regulatory standards may be considered to be adulterated and/or misbranded and subject to recall. Additionally, following the adoption of the Food Safety Modernization Act in the U.S. and the Safe Foods for Canadians Act in Canada, the

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FDA and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency are implementing additional regulations focused on prevention of food contamination, more frequent inspection of high-risk facilities, increased record-keeping and improved tracing of food.

Our facilities, like those of similar businesses, are subject to certain safety regulations, including regulations issued pursuant to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Act and similar regulations in Canada, the U.K. and Germany. These regulations require us to comply with certain safety standards to protect our employees. Further, certain of our Foodservice and Refrigerated Retail operations are subject to laws that mandate specific housing requirements for layer hens and mandate specific space requirements for farm animal enclosures, including layer hens and pigs, which laws may vary on a state to state basis. As a company with international operations, we also are subject to laws, rules and regulations in the U.S. and other countries related to anti-corruption, antitrust and competition, economic sanctions and imports/exports.

In addition, our operations are subject to various federal, state and foreign laws and regulations regarding data privacy, including the General Data Protection Regulation, the E.U.’s retained law version of the General Data Protection Regulation and the California Privacy Rights Act, each of which applies to certain of our businesses and deals with the collection and use of personal information obtained from data subjects. Our operations also are subject to various federal, state, local and foreign laws and regulations with respect to environmental matters, including air quality, noise, wastewater pretreatment and discharge, storm water, waste handling and disposal and other regulations intended to protect public health and the environment.

We have made, and will continue to make, expenditures to ensure and enhance environmental compliance. While the impact of compliance with laws and regulations, including environmental laws and regulations, cannot be predicted with certainty, we currently expect that our Refrigerated Retail and Foodservice segments will incur, or continue to incur, material capital expenditures in future fiscal years to comply with recently enacted state laws regulating housing and space requirements for layer hens.

Human Capital

The Company and its consolidated subsidiaries have approximately 10,735 employees as of November 1, 2021, of which approximately 8,970 are in the U.S., approximately 1,005 are in the U.K., approximately 430 are in Canada and approximately 330 are located in other jurisdictions. As of November 1, 2021, approximately 17% of such employees were unionized. We have entered into several collective bargaining agreements on terms that we believe are typical for the industries in which we operate. Most of the unionized workers at our facilities are represented under contracts which expire at various times throughout the next several years. In general, as these agreements expire, we believe that the agreements can be renegotiated on terms satisfactory to us. Any new collective bargaining agreements could result in changes to our cost structure at the relevant facilities. We believe that overall we have good relationships with employees and their representative organizations. Approximately 60 employees at our Weetabix facilities are currently engaged in a strike due to announced changes to shift patterns and related pay rates. There is no guarantee that we will reach an agreement with the union representing these employees in a timely manner, and although production has not been materially impacted at these facilities, if an agreement is not reached, we could experience interruption in production at these facilities.

Our people are critical to our success. While each of our businesses generally operates autonomously to implement its strategies with respect to its employees, our organization aligns to provide a safe, rewarding and respectful workplace where our people are provided with opportunities to pursue career paths based on their skills, performance and potential. We adhere to our Code of Conduct, which sets forth a commitment to our stakeholders, including our employees, to operate with integrity and mutual respect.

Health and Safety

We are committed to maintaining a healthy and safe workplace for our employees. We have a comprehensive safety and risk management system in place that incorporates rigorous safety standards and practices, employee and leadership training to ensure consistent implementation of our safety protocols and periodic internal and external audits to evaluate our compliance with such policies. Through regular communications between safety teams and leaders, we strive to continuously improve and update our safety protocols and practices. Our senior leadership team and our Board of Directors receive periodic updates regarding the performance of our safety and risk management system and our risk mitigation activities.

Talent Acquisition, Development, Engagement and Retention

Acquiring, developing, engaging and retaining a diverse and talented workforce is key to accomplishing our goals and achieving business results.

In recent years, we have taken steps to enhance our talent acquisition processes across the enterprise, including implementing diversity training for recruiters, employee training on interview skills and processes to improve our candidate selection process to promote more diversity among our employees. We also have updated our careers websites and increased community outreach to enable us to reach a wider audience of candidates.

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Providing development opportunities and resources for our employees is another key factor in our human capital strategy. We offer a variety of training and development programs for employees at all levels of our organization. In addition, we leverage our learning management system for individual development plans and offer a large catalog of training resources, ranging from technical skills to communication and feedback. We also provide robust compliance and safety training for our employees.

We engage with our employees through regular engagement surveys and then act on those survey results, as needed. Employee-led groups, opportunities to participate in informal wellness activities and philanthropic work are informed by what our employees identify as important to them. We measure our progress and take additional actions, as needed. Transparent communications about the Company keep our employees informed.

Our compensation and benefits teams strive to develop and implement policies and programs that support our business goals, maintain competitiveness, promote shared fiscal responsibility among the Company and our employees, strategically align talent within our organization and reward performance, while also managing the costs of such policies and programs. We provide our employees with competitive fixed and/or variable pay, and for eligible employees we currently provide access to medical, dental and life insurance benefits, disability coverage, 401(k) plans or programs and employee assistance programs, among other benefits, through our Total Rewards program.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

We are dedicated to creating an inclusive environment that reflects the communities in which we live and work. During fiscal 2020, we formed a Diversity and Inclusion Council with representation from both our holding company and each of our businesses, the aim of which is to develop strategies and guidelines, establish objectives for diversity, equity and inclusion (“DE&I”) and create tools that can be used to align efforts and monitor and track progress.

COVID-19 Response

During fiscal 2021, as the COVID-19 pandemic has persisted, we have continued to prioritize the health, safety and well-being of our employees, including their economic health. Throughout the pandemic, we have adhered to our infectious disease preparedness and response plans, which have continually been reviewed and updated as the COVID-19 pandemic has evolved. Many of the safety measures implemented in fiscal 2020 were also utilized in fiscal 2021. At various points during fiscal 2021, these measures have included, where practicable: practicing social distancing, installing physical barriers in our manufacturing facilities and offices where social distancing was not possible, installing touchless (hands-free) appliances, deep cleaning our facilities, staggering break times and shift changes at our manufacturing locations, providing personal protective equipment, encouraging hygiene practices advised by health authorities, restricting business travel and site visitors, improving air handling units with ionization technology in our offices and implementing remote working for certain office employees. In addition, we continued to utilize third party service providers to provide on-the-ground nurses, testing and protection to our employees. We also held over 25 on-site vaccination events at our facilities. As federal, state, local and international regulations and guidelines continue to evolve, we continue to enhance our practices to remain aligned with such regulations and guidelines. Moreover, at various points during the COVID-19 pandemic, including during portions of fiscal 2021, we provided regular compensation and benefits to employees who had COVID-19, had to quarantine due to COVID-19 exposure, were awaiting COVID-19 test results or needed to provide care for their families due to COVID-19.

Available Information

We make available, free of charge, through our website (www.postholdings.com) reports we file with, or furnish to, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), including our annual reports on Forms 10-K, quarterly reports on Forms 10-Q, current reports on Forms 8-K and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish such material to, the SEC. The SEC maintains an internet site containing these reports, proxy and information statements and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC at http://www.sec.gov. Our Corporate Governance Guidelines, our Code of Conduct and the charters of the Audit and Corporate Governance and Compensation Committees of our Board of Directors also are available on our website, where they can be printed free of charge. All of these documents also are available to shareholders at no charge upon request sent to our corporate secretary (2503 S. Hanley Road, St. Louis, Missouri 63144, Telephone: 314-644-7600). The information and other content contained on our website are not part of (or incorporated by reference in) this report or any other document we file with the SEC.

Information about our Executive Officers

The section below provides information regarding our executive officers as of November 1, 2021:

Robert V. Vitale, age 55, has served as our President and Chief Executive Officer and as a member of our Board of Directors since November 2014. Previously, Mr. Vitale served as our Chief Financial Officer from October 2011 until November 2014. Mr. Vitale served as president and chief executive officer of AHM Financial Group, LLC, a diversified

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provider of insurance brokerage and wealth management services, from 2006 until 2011 and previously was a partner of Westgate Equity Partners, LLC, a consumer-oriented private equity firm. Mr. Vitale has been the executive chairman of BellRing, our publicly-traded subsidiary that manufactures products in the convenient nutrition category through its operating subsidiaries, since September 2019, is a member of the board of directors of 8th Avenue, our historical private brands business that we separately capitalized with third parties, and has been the president and chief investment officer of PHPC, our publicly-traded affiliate that is a SPAC formed for the purpose of effecting a partnering transaction with one or more businesses, since January 2021. Mr. Vitale also serves on the board of directors of Energizer Holdings, Inc., a publicly-traded manufacturer and distributor of primary batteries, portable lights and auto care appearance, performance, refrigerant and fragrance products.

Jeff A. Zadoks, age 56, has served as an Executive Vice President since November 2017 and as our Chief Financial Officer since November 2014. Mr. Zadoks previously served as our Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer from November 2014 until November 2017. Mr. Zadoks served as our Senior Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer from January 2014 until November 2014, and as our Corporate Controller from October 2011 until November 2014. Mr. Zadoks also serves as the chairman of the board of directors of PHPC, our publicly-traded affiliate that is a SPAC formed for the purpose of effecting a partnering transaction with one or more businesses. Prior to joining Post, Mr. Zadoks served as senior vice president and chief accounting officer at RehabCare Group, Inc., a leading provider of post-acute care in hospitals and skilled nursing facilities, from February 2010 to September 2011, and as vice president and corporate controller of RehabCare Group from December 2003 until January 2010.

Nicolas Catoggio, age 47, has served as President and Chief Executive Officer, Post Consumer Brands since September 2021. Mr. Catoggio has over twenty years of experience in the consumer goods industry. From 2007 to September 2021, he served in various roles at Boston Consulting Group (“BCG”), a privately owned global management consulting firm, advising clients in the consumer goods industry, most recently as managing director and senior partner from June 2021 to September 2021, and previously as managing director and partner from 2007 to May 2021. Before joining BCG, Mr. Catoggio served in various roles for eight years at Unilever PLC, a publicly-traded multinational consumer goods company, mainly in new business development, corporate strategy and finance.

Howard A. Friedman, age 51, has served as our Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, responsible for our procurement function, our food safety and environmental, health and safety teams and our environmental, social and governance initiatives, since September 2021. Previously, Mr. Friedman served as President and Chief Executive Officer, Post Consumer Brands from July 2018 to September 2021. Prior to joining Post, Mr. Friedman served as the executive vice president of the refrigerated meat and dairy business at The Kraft Heinz Company, a global food and beverage company, where he spent the majority of his more than twenty-year career.

Diedre J. Gray, age 43, has served as an Executive Vice President since November 2017 and as our General Counsel and Chief Administrative Officer since November 2014. She has served as our Corporate Secretary since January 2012. Ms. Gray previously served as our Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Chief Administrative Officer from November 2014 until November 2017. Ms. Gray served as our Senior Vice President-Legal starting in December 2011 and was promoted to Senior Vice President, General Counsel in September 2012. Prior to joining Post, Ms. Gray served as associate general counsel and assistant secretary at MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc. (now SunEdison, Inc.), a semiconductor and solar wafer manufacturing company, from 2010 to 2011. Previously, Ms. Gray was an attorney at Bryan Cave LLP (now Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP) from 2003 to 2010.

Mark W. Westphal, age 56, has served as President, Foodservice (formerly known as Michael Foods) since January 2018. Mr. Westphal previously served as Chief Financial Officer of Michael Foods for nearly ten years. Prior to joining Michael Foods in 1995, Mr. Westphal worked for Grant Thornton LLP, an audit, tax and advisory firm.

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ITEM 1A.    RISK FACTORS

In addition to the factors discussed elsewhere in this report, the following risks and uncertainties, some of which have occurred and any of which may occur in the future, could have a material adverse effect on our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Although the risks below are organized by heading, and each risk is described separately, many of the risks are interrelated. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial also may impair our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Industry and Operating Risks

Global health developments and economic uncertainty resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic have adversely impacted, are adversely impacting and could continue to adversely impact our financial and operational performance.

The public health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures that have been and are being taken by governments, businesses, including us, and the public at large to directly and indirectly respond to and limit the spread, variants and resurgences of COVID-19 have had, are having and could continue to have certain impacts on our financial and operational performance, including the following:

•We have experienced, and could continue to experience, shifts in consumption of our foodservice and certain on-the-go products due to reduced consumer traffic in restaurants, schools and other locations resulting from permanent and temporary customer closures, shelter-in-place regulations or recommendations, reduced capacity at these venues, including as a result of social distancing or labor shortages at our customers, and changes in consumer behavior in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to these food consumption shifts, during fiscal 2020, we temporarily idled certain of our facilities and delivered contract suspension notices to certain of our suppliers, invoking force majeure clauses, which have since been provisionally lifted, and we could become a party to litigation to enforce these force majeure clauses or otherwise enforce our rights under the Uniform Commercial Code. If the COVID-19 pandemic persists or intensifies, the negative impacts on consumption of our foodservice or on-the-go products could recur, be more prolonged or may become more severe, and we may in the future need to take similar or more aggressive actions.

•We have experienced, and we expect that we will continue to experience, temporary workforce or other disruptions in our supply chain as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, including continued employee absenteeism and labor shortages, which have negatively impacted and we expect will continue to negatively impact our ability to manufacture and deliver our products. We have implemented employee safety measures at our manufacturing facilities, but these measures may not be sufficient to prevent the spread of COVID-19 among our employees or protect against other impacts resulting from COVID-19. We have had, and expect to continue to have future needs, to temporarily close individual production lines or entire manufacturing facilities either due to a widespread employee outbreak, sanitizings or related operational interruptions, due to labor shortages or for other reasons related to COVID-19 and have had to, and expect to have future needs to, place one or more of our products on allocation.

•The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our operations and the operations of third parties in our supply chain has included, and we expect in the future will include, failure of third parties on which we rely to meet their obligations to us or disruptions in their ability to do so, increases in the cost, or reductions in, the availability and timely delivery of ingredients, packaging and other materials used to manufacture our products, operational delays, increases in the cost of freight, lack of adequate manufacturing capacity and delays in repairs at our facilities and has resulted in, and we expect will result in additional, interruptions in our supply chain.

•We have incurred, and may continue to incur, increased operating costs, including facility reconfiguration costs to enhance social distancing, purchases of equipment and supplies that are in high demand, costs to engage third party resources and costs for facility sanitizings, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the evolving understanding of the science and best practices. In addition, we have incurred, and may continue to incur, additional expenses to comply with new requirements imposed by governmental authorities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

•The Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued an emergency temporary standard on November 5, 2021 (the “ETS”) requiring certain employers, including us, to comply with a vaccine mandate, which could negatively impact our and our supply chain’s ability to attract and retain qualified employees, increase costs and administrative burden and result in fines if we cannot comply, any of which could adversely impact our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

•Changes and volatility in consumer purchasing and consumption patterns may increase demand for our products in one quarter (such as occurred for certain of our retail products in the second quarter of fiscal 2020 and continued through the first half of fiscal 2021), which in certain cases exceeded, and could in the future exceed, our production capacity or otherwise strain our supply chain and resulted in, and could in the future result in, one or more of our products being placed on allocation. Further, while we experienced increased demand for certain of our retail products in the second quarter of fiscal 2020 that continued through the first half of fiscal 2021, demand for such products generally returned

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to a growth rate in line with pre-pandemic levels during the second half of fiscal 2021 as consumers responded to changes in restrictions on mobility. Consumer perceptions of our Company’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and any perceived quality or health concerns (whether or not valid) regarding our products, could affect our brand value.

•Significant policy changes in markets in which we manufacture, sell or distribute our products (including quarantines, import or export restrictions, price controls, governmental or regulatory actions, closures or other restrictions or unemployment or other benefits) could adversely impact our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

•Deteriorating economic conditions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, including economic slowdowns or recessions or significant disruptions or volatility in financial markets, could limit our ability to satisfy our debt obligations or impact the cost or availability of additional capital.

•Actions we have taken or may take, or decisions we have made or may make, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic may result in investigations, legal claims or litigation against us.

•Continued business disruptions and uncertainties related to the COVID-19 pandemic for a sustained period of time could result in additional delays or modifications to our strategic plans and other initiatives and hinder our ability to achieve anticipated cost savings and productivity initiatives on planned timelines.

These and other impacts have caused, and may continue to cause, an adverse effect on our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows that have been and may continue to be material. In addition, such impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have heightened, or in some cases manifested, other risks set forth below, any of which could have a material effect on us. Although restrictions on mobility have been reduced or in some cases lifted, COVID-19 continues, and we expect will continue, to impact our businesses. This situation is changing rapidly and additional impacts may arise that we are not aware of as of the date hereof. The extent and potential short and long term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows, which could be material, will depend on future developments, including the duration, severity and spread of COVID-19, actions that have and may be taken by governmental authorities in response to the pandemic, the availability and adoption of effective treatments and vaccines, changing consumer behaviors and the impact on our supply chain, operations, workforce and the financial markets, all of which remain highly uncertain and cannot be predicted.

Disruption of our supply chain, including as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and changes in weather conditions, could have an adverse effect on our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

In coordination with our suppliers, third party manufacturers and distributors, our ability to make, move and sell products is critical to our success. Damage or disruption to our collective supply, manufacturing or distribution capabilities resulting from pandemics (including the COVID-19 pandemic) or other outbreaks of contagious diseases, governmental restrictions or mandates (including COVID-19 testing and vaccine mandates, such as the ETS), labor shortages, border closures, weather conditions, freight carrier availability, any potential effects of climate change, natural disasters, agricultural diseases, fires or evacuations related thereto, explosions, cyber incidents, terrorism, strikes or other labor unrest, repairs or enhancements at facilities or other reasons could impair our ability to source inputs or manufacture, sell or timely deliver our products. Competitors can be affected differently by any of these events depending on a number of factors, including the location of their suppliers and operations. Failure to take adequate steps to reduce the likelihood or mitigate the potential impact of any of these events, or to effectively manage such events if they occur, particularly when a commodity or raw material is sourced from or a product is manufactured at a single location, could adversely affect our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows and require additional resources to restore our supply chain.

As previously discussed, during fiscal 2020 and 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted, and we expect will continue to impact, our operations, including temporary workforce disruptions, labor shortages and other disruptions in our supply chain. During the COVID-19 pandemic, demand for certain of our products has in certain cases exceeded our production capacity and we expect will continue to do so in the future or otherwise strain our supply chain. In some instances, we have placed certain of our products on allocation. We continue to actively monitor the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on our supply chain and operations; however, we are unable to accurately predict the future impact that the COVID-19 pandemic will have due to various uncertainties, including the ultimate geographic spread of the virus, the severity of the virus, variants of the virus, the duration of the outbreak, actions that may be taken by governmental authorities, including vaccine mandates such as the ETS, the availability and adoption of effective treatments and vaccines and changes in consumer behaviors.

We are currently dependent upon third parties for the supply of materials for and the manufacture of many of our products. Our businesses could suffer as a result of a third party’s inability to supply materials for our products or produce our products for us on time or to our specifications.

Our businesses rely on independent third parties for the supply of materials for and the manufacture of many products, such as RTD protein shakes, protein bars and powders, nutritional supplements, breakfast drinks, certain cereal and granola products, certain snack products, shell eggs, egg products, dairy products, potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and certain refrigerated food

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products. Our businesses could be materially affected if we fail to develop or maintain our relationships with these third parties, if these third parties fail to comply with governmental regulations applicable to the manufacturing of our products or if any of these third parties ceases doing business with us or goes out of business. Additionally, we cannot be certain that we will not experience operational difficulties with these third parties, such as increases in costs, delays in the addition of incremental capacity, reductions in the availability of materials or production capacity, errors in complying with specifications, insufficient quality control and failures to meet production or shipment deadlines, including as a result of pandemics (such as the COVID-19 pandemic) or other outbreaks of contagious diseases and related governmental restrictions or mandates, including COIVD-19 testing and vaccine mandates such as the ETS. The inability of a third party supplier or manufacturer to ship orders in a timely manner or in desirable quantities or to meet our safety, quality and social compliance standards or regulatory requirements could have a material adverse impact on our businesses.

Certain of our relationships with these third party manufacturers and suppliers are subject to minimum volume commitments, whereby the third party manufacturer has committed to produce, and we have committed to purchase, a minimum quantity of product and the third party supplier has committed to provide, and we have committed to purchase, a minimum quantity of materials, respectively. Despite these commitments, we may nonetheless experience situations where such third parties are unable to fulfill their obligations under our agreements or cannot produce or supply, as applicable, adequate amounts to allow us to meet customer demands. For example, due to a combination of better than expected volume growth for our Premier Protein RTD shakes in the second half of fiscal 2018 and, along with Dymatize powders, in the second half of fiscal 2021, each of which we expect to continue into fiscal 2022, delays in planned incremental production capacity by our third party contract manufacturer network and (in the case of Dymatize powders) whey protein availability, customer demand for Premier Protein RTD shakes exceeded and we expect to continue to exceed available production capacity and resulted in inventory of our Premier Protein RTD shakes below acceptable levels at September 30, 2018 and Premier Protein RTD shakes and Dymatize powders inventories below acceptable levels at September 30, 2021, respectively. Alternately, we could incur penalties if we do not purchase the minimum quantities provided under these commitments. In addition, certain of our relationships with these third party manufacturers and suppliers are not subject to supply commitments, and we may not be able to obtain such commitments in a timely manner or at all. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our third party manufacturers’ operations combined with a lack of contractual commitments has resulted in and continues to result in shortages in certain of our Crystal Farms products.

Increased input costs, including costs for freight, raw materials, energy and other supplies, or limited availability of such inputs could negatively impact our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Our freight costs have increased and may continue to increase due to factors such as labor shortages, increased fuel costs, limited carrier availability, increased compliance costs associated with new or changing government regulations, pandemics (such as the COVID-19 pandemic) and other outbreaks of contagious diseases and inflation. The primary ingredients used by our businesses include wheat, oats, rice, corn, other grain products, eggs, pork, pasta, potatoes, cheese, milk, butter, vegetable oils, dairy- and vegetable-based proteins, sugar and other sweeteners, fruit and nuts. Our Foodservice and Refrigerated Retail segments’ operating results are significantly affected by egg, sow, potato and cheese prices and the prices of corn and soybean meal, which are the primary grains fed to laying hens. Our primary packaging materials include folding cartons, corrugated boxes, flexible and rigid plastic film, trays and containers, beverage packaging, and aseptic foil and plastic lined cartonboard. In addition, our manufacturing operations use large quantities of natural gas, propane, electricity, carbon dioxide, sanitizing supplies and personal protective equipment. The supply and price of these inputs are subject to market conditions and are impacted by many factors beyond our control, including pandemics (such as the COVID-19 pandemic) and other outbreaks of contagious diseases, labor shortages, animal feed costs, weather conditions, natural disasters, governmental programs, regulations and trade and tariff policies, insects, plant diseases, inflation, increased demand, diseases affecting livestock (such as the 2013 PEDV swine outbreak and the 2015 avian influenza outbreak) and milk price supports established by the USDA. Higher prices for natural gas, propane, electricity and fuel also may increase our ingredient, production and delivery costs.

Historically, the prices of certain of our raw materials, energy and other supplies used in our businesses have fluctuated widely and this volatility has been heightened during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, we have experienced and expect in the future to experience shortages of certain of our raw materials, which result in us paying increased costs for such inputs and impact our ability to produce our products. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we also have incurred, and expect to continue to incur, additional costs, including costs for facility reconfigurations to enhance social distancing, personal protective equipment, employee health screenings, compliance with applicable government vaccine mandates such as the ETS and facility sanitizings and to secure sources of alternate supply for certain inputs.

The prices charged for our products may not reflect changes in our input costs at the time they occur or at all. Accordingly, changes in input costs may limit our ability to maintain existing margins and may have a material adverse effect on our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. While we try to manage the impact of increases in certain of these costs by locking in prices on quantities required to meet our anticipated production requirements, if we fail, or are unable, to hedge and prices subsequently increase, or if we institute a hedge and prices subsequently decrease, our costs may be greater than anticipated or greater than our competitors’ costs, and our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows could be adversely affected. Further, when we have experienced shortages of the inputs necessary for our manufacturing

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processes, which occur from time to time, our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows have been and may in the future be adversely impacted.

We may not be able to operate successfully if we are unable to recruit, hire, retain and develop key personnel and a qualified and diverse workforce. In addition, temporary workforce disruptions or the inability of our employees to safely perform their jobs for any reason, including as a result of illness (such as COVID-19) or based upon shelter in place or other restrictions put in place by governmental authorities, could adversely impact our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

We depend upon the skills, working relationships and continued services of key personnel, including our senior management team. In addition, our ability to achieve our operating goals depends upon our ability to recruit, hire, retain and develop qualified and diverse personnel to operate and expand our businesses. We compete with other companies both within and outside of our industry for talented personnel. If we lose key personnel, or one or more members of our senior management team, and we fail to develop adequate succession plans, or if we fail to hire, retain and develop a sufficient number of qualified and diverse employees to operate and expand our businesses, our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows could be harmed. During the COVID-19 pandemic, certain of our businesses have experienced and we expect to continue to experience labor shortages, resulting in our inability to meet consumer demand for certain of our products, which have negatively impacted, and we expect to continue to negatively impact, our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. We could also experience workforce disruptions in reaction to governmental restrictions or requirements, such as the ETS, if such restrictions or requirements become effective.

Our businesses are dependent upon our employees being able to safely perform their jobs, considering the potential for physical injuries or illness. If we experience workforce disruptions or periods where our employees are unable to safely perform their jobs for any reason, including as a result of illness (such as COVID-19) or based upon shelter in place or other restrictions put in place by governmental authorities, our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows could be adversely affected. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have experienced temporary workforce disruptions, including as a result of employee absenteeism or widespread employee outbreaks, necessitating the temporary closure of manufacturing lines or partial facilities. These events, or similar events that could occur in the future, could have a material adverse impact on us in the future.

We operate in categories with strong competition.

The consumer food and beverage and convenient nutrition categories in which we operate are highly competitive. Competition in these categories is based on, among other things, brand recognition and loyalty, taste, nutritional value, price, ingredients, product quality, product availability, variety, innovation, distribution, packaging, convenience, effective promotional activities and the ability to identify and satisfy dynamic, emerging consumer preferences. Our competitors may have substantial financial, marketing and other resources. In most product categories, we compete not only with widely advertised branded products, but also with private label and store brand products. Increased competition can reduce our sales due to loss of market share or the need to reduce prices to respond to competitive and customer pressures. Competitive and customer pressures, as well as industry supply and market demand, also may limit our ability to increase prices, including in response to cost increases. Also, our competitors are increasingly using social media networks and digital platforms to advertise products. If we are unable to compete in this environment and use social media and digital platforms effectively, it could adversely affect our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Further, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted us and our competitors differently based on the respective categories in which we and they operate and the effect of the pandemic on such categories. As a result, if our competitors were less negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic than us, particularly if they had less exposure to the foodservice category, they may have had the ability to make more investments in their brands or processes during the pandemic, which could adversely impact us from a competitive perspective in the future.

We must identify changing consumer and customer preferences and behaviors and develop and offer products to meet these preferences and behaviors.

Consumer and customer preferences and behaviors evolve over time due to a variety of factors. The success of our businesses depends on our ability to identify these changing preferences and behaviors, to distinguish between short-term trends and long-term changes in such preferences and behaviors and to continue to develop and offer products that appeal to consumers and customers through the sales channels that they prefer. Consumer preference and behavior changes include dietary trends, attention to different nutritional aspects of foods and beverages, consumer at-home and on-the-go consumption patterns, preferences for certain sales channels, concerns regarding the health effects of certain foods and beverages, attention to sourcing practices relating to ingredients, animal welfare concerns, environmental concerns regarding packaging and attention to other social and governance aspects of our Company and operations. Any significant changes in consumer or customer preferences and behaviors and our inability to anticipate or react to such changes could result in reduced demand for our products, which could negatively impact our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

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In recent years, consumers have increasingly been shopping through eCommerce websites and mobile commerce applications, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, and this trend is significantly altering the retail landscape in many of our markets. If we are unable to effectively compete in the expanding eCommerce market or develop the data analytics capabilities needed to generate actionable commercial insights, our business performance may be impacted, which may negatively impact our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. In addition, our Foodservice and Refrigerated Retail businesses are, and will continue to be, affected by changing preferences and requirements as to the housing of egg-laying hens, as well as certain other farm animals. Many restaurant chains, foodservice companies and grocery chains have announced goals to transition to a cage-free egg supply, as well as goals for other farm animal initiatives, by specified future dates. Also, several states have enacted, or are proposing, provisions providing for specific requirements for the housing of certain farm animals. Meeting anticipated customer demand has resulted, and will continue to result, in additional operating and capital costs to procure cage-free eggs, to modify existing layer facilities and to construct new cage-free layer housing. In addition, our retail businesses are, and we expect will continue to be, affected by changing preferences and requirements as to the environmental impact of food packaging. Several of our customers have announced goals to transition to recyclable, compostable or reusable packaging. These changing preferences and requirements could require us to use specially sourced ingredients and packaging types that may be more difficult to source or entail a higher cost or incremental capital investment which we may not be able to pass on to customers.

Our results may be adversely impacted if consumers do not maintain favorable perceptions of our brands.

Maintaining and continually enhancing the value of our brands is critical to the success of our businesses. Brand value is based in large part on consumer perceptions. Brand value could diminish significantly due to a number of factors, including adverse publicity about us, our business practices, products, packaging, ingredients or sponsorship or endorsement relationships (whether or not valid), our suppliers’ or third party manufacturers’ business practices, our failure to maintain the quality of our products, the failure of our products to deliver consistently positive consumer experiences, concerns about food safety, real or perceived health concerns regarding our products, our products becoming unavailable to consumers or consumer perception that we have acted in an irresponsible manner. In addition, negative perceptions of the food and beverage industry as a whole, or segments of the food and beverage industry in which we operate, may heighten attention from consumers, third parties, the media, governments, shareholders and other stakeholders to such factors and could adversely affect our brand image. The growing use of social and digital media by consumers, us and third parties increases the speed and extent that information or misinformation and opinions can be shared. Negative posts or comments about us, our business practices, brands, products, ingredients, packaging, sponsorship relationships, suppliers, third party manufacturers or the food and beverage industry generally (whether or not valid) in the media, especially on social or digital media, could seriously damage our brands and reputation. If we do not maintain favorable perceptions of our brands or if we experience a loss of consumer confidence in our brands, our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows could be adversely impacted.

Uncertain or unfavorable economic conditions, including as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, could limit consumer and customer demand for our products or otherwise adversely affect us.

The willingness of consumers to purchase our products depends in part on general or local economic conditions and consumers’ discretionary spending habits. In periods of adverse or uncertain economic conditions, including as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers may purchase less of our products, purchase more value or private label products or may forgo certain purchases altogether. In addition, our customers may seek to reduce their inventories in response to those economic conditions. In those circumstances, we could experience a reduction in sales. Also, as a result of economic conditions, including as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we may be unable to raise our prices sufficiently to protect profit margins. Further, uncertain or unfavorable economic conditions, including as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, has and could continue to negatively impact the financial stability of our customers or suppliers, which could lead to increased uncollectible receivables or non-performance. Any of these events could have an adverse effect on our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

If our products become adulterated or contaminated, or if they are misbranded or mislabeled, we might need to recall or withdraw those items and may experience product liability claims if consumers are injured.

Selling food products, beverages and nutritional supplements involves a number of legal and other risks, including contamination, spoilage, degradation, tampering, mislabeling or other adulteration. Additionally, many of the ingredients used to make certain of our products, particularly eggs, pork, nuts, raw potatoes and grains, are vulnerable to contamination by naturally occurring molds and pathogens, such as salmonella. These pathogens may survive in our products as a result of improper handling by customers or consumers. We do not have control over handling procedures once our products have been shipped for distribution. We may need to recall, withdraw or isolate some or all of our products if they become damaged, adulterated, mislabeled or misbranded, whether caused by us or someone in our supply chain. Such an incident could result in destruction of product ingredients and inventory, negative publicity, temporary plant closings, supply chain interruption, substantial costs of compliance or remediation, fines and increased scrutiny by federal, state and foreign regulatory agencies. New scientific discoveries regarding microbes and food manufacturing may bring additional risks and latent liability. Should consumption of

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any product cause injury, we may be liable for monetary damages as a result of a judgment against us. In addition, adverse publicity, including claims, whether or not valid, that our products or ingredients are unsafe or of poor quality, may discourage consumers or customers from buying our products or cause production and delivery disruptions. Although we have various insurance programs in place, any of these events or a loss of consumer or customer confidence could have an adverse effect on our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

The loss of, a significant reduction of purchases by or the bankruptcy of a major customer may adversely affect our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. In addition, consolidation of our customer base, as well as competitive, economic and other pressures facing our customers, may hurt our volumes or profit margins.

A limited number of customer accounts represents a large percentage of our consolidated net sales. Our largest customer, Walmart, accounted for 19.0% of our consolidated net sales in fiscal 2021. Walmart also is the largest customer of our Post Consumer Brands segment, accounting for 29.3% of Post Consumer Brands’s net sales in fiscal 2021. The largest customers of our Weetabix segment, Tesco, Asda and Morrison, accounted for 40.4% of Weetabix’s net sales in fiscal 2021. The largest customers of our Foodservice segment, Sysco and US Foods, accounted for 32.4% of the segment’s net sales in fiscal 2021. Additionally, the largest customers of our Refrigerated Retail segment, Walmart and Kroger, accounted for 31.7% of the segment’s net sales in fiscal 2021, and the largest customers of our BellRing Brands segment, Costco and Walmart, accounted for 65.3% of the segment’s net sales in fiscal 2021. For purposes of this risk factor, “Walmart” refers to Walmart Inc. and its affiliates, which include Sam’s Club.

The success of our businesses depends, in part, on our ability to maintain our level of sales and product distribution through high-volume food distributors, retailers, club stores, supercenters, mass merchandisers and national restaurant chains. The competition to supply products to these high-volume customers is intense. Currently, we do not have long-term supply agreements with a substantial number of our retail customers, including our largest customers. These high-volume customers frequently reevaluate the products they carry. A decision by our major customers to decrease the amount of product purchased from us, including in response to shifts in consumer purchasing or traffic trends attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic or otherwise, sell another brand on an exclusive or priority basis or change the manner of doing business with us could reduce our revenues and materially adversely affect our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Our customers also may offer branded and private label products that compete directly with our products for retail shelf space and consumer purchases. Accordingly, there is a risk that our customers may give higher priority to their own products or to the products of our competitors. In the event of a loss of any of our large customers, a significant reduction of purchases by any of our large customers or the bankruptcy or serious financial difficulty of any of our large customers, our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows may be adversely affected.

Over the past several years, the retail and foodservice channels have undergone significant consolidations, which have resulted in mass merchandisers and non-traditional retailers, including online food retailers, gaining market share. As this trend continues and such customers grow larger, they may seek to use their position to improve their profitability through improved efficiency, lower pricing, increased reliance on their own brand name products, increased emphasis on generic and other value brands and increased promotional programs. If we are unable to respond to this environment, our profitability or volume growth could be negatively impacted. Additionally, if any of our existing retailer or distributor customers are consolidated with another entity and the surviving entity of any such consolidation is not a customer or decides to discontinue purchasing our products, we may lose significant amounts of our preexisting business with the acquired retailer or distributor. Further, the economic and competitive landscape for our customers is constantly changing, such as the growth of online food retailers, which has accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic, and our customers’ responses to those changes could impact our businesses. Our businesses may be adversely affected if such non-traditional retailers take significant additional market share away from traditional retailers, if we are unable to effectively participate in such channels or if our customers fail to find ways to create more powerful digital tools and capabilities to enable them to grow their businesses. The consolidation in the retail and foodservice channels also increases the risk that adverse changes to our customers’ business operations or financial performance, including as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, would have a corresponding material adverse effect on us.

Our Post Consumer Brands and Weetabix segments operate in the mature RTE cereal category, and the failure or weakening of this category could materially adversely affect our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Our Post Consumer Brands and Weetabix segments produce and distribute branded, licensed and private label RTE cereals and hot cereals, other cereal-based food products and muesli, selling products to grocery stores, discounters, big box retailers, foodservice distributors, wholesalers and convenience stores primarily across the U.S., Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico, the U.K. and Ireland. Although the RTE cereal category experienced strong demand during the COVID-19 pandemic starting in March 2020 and continuing through the first half of fiscal 2021, the RTE cereal category had previously been experiencing weakness in recent years and the RTE cereal category has since returned to growth rates largely in line with pre-pandemic levels, with the U.S. value and private label RTE cereal segments underperforming relative to their pre-pandemic levels. Continuing weakness in the RTE cereal category, or the weakening of our major products competing in this category, could have a material adverse impact on our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

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Our sales and profit growth are dependent upon our ability to expand existing market penetration, enter into new markets and enhance our product portfolio with innovative and profitable products.

Successful growth depends upon our ability to add new retail and foodservice customers, enter into new markets, expand the number of products sold through existing customers and enhance our product portfolio with new innovative and profitable products. This growth would include expanding the number of our products our customers offer for sale and our product placement. The expansion of the business of our existing segments depends upon our ability to obtain new, or expand our business with existing, large-account customers, such as grocery store chains, mass merchandisers and foodservice distributors. Our failure to successfully add new customers, enter into new markets, expand our business with existing, large-account customers or enhance our product portfolio could have a material adverse effect on our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. For some of our businesses, the COVID-19 pandemic impacted our innovation and growth efforts as a result of reduced demand for certain products or as our customers modified their shelf reset timings, reduced in store-displays and promotional activities and shifted their ordering patterns to focus on our core products for shipments, which could adversely impact our long-term sales and profit growth.

Our or 8th Avenue’s private label products may not be able to compete successfully with nationally branded products.

We participate in the private brand food category, producing and distributing private label products, including through our investment in 8th Avenue. In many cases, competitors with nationally branded products have a competitive advantage over private label products due to name recognition. In addition, when branded competitors focus on price and promotion, the environment for private label producers and distributors becomes more challenging because the price differential between private label products and branded products may become less significant. Competitive pressures or promotions of branded products could cause us, 8th Avenue or our or 8th Avenue’s customers to lose sales, which may require us or 8th Avenue to lower prices or increase the use of discounting or promotional programs, each of which would adversely affect our or 8th Avenue’s margins, businesses, financial condition, results of operations, profitability and cash flows.

Our international operations subject us to additional risks.

We are subject to a number of risks related to doing business internationally, any of which could significantly harm our financial and operational performance. These risks include:

•restrictions on the transfer of funds to and from foreign countries, including potentially negative tax consequences;

•unfavorable changes in tariffs, quotas, trade barriers or other export or import restrictions;

•unfavorable changes in local regulatory requirements that impact our ability to sell our products in that country;

•unfavorable foreign exchange controls and currency exchange rates, including those that may occur as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic;

•challenges associated with cross-border product distribution, including those that have been caused or may in the future be caused by the COVID-19 pandemic;

•an outbreak of a contagious disease, such as COVID-19, which may cause us or our distributors, third party manufacturers, vendors or customers to temporarily suspend our or their respective operations in the affected city or country;

•increased exposure to general market and economic conditions, political and economic uncertainty and volatility and other events, including social unrest, government shutdowns, terrorist activity, acts of war and travel restrictions, outside of the U.S.;

•compliance with U.S. laws and regulations affecting operations outside of the U.S., including anti-corruption regulations (such as the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act), and changes to such laws and regulations;

•compliance with treaties, antitrust and competition laws, data privacy laws (including the General Data Protection Regulation and the E.U.’s retained law version of the General Data Protection Regulation), anti-corruption laws (including the U.K. Bribery Act), food safety and marketing laws and other regulatory requirements and a variety of other local, national and multi-national regulations and laws in multiple jurisdictions and changes to such laws and regulations;

•unfavorable changes in foreign tax treaties and policies, changes in the mix of earnings in countries with differing statutory tax rates, changes in the valuation of deferred tax assets and liabilities, changes in tax laws or their interpretations or tax audit implications;

•the difficulty and costs of maintaining effective data security;

•the potential difficulty of enforcing intellectual property and contractual rights;

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•increased risk of uncollectible accounts and longer collection cycles;

•unfavorable changes in labor conditions and difficulties in staffing our operations; and

•the difficulty and costs of designing and implementing an effective control environment across diverse regions and employee bases.

In addition, the exit of the U.K. from the E.U. (“Brexit”) has created uncertainty surrounding certain of our businesses. The U.K. and the E.U. entered into a new trade agreement, which became effective as of January 1, 2021. We have implemented many process changes in light of the new agreement in order to reduce the risk and impact of Brexit on our businesses but the U.K. and the E.U. are still discussing future changes to the trade deal. We continue to plan to mitigate the potential effect of any new requirements which could increase costs, impact our customers, suppliers and employees, result in tariffs on certain imports and exports and impact the global economy and currency exchange rates, any of which could have an adverse effect on our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Our financial performance on a U.S. dollar denominated basis is subject to fluctuations in currency exchange rates. Because we have operations and assets in foreign jurisdictions, as well as a portion of our contracts and revenues denominated in foreign currencies, and our consolidated financial statements are presented in U.S. dollars, we must translate our foreign assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses into U.S. dollars at applicable exchange rates. Consequently, fluctuations in the value of foreign currencies relative to the U.S. dollar may negatively affect the value of these items in our consolidated financial statements. Our principal currency exposures are to the British pound sterling, the Canadian dollar and the Euro. From time to time, we enter into agreements that are intended to reduce the effects of our exposure to currency fluctuations, but these agreements may not be effective in significantly reducing our exposure. To the extent we fail to manage our foreign currency exposure adequately, we may suffer losses in value of our net foreign currency investment, and our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows may be negatively affected.

Labor strikes or work stoppages by our employees could harm our business.

Some of our full-time production, maintenance and warehouse employees are covered by collective bargaining agreements. A dispute with a union or employees represented by a union could result in production interruptions caused by work stoppages. If a strike or work stoppage were to occur, our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows could be adversely affected. We periodically renegotiate the collective bargaining agreements in place at our facilities, but there is no guarantee that we will be able to enter into new agreements in a timely manner, and if new agreements are not reached, there could be interruptions in production at the respective facilities. In addition, we could be subject to unionization efforts at our non-union facilities. Increased unionization of our workforce could lead to disruptions in our businesses, increases in our operating costs and constraints on our operating flexibility.

In the event of a work stoppage, we have contingency plans in place to hire additional labor or manufacture products in other locations to mitigate disruption to our businesses. However, there are limitations inherent in any plan to mitigate disruption to our businesses in the event of a work stoppage, and particularly in the case of a prolonged work stoppage, there can be no assurance that it would not have a material adverse effect on our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Approximately 60 employees at our Weetabix facilities are currently engaged in a strike due to announced changes to shift patterns and related pay rates. There is no guarantee that we will reach an agreement with the union representing these employees in a timely manner, and although production has not been materially impacted at these facilities, if an agreement is not reached, we could experience interruption in production at these facilities.

Agricultural diseases or pests could harm our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Many of our business activities are subject to a variety of agricultural risks, including diseases and pests, which can adversely affect the quality and quantity of the raw materials we use and the products we produce and distribute (or have produced or distributed by third parties), as well as increase the costs of production. Any actual or potential contamination of our products could result in product recalls, market withdrawals, product detentions, safety alerts, cessation of manufacturing or distribution or, if we fail to comply with applicable FDA, USDA or other U.S. or international regulatory authority requirements, enforcement actions. We also could be subject to product liability claims or adverse publicity if any of our products are alleged to have caused illness or injury.

Avian influenza occasionally affects the domestic poultry industry, leading to hen deaths. In 2015, an avian influenza outbreak occurred in the Midwest of the U.S., affecting a substantial portion of our owned and third party contracted flocks. Although we utilize biosecurity measures at our layer locations to protect against disease exposures, if our facilities are exposed to diseases and pests, such exposure could affect a substantial portion of our production facilities in any year and could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Diseases affecting livestock (including PEDV) occasionally impact sow supply, and diseases affecting cattle (including bovine spongiform encephalopathy) occasionally impact the availability of dairy-based proteins, which, in either case, also could adversely affect our businesses, prospects, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

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Climate change, or legal or market measures to address climate change, may negatively affect our businesses, reputation and operations.

There is growing concern that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere may have an adverse impact on global temperatures, weather patterns and the frequency and severity of extreme weather and natural disasters. If any of these climate changes has a negative effect on agricultural productivity, we may be subject to decreased availability or less favorable pricing for certain raw materials that are necessary for our products, including wheat, oats and other grain products, fruits, nuts, proteins, eggs, potatoes, sows and dairy products. In addition, increases in the frequency and severity of extreme weather and natural disasters may result in damage and disruptions to our manufacturing operations and distribution channels or our third party manufacturers’ operations, particularly where a product is primarily sourced from a single location. Also, the impacts of these climate changes may cause unpredictable water availability or exacerbate water scarcity. Water is critical to our businesses, and the lack of available water of acceptable quality may lead to, among other things, adverse effects on our operations. The increasing concern over climate change and related environmental sustainability matters also may result in more federal, state, local and foreign legal requirements, including requirements to reduce or mitigate the effects of greenhouse gases or conserve and replenish water. If such laws are enacted, we may experience significant increases in our costs of operation and delivery. Further, our businesses could be adversely affected if we are unable to effectively address increased concerns from the media, shareholders and other stakeholders on climate change and related environmental sustainability and governance matters. In addition, any failure to achieve goals we may set with respect to reducing our impact on the environment or perception of a failure to act responsibly with respect to the environment can lead to adverse publicity, which could damage our reputation. As a result, climate change could negatively affect our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Actual operating results may differ significantly from our or BellRing’s guidance and our, BellRing’s and PHPC’s forward-looking statements.

From time to time, we release guidance regarding our future performance, the future performance of some or all of our unconsolidated and consolidated subsidiaries or the expected future performance of companies or businesses that we have agreed to acquire. This guidance, which consists of forward-looking statements, is prepared by our management and is qualified by, and subject to, the assumptions and the other information contained or referred to in such release and certain factors described in our current and periodic reports filed with the SEC. Our guidance is not prepared with a view toward compliance with published guidelines of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and neither our independent registered public accounting firm nor any other independent expert or outside party has audited, reviewed, examined, compiled or applied agreed upon procedures with respect to the guidance and, accordingly, no such person expresses any opinion or any other form of assurance with respect thereto. The independent registered public accounting firm report included herein relates to our previously issued financial statements. It does not extend to any guidance and should not be read to do so.

Guidance is based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, although presented with numerical specificity, are inherently subject to business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond our control and are based upon specific assumptions with respect to future business decisions, some of which will change. We generally state possible outcomes as high and low ranges which are intended to provide a sensitivity analysis as variables are changed but are not intended to represent that actual results could not fall outside of the suggested ranges. The principal reason that we release this data is to provide a basis for our management to discuss our business outlook with analysts and investors. We do not accept any responsibility for any projections or reports published by any such persons.

Guidance is necessarily speculative in nature, and it can be expected that some or all of the assumptions of the guidance furnished by us will not materialize or will vary significantly from actual results. Accordingly, our guidance is only an estimate of what management believes is realizable as of the date of release. Actual results will vary from the guidance. Investors also should recognize that the reliability of any forecasted financial data diminishes the farther in the future that the data is forecasted. In light of the foregoing, investors are urged to put the guidance in context and not to place undue reliance on it.

Any failure to successfully implement our operating strategy or the occurrence of any of the risks or uncertainties set forth in this report could result in actual operating results being different than the guidance, and such differences may be adverse and material.

Similarly, BellRing, as a separate publicly-traded company whose financial results are consolidated into Post’s financial statements, releases guidance regarding its future performance, which consists of forward-looking statements. In addition, PHPC, as a separate publicly-traded company, may make forward-looking statements as it pursues a partnering transaction. These statements are prepared by BellRing’s and PHPC’s management, respectively, and we do not accept any responsibility for any such statements.

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Strategic Risks

Our business strategy depends upon us identifying and completing additional acquisitions and other strategic transactions. We may not be able to successfully consummate favorable strategic transactions in the future. Our corporate development activities also may have an adverse impact on our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Although we continuously evaluate strategic transactions, we may be unable to identify suitable strategic transactions in the future or may not be able to enter into such transactions at favorable prices or on terms that are favorable to us. Alternatively, we may in the future enter into additional strategic transactions, and any such transaction could happen at any time, could be material to our businesses and could take any number of forms, including, for example, an acquisition, investment or merger, for cash or in exchange for our equity securities, a divestiture or a joint venture.

Evaluating potential transactions, including divestitures and joint ventures, requires additional expenditures (including legal, accounting and due diligence expenses, higher administrative costs to support any acquired entities and information technology, personnel and other integration expenses) and may divert the attention of our management from ordinary operating matters.

Our corporate development activities also may present financial and operational risks and may have adverse effects on existing business relationships with suppliers and customers. In addition, future acquisitions could result in potentially dilutive issuances of equity securities, the incurrence of debt, contingent liabilities and amortization expenses related to certain intangible assets and increased operating expenses, all of which could, individually or collectively, adversely affect our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Our pending distribution of our interest in BellRing is subject to inherent risks.

On October 26, 2021, we entered into the Transaction Agreement providing for the distribution of a significant portion of our ownership interest in BellRing to our shareholders. Completion of the transactions contemplated by the Transaction Agreement, including the consummation of the BellRing Merger, is subject to certain conditions as set forth in the Transaction Agreement, including that (a) the Transaction Agreement be adopted by the affirmative vote of the holders of (i) a majority in voting power of the then-outstanding shares of common stock of BellRing and (ii) a majority in voting power of the then-outstanding shares of common stock of BellRing that are not owned, directly or indirectly, by Post, New BellRing or any of their respective affiliates; (b) completion of the BellRing Separation and the BellRing Distribution; (c) receipt of opinions with respect to the intended tax treatment of the BellRing Merger; and (d) applicable registration statements of New BellRing having become effective under the Securities Act. No assurance can be given that any of the foregoing conditions will be met. Completion of the transactions also are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties, including, among others: risks that the proposed transactions as a whole will not be consummated; changes in tax law; increased demands on Post’s and BellRing’s management and employees to accomplish the proposed transactions; and significant transaction costs.

The BellRing Separation, the BellRing Distribution and the BellRing Merger are expected to be completed in the first calendar quarter of 2022, the second quarter of fiscal 2022. There can be no assurance, however, that all of the closing conditions for the BellRing Merger will be satisfied and, if they are satisfied, that they will be satisfied in time for the completion to occur during the period noted above. In addition, no assurance can be given that Post will realize the potential strategic and financial benefits from the proposed transactions in the near term or at all, and no assurance can be given that the market will react favorably to the proposed transactions.

We are subject to a number of uncertainties while PHPC pursues a partnering transaction, which could adversely affect our businesses, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and stock price.

On May 28, 2021, PHPC completed its initial public offering. PHPC Sponsor, our wholly-owned subsidiary, purchased $40.0 million of PHPC Units in the PHPC IPO. In addition, PHPC Sponsor purchased PHPC Private Placement Units, which was completed substantially concurrently with the closing of the PHPC IPO, and holds shares of PHPC Series F Common Stock; PHPC Sponsor purchased the PHPC Private Placement Units and PHPC Series F Common Stock for approximately $10.9 million. Under the terms of the PHPC IPO, PHPC is required to consummate a partnering transaction by May 28, 2023 (which may be extended to August 28, 2023 in certain circumstances). We will be required to devote significant management and employee attention and resources to matters relating to PHPC while it pursues a partnering transaction. If PHPC is unable to consummate a suitable partnering transaction during the prescribed two-year time frame, we may experience negative reactions from the financial markets and from our shareholders, and PHPC Sponsor would lose its investment in the PHPC Private Placement Units and PHPC Series F Common Stock. Alternatively, in the event that PHPC is able to consummate a suitable partnering transaction, or if the partnering transaction is unsuccessful, there is no assurance that we will realize the anticipated value from such transaction.

There has recently been heightened regulatory focus on SPACs, including recently issued accounting guidance, resulting in substantial uncertainty in the SPAC markets. PHPC’s pursuit of a partnering transaction in this uncertain SPAC environment may result in delays, reduced investor and acquisition target interest in SPAC transactions, additional costs as instrument terms are reevaluated and our management and employees needing to devote extensive attention and resources to these matters. The

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accounting guidance applicable to SPACs could subsequently be revisited, potentially necessitating restatements of PHPC’s financial statements, which could then impact and necessitate restatements of our financial statements. These matters have the potential to disrupt us from conducting business operations or pursuing other business strategies and could adversely affect our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Our Company has overlapping directors and management with one or more of our related companies, including PHPC, BellRing and 8th Avenue, each of which may lead to conflicting interests or the appearance of conflicting interests.

Several of our directors and officers also serve as directors or officers of one or more of our related companies, including PHPC, BellRing and 8th Avenue, and there are overlapping directors with such entities. Our officers and members of our Board of Directors have fiduciary duties to our shareholders. Likewise, any such persons who serve in similar capacities at any of such related companies have fiduciary duties to that company’s shareholders or stockholders, as appropriate. Therefore, such persons may have conflicts of interest or the appearance of conflicts of interest with respect to matters involving or affecting us and one or more of the related companies to which they owe fiduciary duties. In addition, some of our officers or members of our Board of Directors may own equity or options to purchase equity in one or more of our related companies. Such ownership interests may create, or appear to create, conflicts of interest when the applicable individuals are faced with decisions that could have different implications for us and the related companies. The appearance of conflicts of interest created by such overlapping relationships also could impair the confidence of our investors.

We may experience difficulties in integrating acquired businesses, or acquisitions may not perform as expected.

We have acquired multiple businesses, and we may continue to acquire other businesses. The successful integration of these acquisitions depends upon our ability to manage the operations and personnel of the acquired businesses. Integrating operations is complex and requires significant efforts and expenses on the part of both us and the acquired businesses. Potential difficulties we may encounter as part of the integration process include, but are not limited to, the following:

•employees may voluntarily or involuntarily separate employment from us or the acquired businesses because of the acquisitions;

•our management may have its attention diverted while trying to integrate the acquired businesses;

•we may encounter obstacles when incorporating the acquired businesses into our operations and management, including integrating or separating personnel, financial systems, operating procedures, regulatory compliance programs, technology, networks and other assets in a seamless manner that minimizes any adverse impact on customers, suppliers, employees and other constituencies;

•differences in business backgrounds, corporate cultures and management philosophies;

•integration may be more costly, time-consuming or complex or less effective than anticipated;

•inability to maintain uniform standards, controls and procedures; and

•we may discover previously undetected operational or other issues, such as fraud.

Any of these factors could adversely affect our and the acquired businesses’ ability to maintain relationships with customers, suppliers, employees and other constituencies.

In addition, the success of these acquired businesses will depend, in part, upon our ability to realize the anticipated growth opportunities and cost synergies through the successful integration of the businesses we acquire with our existing businesses. Even if we are successful in integrating acquired businesses, we cannot assure you that these integrations will result in the realization of the full benefit of any anticipated growth opportunities or cost synergies or that these benefits will be realized within the expected time frames. In addition, acquired businesses may have unanticipated liabilities or contingencies.

Financial and Economic Risks

We have substantial debt and high leverage, which could have a negative impact on our financing options and liquidity position and could adversely affect our businesses.

We have a significant amount of debt. We had $7,057.6 million in aggregate principal amount of total debt as of September 30, 2021. Additionally, our secured revolving credit facility had borrowing capacity of $730.8 million at September 30, 2021 (all of which would be secured when drawn). BellRing Brands, LLC had $609.9 million in aggregate principal amount of secured debt, which is included in our total debt amount referenced earlier in this paragraph, and borrowing capacity of $200.0 million under its secured revolving credit facility as of September 30, 2021. Post and its subsidiaries (other than BellRing Brands, LLC and certain of its subsidiaries) are not obligors or guarantors under the BellRing Brands, LLC debt facilities.

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Our overall leverage and the terms of our financing arrangements could:

•limit our ability to obtain additional financing in the future for working capital, for capital expenditures, for acquisitions, to fund growth or for general corporate purposes, even when necessary to maintain adequate liquidity, particularly if any ratings assigned to our debt securities by rating organizations were revised downward;

•make it more difficult for us to satisfy our obligations under the terms of our financing arrangements;

•trigger limitations on our ability to deduct interest paid on such indebtedness;

•limit our ability to refinance our indebtedness on terms acceptable to us or at all;

•limit our flexibility to plan for and to adjust to changing business and market conditions in the industries in which we operate and increase our vulnerability to general adverse economic and industry conditions;

•require us to dedicate a substantial portion of our cash flow from operations to make interest and principal payments on our debt, thereby limiting the availability of our cash flow to fund future investments, capital expenditures, working capital, business activities and other general corporate requirements;

•increase our vulnerability to adverse economic or industry conditions; and

•subject us to higher levels of indebtedness than our competitors, which may cause a competitive disadvantage and may reduce our flexibility in responding to increased competition.

Our ability to meet expenses and debt service obligations will depend upon our future performance, which will be affected by financial, business, economic and other factors, including the impact of pandemics (including the COVID-19 pandemic) and other outbreaks of contagious diseases, potential changes in consumer and customer preferences and behaviors, the success of product and marketing innovation and pressure from competitors. If we do not generate enough cash to pay our debt service obligations, we may be required to refinance all or part of our existing debt, sell assets, borrow more money or issue additional equity.

Despite our current level of indebtedness, we may be able to incur substantially more debt, which could further exacerbate the risks related to our debt and leverage.

We may be able to incur significant additional indebtedness in the future. Although the financing arrangements governing our indebtedness contain restrictions on our ability to incur additional indebtedness, these restrictions are subject to a number of qualifications and exceptions, and the additional indebtedness incurred in compliance with these restrictions could be substantial. These restrictions also may not prevent us from incurring obligations that do not constitute indebtedness, as defined in the documents governing our indebtedness.

The agreements governing our debt, including the indentures governing our senior notes, contain, or may in future financings contain, various covenants that limit our ability to take certain actions and also require us to meet financial maintenance tests, and failure to comply with these covenants could have a material adverse effect on us.

Our financing arrangements contain restrictions, covenants and events of default that, among other things, require us to satisfy certain financial tests and maintain certain financial ratios and restrict our ability to incur additional indebtedness and to refinance our existing indebtedness. Financing arrangements which we enter into in the future could contain similar restrictions and could additionally require us to comply with similar, new or additional financial tests or to maintain similar, new or additional financial ratios. The terms of our financing arrangements, financing arrangements which we enter into in the future and any future indebtedness may impose various restrictions and covenants on us that could limit our ability to pay dividends, respond to market conditions, provide for capital investment needs or take advantage of business opportunities by limiting the amount of additional borrowings we may incur. These restrictions include compliance with, or maintenance of, certain financial tests and ratios and may limit or prohibit our ability to, among other things:

•borrow money or guarantee debt;

•create liens;

•pay dividends on or redeem or repurchase stock or other securities;

•make investments and acquisitions;

•enter into or permit to exist contractual limits on the ability of our subsidiaries to pay dividends to us;

•enter into new lines of business;

•enter into transactions with affiliates; and

•sell assets or merge with other companies.

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Various risks, uncertainties and events beyond our control, including the impact of pandemics (including the COVID-19 pandemic) and other outbreaks of contagious diseases, could affect our ability to comply with these restrictions and covenants. Failure to comply with any of the restrictions and covenants in our existing or future financing arrangements could result in a default under those arrangements and under other arrangements containing cross-default provisions.

Our credit agreement contains customary financial covenants, including a covenant requiring us to maintain a secured net leverage ratio (as defined in our credit agreement) not to exceed 4.25 to 1.00, measured as of the last day of any fiscal quarter, if, as of the last day of such fiscal quarter, the aggregate outstanding amount of all revolving credit loans, swing line loans and letter of credit obligations (subject to certain exceptions specified in our credit agreement) exceeds 30% of our revolving credit commitments. Our credit agreement permits us to incur other secured or unsecured debt, in all cases subject to conditions and limitations on the amount as specified in our credit agreement. BellRing Brands, LLC’s credit agreement (the “BellRing LLC credit agreement”) contains a financial covenant requiring BellRing Brands, LLC to maintain a total net leverage ratio (as defined in the BellRing LLC credit agreement) not to exceed 6.00 to 1.00, measured as of the last day of each fiscal quarter.

A default would permit the lenders to accelerate the maturity of the debt under these arrangements and to foreclose upon any collateral securing the debt. Under these circumstances, we might not have sufficient funds or other resources to satisfy all of our obligations, including our obligations under our indentures and credit agreement. In addition, the limitations imposed by financing agreements on our ability to incur additional debt and to take other actions might significantly impair our ability to obtain other financing.

Certain of our subsidiaries are not subject to the restrictive covenants in our debt, and their financial resources and assets may not be available to us to pay our obligations on our indebtedness.

We have designated 8th Avenue, BellRing, PHPC Sponsor and PHPC and their respective subsidiaries as unrestricted subsidiaries under our credit agreement and senior note indentures. Any subsidiary that is designated as unrestricted is not a guarantor under our credit agreement or under our senior note indentures, and the assets of our unrestricted subsidiaries do not secure our obligations under our credit agreement. A substantial majority of the assets of PHPC are held in trust and are not available to us to pay our obligations on our indebtedness. In addition, 8th Avenue and BellRing Brands, LLC have entered into secured credit facilities that are separate from our credit agreement and senior note indentures and that restrict, among other matters, their ability to make distributions to us or engage in transactions with us. Accordingly, the financial resources and other assets of 8th Avenue, BellRing Brands, LLC, PHPC Sponsor and PHPC and their respective subsidiaries may not be available to us to pay our obligations on our indebtedness or, if available, may be significantly limited.

To service our indebtedness and other cash needs, we will require a significant amount of cash. Our ability to generate cash depends upon many factors beyond our control, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our operations.

Our ability to pay interest on our outstanding senior notes, to satisfy our other debt obligations and to fund any planned capital expenditures, dividends and other cash needs will depend in part upon the future financial and operating performance of our subsidiaries and upon our ability to renew or refinance borrowings. Prevailing economic conditions and financial, business, competitive, legislative, regulatory and other factors, many of which are beyond our control, including the impact of pandemics (such as the COVID-19 pandemic) and other outbreaks of contagious diseases, will affect our ability to make these payments.

If we are unable to make payments or refinance our debt or obtain new financing under these circumstances, we may consider other options, including:

•sales of assets;

•sales of equity;

•reduction or delay of capital expenditures, strategic acquisitions, investments and alliances; or

•negotiations with our lenders to restructure the applicable debt.

Our businesses may not generate sufficient cash flow from operations, and future borrowings may not be available to us in a sufficient amount, to enable us to pay our indebtedness, including the senior notes and our other debt obligations, or to fund our other liquidity needs. We may need to refinance all or a portion of our indebtedness on or before maturity. We may not be able to refinance any of our debt on commercially reasonable terms or at all.

Increases in interest rates may negatively affect earnings.

As of September 30, 2021, we did not have debt outstanding with exposure to interest rate risk. However, in the future, we may have debt outstanding with exposure to interest rate risk. In addition, the aggregate principal amount of BellRing Brands, LLC’s debt instruments with exposure to interest rate risk was $609.9 million as of September 30, 2021. Higher interest rates will increase the cost of servicing our and BellRing Brands, LLC’s financial instruments with exposure to interest rate risk and could materially reduce our profitability and cash flows. As of September 30, 2021, each one hundred basis points change in the London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) would result in an approximate $3.0 million change in the annual cash interest

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expense, before any principal payment, on BellRing Brands, LLC’s financial instruments with exposure to interest rate risk, including the impact of the $350.0 million in interest rate swap agreements held by BellRing Brands, LLC and excluding the impact of any interest rate floors (as defined in the BellRing Brands, LLC credit agreement). At September 30, 2021, we held interest rate swaps with a notional amount of $1,749.3 million, excluding the interest rate swaps held by BellRing Brands, LLC, to lock into a fixed LIBOR rate for debt expected to be issued but not yet priced.

Certain of BellRing Brands, LLC’s variable rate debt and our secured revolving credit facility use LIBOR as a benchmark for establishing interest rates. In addition, certain of BellRing’s and our hedging transactions reference LIBOR as a benchmark rate in order to determine the applicable interest rate or payment amount. The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) announced in July 2017 that it intended to phase out LIBOR by the end of 2021; in March 2021, the FCA extended the transition dates of certain LIBOR tenors (including tenors used in our credit agreement and the BellRing Brands, LLC credit agreement) to June 30, 2023, after which LIBOR reference rates will cease to be provided. While both our credit agreement and the BellRing Brands, LLC credit agreement contain provisions intended to address the anticipated unavailability of LIBOR, it is unclear if alternative rates or benchmarks will be widely adopted. Also, there may be uncertainty as to the nature of alternative reference rates or differences in the calculation of the applicable interest rate or payment amounts under the terms of the governing agreement or instrument. This uncertainty could result in different financial results under our or BellRing’s hedge or swap transactions, require different hedging strategies or require renegotiation of existing agreements or instruments. In addition, the transition from LIBOR could have a significant impact on the overall interest rate environment. While we do not expect the transition from LIBOR and the risks related thereto to have a material adverse effect on us, it remains uncertain at this time.

Our borrowing costs and access to capital and credit markets could be adversely affected by a downgrade or potential downgrade of our credit ratings.

Rating agencies routinely evaluate us, and their ratings of our long-term and short-term debt are based upon a number of factors, including our cash generating capability, levels of indebtedness, policies with respect to shareholder distributions and financial strength generally, as well as factors beyond our control, such as the then-current state of the economy and our industry generally. Any downgrade of our credit ratings by a credit rating agency, whether as a result of our actions or factors which are beyond our control, can increase our future borrowing costs, impair our ability to access capital and credit markets on terms commercially acceptable to us or at all and result in a reduction in our liquidity. Our borrowing costs and access to capital markets also can be adversely affected if a credit rating agency announces that our ratings are under review for a potential downgrade. An increase in our borrowing costs, limitations on our ability to access the global capital and credit markets or a reduction in our liquidity could adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

U.S. and global capital and credit market issues, including those that have arisen or may arise as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, could negatively affect our liquidity, increase our costs of borrowing and disrupt the operations of our suppliers and customers.

U.S. and global credit markets have, from time to time, experienced significant dislocations and liquidity disruptions which have caused the spreads on prospective debt financings to widen considerably. These circumstances have materially impacted liquidity in the debt markets, making financing terms for borrowers less attractive and in certain cases resulted in the unavailability of certain types of debt financing. During the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been periods, and there may in the future be periods, of increased volatility and pricing in the capital markets. This and other events affecting the credit markets also have had, and may in the future have, an adverse effect on other financial markets in the U.S., which may make it more difficult or costly for us to raise capital through the issuance of common stock or other equity securities or refinance our existing debt, sell our assets or borrow money, if necessary. Our businesses also could be negatively impacted if our suppliers or customers experience disruptions resulting from tighter capital and credit markets or a slowdown in the general economy, whether resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic or otherwise. Any of these risks could impair our ability to fund our operations, limit our ability to expand our businesses or increase our interest expense, which could have a material adverse effect on our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Increases in labor-related costs, including the costs of medical and other employee health and welfare benefits, may reduce our profitability.

Inflationary pressures and shortages in the labor market have increased, and could continue to increase, our labor costs, which have negatively impacted, and could continue to negatively impact, our profitability. Labor costs also include the costs of providing medical and other health and welfare benefits to our employees as well as certain former employees. With approximately 10,735 employees as of November 1, 2021 (which excludes the employees of our unconsolidated subsidiaries), our profitability may be substantially affected by the costs of such benefits. Although we try to control these costs, they can vary because of changes in health care laws and claims experience, which have the potential to increase the cost of providing medical and other employee health and welfare benefits. In addition, we continue to monitor the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on labor-related costs, including costs that we may incur as a result of the ETS. Any substantial increase in these costs could have a materially negative impact on our profitability.

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Impairment in the carrying value of intangible assets could negatively impact our financial condition and results of operations. If our goodwill or other intangible assets become impaired, we will be required to record additional impairment charges, which may be significant.

Our balance sheet includes a significant amount of intangible assets, including goodwill, trademarks, trade names and other acquired intangibles. Goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets are expected to contribute indefinitely to our cash flows and are not amortized. Management reviews all intangible assets for impairment on at least an annual basis or whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that their carrying value may be impaired. Impairments to intangible assets may be caused by factors outside of our control, such as increasing competitive pricing pressures, lower than expected revenue and profit growth rates, changes in industry EBITDA (which stands for earnings before interest, income taxes, depreciation and amortization) and revenue multiples, changes in discount rates based on changes in cost of capital (interest rates, etc.) or the bankruptcy of a significant customer. We also continue to evaluate the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the fair value of our intangible assets. These factors, along with other internal and external factors, could have a significant negative impact on our fair value determination, which could then result in a material impairment charge in our results of operations. In fiscal 2020 and 2021, we had no impairments of goodwill or other intangible assets. In fiscal 2019, we had an impairment of both goodwill and other definite-lived intangible assets. See further discussion of these impairments in “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in Item 7 of this report and Notes 2 and 8 within “Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements” in Item 8 of this report.

Unsuccessful implementation of business strategies to reduce costs, or unintended consequences of the implementation of such strategies, may adversely affect our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Many of our costs, such as freight, raw materials and energy, are outside of our control. Therefore, we must seek to reduce costs in other areas, such as through operating efficiency. If we are not able to complete projects designed to reduce costs and increase operating efficiency on time or within budget, or if the implementation of these projects results in unintended consequences, such as business disruptions, distraction of management and employees or reduced productivity, our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows may be adversely impacted. In certain instances, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted and continues to result in delays of certain cost-saving and productivity initiatives. Continued disruptions and uncertainties related to the COVID-19 pandemic for a sustained period of time could result in additional delays or modifications to our strategic plans and other initiatives or impact our ability to complete projects to reduce costs or improve efficiency on planned timelines. In addition, if the cost-saving initiatives we have implemented, or any future cost-saving initiatives, do not generate the expected cost savings and synergies, our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows may be adversely affected.

If our investment in 8th Avenue is not profitable, our financial condition and results of operations could be adversely impacted. In addition, the third parties that have invested with us in 8th Avenue have certain governance and other rights in 8th Avenue that could result in delayed decisions or disputes that adversely impact its operations, as well as liquidity rights commencing on October 1, 2022 that could result in the compelled sale or initial public offering of 8th Avenue.

As a result of the 8th Avenue Formation Transactions, we hold 6.05 million shares of 8th Avenue Class B common stock, and third parties and members of 8th Avenue’s management team together hold 3.95 million shares of 8th Avenue Class A common stock and 2.5 million shares of 8th Avenue Series A preferred stock. Our 60.5% retained interest in 8th Avenue is accounted for using the equity method, and the carrying value of the investment in 8th Avenue is included on our balance sheet and returns from our investment in 8th Avenue are included in our results of operations. If our investment in 8th Avenue is not profitable, our financial condition and results of operations could be adversely impacted.

Although we hold a substantial majority of the voting power of 8th Avenue’s common stock and have the power to appoint a majority of the members of 8th Avenue’s board of directors, third parties hold certain corporate governance and other rights with respect to 8th Avenue, and we cannot control the actions of such third parties. Such third parties may have economic or business interests or goals that are inconsistent with each other and our business interests or goals, which may result in delayed decisions or disputes and could potentially adversely impact the business and operations of 8th Avenue and, in turn, our businesses and operations. In addition, such third parties have certain liquidity, including securities registration, rights commencing on October 1, 2022 that could result in the compelled sale or initial public offering of 8th Avenue. If these rights are exercised, we and 8th Avenue could be required to devote significant management and employee attention and resources to liquidity transactions, and the potential transactions may disrupt both us and 8th Avenue from conducting business and could adversely affect our and 8th Avenue’s financial condition and results of operations. In addition, there is no assurance that we will realize benefits from any liquidity transaction, including proceeds from a sale of 8th Avenue, in an amount or level satisfactory to us. Any of the foregoing factors could cause an other-than-temporary impairment of our investment and result in realized losses.

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Volatility in the market value of derivatives we use to manage exposures to fluctuations of our manufacturing costs will cause volatility in our margins and net earnings.

We utilize derivatives to manage price risk for some of our principal ingredient and energy costs. Changes in the values of these derivatives are recorded in earnings, resulting in volatility in our margins and net earnings. These gains and losses are reported in “Cost of goods sold” in our Consolidated Statements of Operations and in unallocated corporate items outside of our segment operating results until we utilize the underlying input in our manufacturing process, at which time the gains and losses are reclassified to segment operating profit. We may experience volatile earnings as a result of these accounting treatments.

We may experience losses or be subject to increased funding and expenses to our qualified pension and other postretirement plans, which could negatively impact profits.

We maintain and contribute to qualified defined benefit plans in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. primarily for our Post Consumer Brands and Weetabix businesses. With respect to those plans we maintain, we are obligated to ensure that these plans are funded or paid in accordance with applicable regulations. In the event the assets in which we invest do not perform according to expectations, or the valuation of the projected benefit obligation increases due to changes in interest rates or other factors, we may be required to make significant cash contributions to these plans and recognize increased expense on our financial statements.

Legal and Regulatory Risks

Violations of laws or regulations, as well as new laws or regulations or changes to existing laws or regulations or to interpretations thereof, could adversely affect our businesses.

Our businesses are subject to a variety of laws and extensive regulations administered by federal, state and local government authorities for both the countries where we manufacture or license products, primarily in the U.S., Canada and the U.K., and those where we distribute products, including requirements related to food safety, quality, manufacturing, processing, storage, marketing, advertising, labeling and distribution, animal welfare, worker health and workplace safety. In the U.S., we are regulated by, and our activities are affected by, among other federal, state and local authorities and regulations, the FDA, the USDA, the Federal Trade Commission, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and California’s Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 (Proposition 65). Internationally, we are regulated by, among other authorities, Health Canada, the U.K.’s Food Standards Agency, Health and Safety Executive, Environment Agency, Environmental Health, the Information Commissioners Office and the Trading Standards Office and their equivalents in E.U. member states. We also are regulated by similar authorities elsewhere in the world where our products are distributed or licensed.

Certain of our businesses are subject to heightened regulations. Specifically, certain of our Foodservice and Refrigerated Retail businesses’ meat and egg products are subject to continuous on-site inspections by the USDA. Some of our BellRing Brands products are regulated by the FDA as dietary supplements, which are subject to FDA regulations and levels of regulatory scrutiny that are different from those applicable to conventional food. Internationally, certain of our BellRing Brands products are regulated as food and dietary supplements. Such heightened regulatory scrutiny results in increased costs of operations and the potential for delays in product sales. In addition, there is some risk that product classifications could be changed by the regulators, which could result in significant fines, penalties, discontinued distribution and relabeling costs.

Governmental regulations also affect taxes and levies, tariffs, import and export restrictions, healthcare costs, energy usage, data privacy and immigration and labor issues, any or all of which may have a direct or indirect effect on our businesses or the businesses of our customers or suppliers. In addition, we could be the target of claims relating to alleged false or deceptive advertising under federal, state and foreign laws and regulations and may be subject to initiatives to limit or prohibit the marketing and advertising of our products to children. We also may be impacted by changes to administrative policies, such as business restrictions, tariffs and trade agreements, in markets in which we manufacture, sell or distribute our products. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in quarantines, travel restrictions, product and equipment seizures, import and export restrictions, price controls, governmental and regulatory actions, including the ETS, mandatory business closures and other restrictions that have adversely impacted and could in the future adversely impact our operations.

The impact of current laws and regulations, changes in these laws or regulations or interpretations thereof or the introduction of new laws or regulations could increase the costs of doing business for us or our customers, suppliers or third party manufacturers, causing our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows to be adversely affected. As specific examples, Canada has enacted new food safety laws, and some states have passed laws that mandate specific housing requirements for layer hens and mandate specific space requirements for farm animal enclosures, including layer hens and pigs, which has resulted, and we expect will continue to result, in us incurring additional operating and capital costs in the future. The limited availability of government inspectors due to a government shutdown, government restrictions, pandemics (such as the COVID-19 pandemic) or other outbreaks of contagious diseases or closed borders also could cause disruption to our manufacturing facilities.

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It also is possible that federal, state, local or foreign enforcement authorities might take regulatory or enforcement action, which could result in significant fines or penalties, revocations of required licenses or injunctions, as well as potential criminal sanctions. If we are found to be significantly out of compliance with applicable laws, regulations or permits, an enforcement authority could issue a warning letter and/or institute enforcement actions that could result in additional costs, product detentions, substantial delays in production or even a temporary shutdown in manufacturing and product sales while the non-conformances are rectified. Also, we may have to recall product or otherwise remove product from the market, and temporarily cease its manufacture and distribution, which would increase our costs and reduce our revenues. Any claims, such as product liability or labeling claims, resulting from the failure to comply with applicable laws and regulations would be expensive to defend and could result in substantial damage awards against us or harm our reputation. Any of these events would negatively impact our revenues and costs of operations.

Pending and future litigation may impair our reputation or cause us to incur significant costs.

We are, or may become, party to various lawsuits and claims arising in the normal course of business, which may include lawsuits or claims relating to contracts, including as a result of the contract suspension notices delivered to certain of our suppliers as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, intellectual property, product recalls, product liability, false or deceptive advertising, employment matters, environmental matters or other aspects of our business. There has been a recent increase in lawsuits filed against food and beverage companies alleging deceptive advertising and labeling. In addition, actions we have taken or may take, or decisions we have made or may make, as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, may result in legal claims or litigation against us. Negative publicity resulting from allegations made in lawsuits or claims asserted against us, whether or not valid, may adversely affect our reputation or brands. In addition, we may incur substantial costs and fees in defending such actions or asserting our rights, be required to pay damage awards or settlements or become subject to injunctions or other equitable remedies, which could have a material adverse effect on our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. The outcome of litigation is often difficult to predict, and the outcome of pending or future litigation may have a material adverse effect on our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Although we have various insurance programs in place, the potential liabilities associated with these litigation matters, or those that could arise in the future, could be excluded from coverage or, if covered, could exceed the coverage provided by such programs. In addition, insurance carriers may seek to rescind or deny coverage with respect to pending or future claims or lawsuits. If we do not have sufficient coverage under our policies, or if coverage is denied, we may be required to make material payments to settle litigation or satisfy any judgment. Any of these consequences could have a material adverse effect on our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Technology failures, cybersecurity incidents or breaches of our data privacy protections could disrupt our operations and negatively impact our businesses.

We rely on information technology networks and systems to process, transmit and store operating and financial information, to manage and support a variety of business processes and activities, including production, and to comply with regulatory, legal and tax requirements. For example, our production and distribution facilities and inventory management utilize information technology to increase efficiencies and control costs. We also depend upon our information technology infrastructure for digital marketing activities and for electronic communications among our locations, personnel, customers, third party manufacturers and suppliers. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of such networks and systems increased while many of our employees were working remotely. Our and our third party vendors’ information technology systems may be vulnerable to a variety of invasions, interruptions or malfunctions due to events beyond our or their control, including, but not limited to, natural disasters, user error, terrorist attacks, telecommunications failures, power outages, computer viruses, ransomware and malware, hardware or software failures, cybersecurity incidents, hackers and other causes. Such invasions, interruptions or malfunctions could negatively impact our businesses.

If we do not allocate and effectively manage the resources necessary to build and sustain the proper technology infrastructure and to maintain and protect the related automated and manual control processes, or if one of our third party service providers fails to provide the services we require, we could be subject to, among other things, billing and collection errors, business disruptions or damage resulting from such events, particularly material security breaches and cybersecurity incidents. Cyberattacks and other cyber incidents are occurring more frequently, are constantly evolving in nature, are becoming more sophisticated and are being made by individuals and groups (including criminal hackers, hacktivists, state-sponsored institutions, terrorist organizations and individuals or groups participating in organized crime) with a wide range of expertise and motives (including monetization of corporate, payment or other internal or personal data, theft of trade secrets and intellectual property for competitive advantage and leverage for political, social, economic and environmental reasons).

If any of our significant information technology systems suffers severe damage, disruption or shutdown, including by malicious or unintentional actions of contractors or employees or by cyber attacks, and our business continuity plans do not effectively resolve the issues in a timely manner, our product sales, businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows may be materially and adversely affected, and we could experience delays in reporting our financial results. In addition,

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there is a risk of business interruption, competitive loss, litigation, reputational damage and other losses from leaks of confidential or personal information. While we have insurance programs in place related to these matters, the potential liabilities associated with such events, or those that could arise in the future, could be excluded from coverage or, if covered, could exceed the coverage provided by such programs.

We implement and maintain systems and processes aimed at detecting and preventing information and cybersecurity incidents, which require significant investment, maintenance and ongoing monitoring and updating as technologies and regulatory requirements change and as efforts to overcome security measures become more sophisticated. Despite our efforts, the possibility of information and cybersecurity incidents and human error or malfeasance cannot be eliminated entirely and will evolve as new and emerging technology is deployed, including the increasing use of personal mobile and computing devices that are outside of our network and control environments. Risks associated with such incidents and activities include theft of funds and other monetary loss, the disruption of our operations and the unauthorized disclosure, release, gathering, monitoring, misuse, modification, loss or destruction of confidential, proprietary, trade secret or other information (including account data information), the effects of which could be compounded if not detected or reported quickly. An information or cybersecurity incident may not be detected until well after it occurs and the severity and potential impact may not be fully known for a substantial period of time after it has been discovered.

Our networks and systems are subject to constant attempts to identify and exploit potential vulnerabilities in our operating environment with intent to disrupt our business operations and capture, destroy, manipulate or expose various types of information relating to corporate trade secrets, customer information, vendor information and other sensitive business information, including acquisition activity, non-public financial results and intellectual property. There are several motivations for cyber threat actors, including criminal activities such as fraud, identity theft and ransom, corporate or nation-state espionage, political agendas, public embarrassment with the intent to cause financial or reputational harm, intent to disrupt information technology systems, and to expose and exploit potential security and privacy vulnerabilities in corporate systems and websites. We are subject to attempted cyber intrusions, hacks and ransom attacks and although we have not detected a material security breach to date, we have had and continue to experience events of this nature and expect them to continue.

    We also are subject to an evolving body of federal, state and foreign laws, regulations, guidelines and principles regarding personal information, data privacy, data protection and data security. Several states as well as foreign governments have laws and regulations dealing with the collection and use of personal information obtained from their data subjects, including the General Data Protection Regulation, the E.U.’s retained law version of the General Data Protection Regulation and the California Privacy Rights Act, and we could incur substantial penalties or litigation related to violations of such laws and regulations.

We are subject to certain continuing obligations, including indemnification obligations and lease guarantor obligations, related to the sale of the Bob Evans restaurants business that could adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

In April 2017, prior to our acquisition of Bob Evans, Bob Evans completed the sale and separation of its restaurants business (the “Bob Evans Restaurants Transaction”) to Bob Evans Restaurants, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company formed by affiliates of Golden Gate Capital Opportunity Fund, L.P. (the “Bob Evans Restaurants Buyer”), pursuant to a sale agreement between Bob Evans and the Bob Evans Restaurants Buyer (the sale agreement, together with agreements related thereto, collectively referred to as the “Restaurants Sale Agreement”). As a result of our acquisition of Bob Evans, we have the obligation to indemnify the Bob Evans Restaurants Buyer for certain breaches of the Restaurants Sale Agreement and certain other liabilities set forth in the Restaurants Sale Agreement.

In addition, in connection with the Bob Evans Restaurants Transaction, the Bob Evans Restaurants Buyer assumed the lease obligations of the Bob Evans restaurants business. However, as part of a sale leaseback transaction of 143 of Bob Evans’s restaurant properties that Bob Evans completed in 2016, Bob Evans and one of its wholly-owned subsidiaries entered into payment and performance guarantees relating to the leases on such restaurant properties (the “Guarantees”), which remained in place after the completion of the Bob Evans Restaurants Transaction. The Guarantees have subsequently been reduced to 129 properties. Although the Bob Evans Restaurants Buyer assumed responsibility for the payment and performance obligations under the leases on the sale leaseback properties, under the terms of the Guarantees, we remain liable for payments due under any of the leases that remain in place if the Bob Evans Restaurants Buyer fails to satisfy its lease obligations. Any such unexpected expenses related to our obligations under the Guarantees or under the Restaurants Sale Agreement could adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Termination of our material intellectual property licenses could have a material adverse effect on our businesses.

We market certain of our products in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and several other locations pursuant to intellectual property license agreements. These licenses give us the right to use certain names, characters and logos in connection with our products and to sell the products in certain regions. If we were to breach any material term of these license agreements and not timely cure the breach, the licensor could terminate the agreement. If the licensor were to terminate our rights to use the names, characters

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and logos for this reason or any other reason, or if a licensor decided not to renew a license agreement upon the expiration of the license term, the loss of such rights could have a material adverse effect on our businesses.

Our intellectual property rights are valuable and any inability to protect them could reduce the value of our products and brands.

We consider our intellectual property rights, particularly our trademarks, but also our patents, trade secrets, know-how, copyrights and licenses, to be a significant and valuable asset to us. We attempt to protect our intellectual property rights through a combination of patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret laws, as well as exclusive and nonexclusive licensing agreements, third party nondisclosure, confidentiality and assignment agreements, confidentiality provisions in third party agreements and the policing of third party misuses of our intellectual property. Our failure or inability to obtain or maintain adequate protection of our intellectual property rights, or any change in law or other changes that serve to lessen or remove the current legal protections of intellectual property, may diminish our competitiveness and could materially harm our businesses. In addition, as certain of our trademarks, trade names and trade secrets are subject to licenses and are shared and used by third parties, negative events outside of our control could have an adverse impact on us and our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

We face the risk of claims that we have infringed third parties’ intellectual property rights. Any claims of intellectual property infringement, even those without merit, could be expensive and time-consuming to defend; cause us to cease making, licensing or using products that incorporate the challenged intellectual property; require us to redesign or rebrand our products or packaging, if feasible; divert management’s attention and resources; or require us to enter into royalty or licensing agreements in order to obtain the right to use a third party’s intellectual property. Any royalty or licensing agreements, if required, may not be available to us on acceptable terms or at all. Additionally, a successful claim of infringement against us could require us to pay significant damages, enter into costly license or royalty agreements or stop the sale of certain products, any or all of which could have a negative impact on our operating profits and harm our future prospects.

We are subject to environmental laws and regulations that can impose significant costs and expose us to potential financial liabilities.

We are subject to extensive federal, state, local and foreign laws and regulations relating to the protection of human health and the environment, including those limiting the discharge and release of pollutants into the environment and those regulating the transport, storage, disposal and remediation of, and exposure to, solid and hazardous wastes. Certain environmental laws and regulations can impose joint and several liability without regard to fault on responsible parties, including past and present owners and operators of sites, related to cleaning up sites at which hazardous materials were disposed of or released. Failure to comply with environmental laws and regulations could result in severe fines and penalties by governments or courts of law. In addition, future laws may more stringently regulate environmental matters.

Future events, such as new or more stringent environmental laws and regulations, new environmental claims, the discovery of currently unknown environmental conditions requiring response action or more vigorous interpretations or enforcement of existing environmental laws and regulations, might require us to incur additional costs that could have a material adverse effect on our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Risks Related to Ownership of Our Common Stock

Provisions in our articles of incorporation and bylaws and provisions of Missouri law may prevent or delay an acquisition of the Company, which could decrease the trading price of our common stock.

Our amended and restated articles of incorporation (as amended, the “articles of incorporation”), our amended and restated bylaws (the “bylaws”) and Missouri law contain provisions intended to deter coercive takeover practices and inadequate takeover bids by making such practices or bids unacceptably expensive and incentivizing prospective acquirers to negotiate with our Board of Directors rather than to attempt a hostile takeover. These provisions include, among others:

•our Board of Directors is divided into three classes with staggered terms;

•our Board of Directors fixes the number of members on the Board;

•elimination of the rights of our shareholders to act by written consent (except when such consent is unanimous) and to call shareholder meetings;

•rules regarding how shareholders may present proposals or nominate directors for election at shareholder meetings;

•the right of our Board of Directors to issue preferred stock without shareholder approval;

•supermajority vote requirements for certain amendments to our articles of incorporation and bylaws;

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•anti-takeover provisions of Missouri law which may prevent us from engaging in a business combination with an interested shareholder, or which may deter third parties from acquiring amounts of our common stock above certain thresholds; and

•limitations on the right of shareholders to remove directors.

General Risk Factors

Changes in tax laws may adversely affect us, and the Internal Revenue Service or a court may disagree with our tax positions, which may result in adverse effects on our businesses, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

There can be no assurance that future tax law changes, including proposals under the Build Back Better bill, will not increase the rate of the corporate income tax significantly; impose new limitations on deductions, credits or other tax benefits; or make other changes that may adversely affect the performance of an investment in our stock. Furthermore, there is no assurance that the Internal Revenue Service or a court will agree with the positions taken by us, in which case tax penalties and interest may be imposed that could adversely affect our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

The market price and trading volume of our common stock may be volatile.

The market price of our common stock could fluctuate significantly for many reasons, including in response to the risks and uncertainties discussed in this report, announcements we make about our business, variations in our quarterly results of operations and those of our competitors, market data that is available to subscribers, reports by industry analysts, whether or not we meet the financial estimates of analysts who follow us, industry or market trends, investor perceptions, actions by credit rating agencies, future sales of our common stock or negative developments relating to our customers, competitors or suppliers, as well as general economic and industry conditions, including those that result from the COVID-19 pandemic.

As a result of these factors, investors in our common stock may not be able to resell their shares at or above the price at which they purchase our common stock. In addition, the stock market in general has experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that often have been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of individual companies. These broad market and industry factors may materially reduce the market price of our common stock, regardless of our operating performance. In addition, in the past, some companies that have had volatile market prices for their securities have been subject to class action or derivative lawsuits. The filing of a lawsuit against us, regardless of the outcome, could have a negative effect on our businesses, financial condition and results of operations, as it could result in substantial legal costs and a diversion of management’s attention and resources.

Your percentage ownership in Post may be diluted in the future.

As with any publicly-traded company, our shareholders’ percentage ownership in Post may be diluted in the future because of equity issuances for acquisitions, capital market transactions or otherwise, including equity awards that we expect will be granted to our directors, officers and employees and the vesting of those equity awards. For a brief discussion of our equity incentive plan, see Note 20 within “Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements” in Item 8 of this report.

If we are unable to continue to satisfy the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or our internal control over financial reporting is not effective, the reliability of our financial statements may be questioned, and our stock price may suffer.

Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (“SOX”) requires any company subject to the reporting requirements of the U.S. securities laws to perform a comprehensive evaluation of its and its consolidated subsidiaries’ internal control over financial reporting. To comply with this statute, we are required to document and test our internal control procedures, our management is required to assess and issue a report concerning our internal control over financial reporting and our independent registered public accounting firm is required to issue an opinion on its audit of our internal control over financial reporting.

BellRing and PHPC, as publicly-traded companies, also are each separately subject to SOX. Because PHPC is an “emerging growth company” (“EGC”) under the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, its independent registered public accounting firm is not required to formally attest to the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under SOX. BellRing, which ceased to be an EGC during fiscal 2021, is required to comply with this requirement under SOX. Similarly, at the time that PHPC ceases to be an EGC, it also will be subject to this requirement under SOX. Further, if BellRing and PHPC do not satisfy the requirements imposed by SOX, or if they do not have effective internal control over financial reporting, any such occurrences could impact our ability to satisfy our SOX requirements and could impair the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting.

The rules governing the standards that must be met for management to assess our internal control over financial reporting are complex and require significant documentation, testing and possible remediation to meet the detailed standards under the rules. During the course of its testing, our management may identify material weaknesses or significant deficiencies which may not be remedied in time to meet the annual deadline imposed by SOX. If our management cannot favorably assess the

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effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting or our independent registered public accounting firm identifies material weaknesses in our internal controls, investor confidence in our financial results may weaken, and our stock price may consequently suffer. In addition, in the event that we do not maintain effective internal control over financial reporting, we might fail to timely prevent or detect potential financial misstatements. As of September 30, 2021, management determined that our internal control over financial reporting was effective.

Actions of shareholders could cause us to incur substantial costs, divert management’s attention and resources and have an adverse effect on our businesses.

From time to time, we may be subject to proposals and other requests from shareholders urging us to take certain corporate actions, including proposals seeking to influence our corporate policies or effecting a change in our management. In the event of such shareholder proposals, particularly with respect to matters which our management and Board of Directors, in exercising their fiduciary duties, disagree with or have determined not to pursue, our businesses could be adversely affected because responding to actions and requests of shareholders can be costly and time-consuming, disrupting our operations and diverting the attention of management and our employees. Additionally, perceived uncertainties as to our future direction may result in the loss of potential business opportunities and may make it more difficult to attract and retain qualified personnel, business partners and customers.

ITEM 1B.    UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

None.

ITEM 2.    PROPERTIES

We own our principal executive offices and lease corporate administrative offices in St. Louis, Missouri. The general offices and locations of our principal operations for each of our businesses are set forth in the summary below. We also lease sales offices mainly in the U.S. and maintain a number of stand-alone distribution facilities. In addition, there is on-site warehouse space available at many of our manufacturing facilities, and in addition to the owned and leased warehouse space discussed below, we contract for additional warehouse space on an as-needed basis.

We own many of our manufacturing facilities. Certain of our owned real properties may be subject to mortgages or other applicable security interests pursuant to our financing arrangements. Management believes our facilities generally are in good operating condition and, taken as a whole and in conjunction with our arrangements with third party manufacturers (including a planned expansion in response to demand for certain BellRing Brands products exceeding their production capacity in fiscal 2021) are suitable, adequate and of sufficient capacity for our current operations. See “Risk Factors” included in Item 1A of this report for more information about our supply chain. Utilization of manufacturing capacity varies by manufacturing facility based upon the type of products assigned and the level of demand for those products.

Post Consumer Brands

The main administrative office for Post Consumer Brands, which we own, is located in Lakeville, Minnesota. Post Consumer Brands also leases administrative office space in Bentonville, Arkansas; Cincinnati, Ohio and Toronto, Ontario.

Post Consumer Brands has nine owned manufacturing facilities located in Asheboro, North Carolina; Battle Creek, Michigan; Jonesboro, Arkansas; Lancaster, Ohio; Niagara Falls, Ontario; Northfield, Minnesota (which consists of two facilities and also includes warehouse space); Sparks, Nevada and Tremonton, Utah. Post Consumer Brands also leases land for another owned manufacturing facility located in Cobourg, Ontario. Post Consumer Brands maintains approximately 6.2 million square feet of warehouse and distribution space throughout the U.S. and Canada, approximately 1.6 million of which is owned by us and approximately 4.6 million of which is leased by us.

Weetabix

Weetabix has three owned manufacturing facilities in the U.K. in Burton Latimer, Corby and Ashton-under-Lyne, each of which includes warehousing space. In addition, Weetabix’s joint ventures in Kenya and South Africa each owns a manufacturing facility in those respective countries. Weetabix also leases office space in the United Arab Emirates, Spain and China, and leases warehouse space in China.

Foodservice

The Foodservice segment has leased administrative offices in Minnetonka, Minnesota. Operations for our Foodservice segment include ten owned egg products production facilities in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and Oregon, and six leased egg products production facilities in Arizona, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, South Dakota and Tennessee. The egg products business owns seven layer facilities in the U.S. Operations for our Foodservice segment include two owned potato processing facilities in Mars Hill, Maine and Chaska, Minnesota, two owned meat products processing and production facilities in Norfolk and Ravenna, Nebraska and a leased potato processing facility in North Las Vegas, Nevada.

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Refrigerated Retail

The Refrigerated Retail segment has leased administrative offices in New Albany, Ohio and Rogers, Arkansas and also uses some of the leased administrative office space in Minnetonka, Minnesota previously referenced for our Foodservice business. In addition to certain of the egg products production facilities previously referenced for our Foodservice business, our Refrigerated Retail operations include owned sausage production plants in Hillsdale, Michigan and Xenia, Ohio. In addition to the facilities in Mars Hill, Maine and Chaska, Minnesota previously referenced for our Foodservice business, our Refrigerated Retail operations include an owned manufacturing plant in Sulphur Springs, Texas, which produces products such as sandwiches, side dishes and precooked sausage products, and a leased potato and side dish processing facility in Lima, Ohio. The Refrigerated Retail segment uses an owned transportation facility in Springfield, Ohio and a leased transportation facility in Sunnyvale, Texas. The Refrigerated Retail segment additionally owns a cheese processing and packaging facility and warehouse in Lake Mills, Wisconsin for its cheese and other dairy-case products business.

BellRing Brands

The BellRing Brands segment leases research and development facilities and administrative offices in Emeryville, California and an administrative office in Rogers, Arkansas. The BellRing Brands business also uses administrative office space in St. Louis, Missouri pursuant to a master services agreement by and among Post, BellRing and BellRing Brands, LLC entered into in connection with the BellRing IPO and the BellRing formation transactions. The BellRing Brands segment leases administrative offices in Munich, Germany and Worb, Switzerland. In addition, the BellRing Brands segment leases warehouse space in Tagelswangen, Switzerland and a distribution center with warehouse space in Kleve, Germany, both through third party logistics firms. The BellRing Brands business manufactures protein and energy bars and gels and conducts research and development through an owned facility in Voerde, Germany.

ITEM 3.    LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

For information regarding our legal proceedings, refer to “Legal Proceedings” in Note 18 within “Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements” in Item 8 of this report, which is incorporated herein by reference.

Pursuant to SEC regulations, the Company is required to disclose certain information about environmental proceedings with a governmental entity as a party if the Company reasonably believes such proceedings may result in monetary sanctions, exclusive of interest and costs, above a stated threshold. Pursuant to such SEC regulations, the Company has elected to use a threshold of $1.0 million for purposes of determining whether disclosure of any such proceedings is required. Applying this threshold, there are no such environmental proceedings pending as of the filing date of this report or that were resolved during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021.

ITEM 4.    MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES

Not applicable.

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PART II

ITEM 5.    MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED SHAREHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

Market for Common Stock and Dividends

Our common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “POST”. There were approximately 4,570 shareholders of record on November 15, 2021. We did not pay any cash dividends on our common stock during the years ended September 30, 2021 or 2020. We have no plans to pay cash dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future, and the indentures governing our debt securities and our credit facilities restrict our ability to pay dividends. The information required under this Item 5 concerning equity compensation plan information is set out under Item 12 of this report and is incorporated herein by this reference.

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

The following table sets forth information with respect to shares of our common stock that we purchased during the fiscal quarter ended September 30, 2021:

Period	Total Number of Shares Purchased	Average Price Paid per Share (a)	Total Number of Shares Purchased as Part of Publicly Announced Plans or Programs (b)	Approximate Dollar Value of Shares that may yet be Purchased Under the Plans or Programs (a) (b)
July 1, 2021 - July 31, 2021	—	$0.00	—	$333,633,659
August 1, 2021 - August 31, 2021	327,716	$112.34	327,716	$296,818,669
September 1, 2021 - September 30, 2021	381,193	$108.93	381,193	$255,295,757
Total	708,909	$110.50	708,909	$255,295,757

(a)Does not include broker’s commissions.

(b)On February 2, 2021, our Board of Directors approved an authorization to repurchase up to $400,000,000 of shares of our common stock effective February 6, 2021 (the “Existing Authorization”). The Existing Authorization had an expiration date of February 6, 2023. On November 17, 2021, our Board of Directors terminated the Existing Authorization effective November 19, 2021 and approved a new authorization to repurchase up to $400,000,000 shares of our common stock effective November 20, 2021 (the “New Authorization”). The New Authorization expires on November 20, 2023. Repurchases may be made from time to time in the open market, in private purchases, through forward, derivative, accelerated repurchase or automatic purchase transactions, or otherwise. The table above shows the approximate dollar value of shares that could have been repurchased under the Existing Authorization.

Performance Graph

The following performance graph compares the changes, for the period indicated, in the cumulative total value of $100 hypothetically invested in each of (i) Post common stock; (ii) the Russell 1000 index; and (iii) the S&P 1500 Packaged Foods & Meats Index.

This graph covers the period from September 30, 2016 through September 30, 2021.

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* $100 invested on 9/30/16 in stock or index.

Performance Graph Data

	Post ($)	Russell 1000 Index ($)	S&P 1500 Packaged Foods & Meats Index ($)
9/30/2016	100.00	100.00	100.00
9/29/2017	114.38	118.53	94.33
9/28/2018	127.04	139.57	92.50
9/30/2019	137.15	144.97	105.47
9/30/2020	111.44	168.17	109.73
9/30/2021	142.75	220.21	115.90

The stock price performance included in this graph is not necessarily indicative of future stock price performance.

This performance graph shall not be deemed “filed” for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), or incorporated by reference into any of our filings under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Exchange Act, except as shall be expressly set forth by specific reference in such filing.

ITEM 6.    [RESERVED]

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ITEM 7.    MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The following discussion summarizes the significant factors affecting the consolidated operating results, financial condition, liquidity and capital resources of Post Holdings, Inc. This discussion should be read in conjunction with the financial statements under Item 8 of this report and the “Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Statements” on page 1 of this report.

OVERVIEW

We are a consumer packaged goods holding company, operating in five reportable segments: Post Consumer Brands, Weetabix, Foodservice, Refrigerated Retail and BellRing Brands. Our products are sold through a variety of channels, including grocery, club and drug stores, mass merchandisers, foodservice, food ingredient and eCommerce.

At September 30, 2021, our reportable segments were as follows:

•Post Consumer Brands: North American ready-to-eat (“RTE”) cereal and Peter Pan nut butters;

•Weetabix: primarily United Kingdom (the “U.K.”) RTE cereal and muesli;

•Foodservice: primarily egg and potato products;

•Refrigerated Retail: primarily side dish, egg, cheese and sausage products; and

•BellRing Brands: ready-to-drink (“RTD”) protein shakes, other RTD beverages, powders and nutrition bars.

Transactions

Initial Public Offering of Post Holdings Partnering Corporation

On May 28, 2021, we and Post Holdings Partnering Corporation, a newly formed special purpose acquisition company incorporated as a Delaware corporation (“PHPC”), consummated the initial public offering of 30.0 million units of PHPC (the “PHPC Units”). On June 3, 2021, PHPC issued an additional 4.5 million PHPC Units pursuant to the underwriters’ exercise in full of their over-allotment option. The term “PHPC IPO” as used herein generally refers to the consummation of the initial public offering on May 28, 2021 and the underwriters’ exercise in full of their over-allotment option on June 3, 2021. Each PHPC Unit consists of one share of Series A common stock of PHPC, $0.0001 par value per share (“PHPC Series A Common Stock”), and one-third of one redeemable warrant of PHPC, each whole warrant entitling the holder thereof to purchase one share of PHPC Series A Common Stock at an exercise price of $11.50 per share (the “PHPC Warrants”). The PHPC Units were sold at a price of $10.00 per PHPC Unit, generating gross proceeds to PHPC of $345.0 million. PHPC Sponsor, LLC, our wholly-owned subsidiary (“PHPC Sponsor”), purchased 4.0 million of the 30.0 million PHPC Units in the initial public offering on May 28, 2021 for $40.0 million. The PHPC Units began trading on the New York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE”) under the ticker symbol “PSPC.U” on May 26, 2021. As of July 16, 2021, holders of the PHPC Units could elect to separately trade their shares of PHPC Series A Common Stock and PHPC Warrants, with the shares of PHPC Series A Common Stock and the PHPC Warrants listed on the NYSE under the symbols “PSPC” and “PSPC WS”, respectively. Under the terms of the PHPC IPO, PHPC is required to consummate a partnering transaction within 24 months (or 27 months under certain circumstances) of the completion of the PHPC IPO.

Substantially concurrently with the closing of the initial public offering on May 28, 2021, PHPC completed the private sale of 1.0 million units of PHPC (the “PHPC Private Placement Units”), at a purchase price of $10.00 per PHPC Private Placement Unit, to PHPC Sponsor, and in connection with the underwriters’ exercise in full of their option to purchase additional PHPC Units, PHPC Sponsor purchased an additional 0.1 million PHPC Private Placement Units, generating proceeds to PHPC of $10.9 million (the “PHPC Private Placement”). The PHPC Private Placement Units sold in the PHPC Private Placement are identical to the PHPC Units sold in the PHPC IPO, except that, with respect to the warrants underlying the PHPC Private Placement Units (the “PHPC Private Placement Warrants”) that are held by PHPC Sponsor or its permitted transferees, such PHPC Private Placement Warrants (i) may be exercised for cash or on a cashless basis, (ii) are not subject to being called for redemption (except in certain circumstances when the PHPC Warrants are called for redemption and a certain price per share of PHPC Series A Common Stock threshold is met) and (iii) subject to certain limited exceptions, will be subject to transfer restrictions until 30 days following the consummation of PHPC’s partnering transaction. If the PHPC Private Placement Warrants are held by holders other than PHPC Sponsor or its permitted transferees, the PHPC Private Placement Warrants will be redeemable by PHPC in all redemption scenarios and exercisable by holders on the same basis as the PHPC Warrants.

In addition, we, through PHPC Sponsor’s ownership of 8.6 million shares of Series F common stock of PHPC, $0.0001 par value per share, have certain governance rights in PHPC relating to the election of PHPC directors and voting rights on amendments to PHPC’s certificate of incorporation.

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In connection with the completion of the initial public offering on May 28, 2021, PHPC also entered into a forward purchase agreement with PHPC Sponsor (the “Forward Purchase Agreement”), providing for the purchase by PHPC Sponsor, at the election of PHPC, of up to 10.0 million units of PHPC (the “PHPC Forward Purchase Units”), subject to the terms and conditions of the Forward Purchase Agreement, with each PHPC Forward Purchase Unit consisting of one share of PHPC’s Series B common stock, of $0.0001 par value per share, and one-third of one warrant to purchase one share of PHPC Series A Common Stock, for a purchase price of $10.00 per PHPC Forward Purchase Unit, in an aggregate amount of up to $100.0 million in a private placement to occur concurrently with the closing of PHPC’s partnering transaction.

In determining the accounting treatment of our equity interest in PHPC, management concluded that PHPC is a variable interest entity (“VIE”) as defined by Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 810, “Consolidation.” A VIE is an entity in which equity investors at risk lack the characteristics of a controlling financial interest. VIEs are consolidated by the primary beneficiary, the party who has both the power to direct the activities of a VIE that most significantly impact the entity’s economic performance, as well as the obligation to absorb losses of the entity or the right to receive benefits from the entity that could potentially be significant to the entity. PHPC Sponsor is the primary beneficiary of PHPC as it has, through its equity interest, the right to receive benefits or the obligation to absorb losses from PHPC, as well as the power to direct a majority of the activities that significantly impact PHPC’s economic performance, including partnering transaction target identification. As such, PHPC is fully consolidated into our financial statements.

As of September 30, 2021, we beneficially owned 31.0% of the equity of PHPC and the net income and net assets of PHPC were consolidated within our financial statements. The remaining 69.0% of the consolidated net income and net assets of PHPC, representing the percentage of economic interest in PHPC held by the public stockholders of PHPC through their ownership of PHPC equity, were allocated to redeemable noncontrolling interest (“NCI”). All transactions between PHPC and PHPC Sponsor, as well as related financial statement impacts, eliminate in consolidation.

Initial Public Offering of BellRing Brands, Inc.

On October 21, 2019, BellRing Brands, Inc. (“BellRing”), our subsidiary, closed its initial public offering (the “BellRing IPO”) of 39.4 million shares of its Class A common stock, $0.01 par value per share (the “BellRing Class A Common Stock”). BellRing received net proceeds from the BellRing IPO of $524.4 million, after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions. As a result of the BellRing IPO and certain other transactions completed in connection with the BellRing IPO, BellRing became a publicly-traded company with the BellRing Class A Common Stock being traded on the NYSE under the ticker symbol “BRBR” and the holding company of BellRing Brands, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (“BellRing LLC”), owning 28.8% of its non-voting membership units (the “BellRing LLC units”) with us owning 71.2% of the BellRing LLC units and one share of BellRing’s Class B common stock, $0.01 par value per share (the “BellRing Class B Common Stock” and, collectively with the BellRing Class A Common Stock, the “BellRing Common Stock”). The BellRing Class B Common Stock has voting rights but no rights to dividends or other economic rights. For so long as we and our affiliates (other than BellRing and its subsidiaries) directly own more than 50% of the BellRing LLC units, the BellRing Class B Common Stock represents 67% of the combined voting power of the BellRing Common Stock, which provides us control over BellRing’s board of directors and results in the full consolidation of BellRing and its subsidiaries into our financial statements. BellRing LLC is the holding company for our historical active nutrition business, reported herein as the BellRing Brands segment and reported historically as the Active Nutrition segment. The term “BellRing” as used herein generally refers to BellRing Brands, Inc.; however, in discussions related to debt facilities, the term “BellRing” refers to BellRing Brands, LLC.

As of September 30, 2021 and 2020, we and our affiliates (other than BellRing and its subsidiaries) owned 71.2% of the BellRing LLC units and the net income and net assets of BellRing and its subsidiaries were consolidated within our financial statements, and the remaining 28.8% of the consolidated net income and net assets of BellRing and its subsidiaries, representing the percentage of economic interest in BellRing LLC held by BellRing (and therefore indirectly held by the public stockholders of BellRing through their ownership of the BellRing Class A Common Stock), were allocated to noncontrolling interest. For additional information, see Notes 4 and 17 within “Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.”

Capitalization of 8th Avenue Food & Provisions, Inc.

On October 1, 2018, 8th Avenue Food & Provisions, Inc. (“8th Avenue”) was separately capitalized by us and third parties through a series of transactions (the “8th Avenue Transactions”), and 8th Avenue became the holding company for our historical private brands business, reported historically as our Private Brands segment. We retained shares of common stock equal to 60.5% of the common equity in 8th Avenue. 8th Avenue is no longer consolidated in our financial statements and the 60.5% common equity retained interest in 8th Avenue is accounted for using the equity method. For additional information, see Notes 4 and 7 within “Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.”

Acquisitions

We completed the following acquisitions during the reporting period:

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Fiscal 2021

•Private label RTE cereal business of TreeHouse Foods, Inc. (the “PL RTE Cereal Business”), acquired on June 1, 2021 and reported in our Post Consumer Brands segment;

•Egg Beaters liquid egg brand (“Egg Beaters”), acquired on May 27, 2021 and reported in our Refrigerated Retail segment;

•Almark Foods business and related assets (“Almark”), acquired on February 1, 2021 and reported in our Foodservice and Refrigerated Retail segments; and

•Peter Pan nut butter brand (“Peter Pan”), acquired on January 25, 2021 and reported in our Post Consumer Brands segment.

Fiscal 2020

•Henningsen Foods, Inc. (“Henningsen”) acquired July 1, 2020 and reported in our Foodservice segment.

COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused and continues to cause global economic disruption and uncertainty, including in our business. We continue to closely monitor the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and developments related thereto and are taking, or have taken, necessary actions to ensure our ability to safeguard the health of our employees, including their economic health, maintain the continuity of our supply chain to serve customers and consumers and preserve financial liquidity to navigate the uncertainty caused by the pandemic. Examples of actions we have taken in response to the pandemic include:

•reinforcing manufacturing facilities with adequate supplies, staffing and support;

•enhancing facility safety measures and working closely with public health officials to follow additional health and safety guidelines;

•in fiscal 2020, drawing $500.0 million of our $750.0 million revolving credit facility (the “Revolving Credit Facility”) and $65.0 million of BellRing’s revolving credit facility (the “BellRing Revolving Credit Facility”) to further enhance liquidity in March 2020. Borrowings under both credit facilities were repaid prior to the end of fiscal 2020;

•in fiscal 2020, temporarily suspending our share repurchase program, which we resumed in May 2020; and

•in fiscal 2020 and in the first half of fiscal 2021, actively managing our foodservice egg supply, including taking measures to reduce internal production, delivering contract suspension notices invoking force majeure clauses with respect to certain of our suppliers in the second quarter of fiscal 2020 (these contract suspensions were provisionally lifted on July 1, 2020) and repurposing product into our retail channel.

Our products sold through retail channels generally experienced an uplift in sales starting in March 2020 and continuing through the first half of fiscal 2021 driven by increased at-home consumption in reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, most of our retail categories exhibited a mix shift to premium products. In the second half of fiscal 2021, most of our retail channel product categories trended toward growth rates in line with their pre-pandemic levels.

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, our foodservice business was significantly impacted by lower away-from-home demand resulting from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on various channels, including full service restaurants, quick service restaurants, education and travel and lodging. Since then, the recovery of our foodservice volumes has been closely tracking with changes in the degree of restrictions on mobility and gathering. Volumes have nearly fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels in certain channels and product categories, and volumes in other channels impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic have recovered from low levels experienced at the height of the pandemic, but have recently plateaued at levels below pre-pandemic levels. In the aggregate, our overall foodservice business volumes remain below pre-pandemic levels.

As the overall economy continues to recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, labor shortages, input and freight inflation and other supply chain disruptions, including input availability, are pressuring our supply chains in all segments, resulting in missed sales and higher manufacturing costs, most notably in our Foodservice and Refrigerated Retail segments. Per unit product costs escalated as throughput declined and fixed cost absorption worsened. Service levels and fill rates remain below normal levels, and inventories are low, resulting in the placement of certain products on allocation. These factors are expected to persist into fiscal 2022 and are dependent upon our ability to adequately hire, train and retain manufacturing staff, maintain sufficient supplies of ingredients and packaging and rebuild inventory levels.

Volume and profit recovery in our Foodservice segment is dependent on both changes in the degree of restrictions on mobility and gathering and on the ability to navigate supply chain disruptions. We expect our Foodservice segment to return to pre-pandemic profitability in fiscal 2023. Volume growth in our Refrigerated Retail segment, most notably for side dish products, is expected to be constrained until supply chain performance has stabilized.

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BellRing’s primary categories returned to growth rates in line with their pre-pandemic levels in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020 and have remained strong in subsequent periods. As the overall economy continues to recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, input and freight inflation, equipment delays and input and labor availability are pressuring BellRing’s supply chain. Lower than anticipated production and delays in capacity expansion across the broader third party shake contract manufacturer network have resulted in low inventories and missed sales. Service levels and fill rates remain below normal levels, and certain products have been placed on allocation. These factors are expected to improve but persist throughout fiscal 2022 and are dependent upon BellRing’s contract manufacturer partners’ ability to deliver committed volumes, add capacity on expected timelines, retain manufacturing staff and rebuild inventory levels.

For additional discussion, refer to “Liquidity and Capital Resources” within this section, as well as “Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Statements” on page 1 of this report and “Risk Factors” in Item 1A of this report.

Lease Accounting

On October 1, 2019, we adopted Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2016-02, “Leases (Topic 842),” and ASU 2018-11, “Leases (Topic 842): Targeted Improvements.” At adoption, we recognized right-of-use (“ROU”) assets and lease liabilities of $158.1 million and $168.2 million, respectively, on the balance sheet at October 1, 2019. For additional information regarding these ASUs, refer to Notes 3 and 16 within “Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements."

Revenue from Contracts with Customers

On October 1, 2018, we adopted ASU 2014-09, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606),” which superseded all previously existing revenue recognition guidance under accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”). As a result of the adoption, we reclassified certain payments to customers from “Selling, general, and administrative expenses” to “Net Sales” and recognized revenue that was previously deferred in “Net Sales” in the Consolidated Statement of Operations for the year ended September 30, 2019. For additional information regarding ASU 2014-09, refer to Note 2 within “Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.” The following table presents the impact on net sales resulting from the adoption of ASU 2014-09 by segment.

dollars in millions	Year Ended September 30, 2019
Post Consumer Brands	$	(7.6)
Weetabix	—
Foodservice	(5.2)
Refrigerated Retail	(3.3)
BellRing Brands	(8.8)
	$	(24.9)

Announcements Subsequent to Period End

In October 2021, we, along with BellRing, entered into a transaction agreement related to our previously announced plan to distribute a significant portion of our interest in BellRing to our shareholders. We expect the distribution to be completed in the first calendar quarter of 2022, subject to certain customary conditions. See Note 23 within “Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements” for additional information on the announcement.

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RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

	Fiscal 2021 compared to 2020								Fiscal 2020 compared to 2019
					favorable/(unfavorable)								favorable/(unfavorable)
dollars in millions	2021		2020		$ Change		% Change		2020		2019		$ Change		% Change
Net Sales	$	6,226.7	$	5,698.7	$	528.0	9	%	$	5,698.7	$	5,681.1	$	17.6	—	%
Operating Profit	$	655.7	$	700.5	$	(44.8)	(6)	%	$	700.5	$	781.0	$	(80.5)	(10)	%
Interest expense, net	375.8		388.6		12.8		3	%	388.6		322.4		(66.2)		(21)	%
Loss on extinguishment and refinancing of debt, net	94.8		72.9		(21.9)		(30)	%	72.9		6.1		(66.8)		(1,095)	%
(Income) expense on swaps, net	(122.8)		187.1		309.9		166	%	187.1		306.6		119.5		39	%
Other income, net	(29.3)		(11.5)		17.8		155	%	(11.5)		(13.2)		(1.7)		(13)	%
Income tax expense (benefit)	86.6		3.5		(83.1)		(2,374)	%	3.5		(3.9)		(7.4)		(190)	%
Equity method loss, net of tax	43.9		30.9		(13.0)		(42)	%	30.9		37.0		6.1		16	%
Less: Net earnings attributable to noncontrolling interests	40.0		28.2		(11.8)		(42)	%	28.2		1.3		(26.9)		(2,069)	%
Net Earnings	$	166.7	$	0.8	$	165.9	20,738	%	$	0.8	$	124.7	$	(123.9)	(99)	%

Net Sales

Fiscal 2021 compared to 2020

Net sales increased $528.0 million, or 9%, during the year ended September 30, 2021. This increase was due to growth in our BellRing Brands, Foodservice, Weetabix and Refrigerated Retail segments, as well as incremental contributions from our current and prior year acquisitions. These positive impacts were partially offset by a decline in our Post Consumer Brands segment. For further discussion, refer to “Segment Results” within this section.

Fiscal 2020 compared to 2019

Net sales increased $17.6 million, or less than 1%, during the year ended September 30, 2020. This increase was due to growth in our BellRing Brands, Post Consumer Brands, Refrigerated Retail and Weetabix segments, as well as the inclusion of incremental contributions from our acquisition of Henningsen. These positive impacts were partially offset by a decline in our Foodservice segment. For further discussion, refer to “Segment Results” within this section.

Operating Profit

Fiscal 2021 compared to 2020

Operating profit decreased $44.8 million, or 6%, for the year ended September 30, 2021. This decrease was primarily due to lower segment profit within our Post Consumer Brands and Refrigerated Retail segments, partially offset by increased segment profit within our Foodservice, BellRing Brands and Weetabix segments, as well as decreased general corporate expenses and other. For further discussion, refer to “Segment Results” within this section.

Fiscal 2020 compared to 2019

Operating profit decreased $80.5 million, or 10%, for the year ended September 30, 2020. In the year ended September 30, 2019, operating profit was impacted by losses related to the impairment of goodwill and other intangible assets of $63.3 million and by a gain on sale of business of $126.6 million related to the 8th Avenue Transactions. Excluding these impacts in fiscal 2019, operating profit decreased $17.2 million, or 2%, primarily due to lower segment profit within our Foodservice and BellRing Brands segments, partially offset by increased segment profit within our Post Consumer Brands, Refrigerated Retail and Weetabix segments, as well as decreased general corporate expenses and other. For further discussion, refer to “Segment Results” within this section.

Interest Expense, net

Interest expense decreased $12.8 million, or 3%, for the year ended September 30, 2021, compared to the prior year. The decrease was driven by decreased losses of $7.5 million on our interest rate swap contracts, a lower weighted-average interest

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rate when compared to the prior year period, decreased amortization of debt issuance costs, deferred financing fees and debt discount of $1.9 million and increased amortization of debt premium of $1.7 million. These positive impacts were partially offset by lower interest income of $5.7 million on our cash balances. Our weighted-average interest rate on our total outstanding debt was 5.1% and 5.3% for the years ended September 30, 2021 and 2020, respectively. This decrease in our weighted-average interest rate was driven by refinancing debt at lower interest rates.

Interest expense increased $66.2 million, or 21%, for the year ended September 30, 2020, compared to the prior year. The increase was driven by increased losses (compared to gains in fiscal 2019) of $41.0 million on our interest rate swap contracts. Additionally, interest expense increased from the impact of senior notes issued in fiscal 2020 and fiscal 2019 and debt entered into in connection with the BellRing IPO on October 21, 2019, partially offset by reduced interest expense of $56.6 million as a result of the repayment of our previously outstanding term loan in the first quarter of fiscal 2020. Our weighted-average interest rate on our total outstanding debt was 5.3% and 5.2% for the years ended September 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively. This increase in our weighted-average interest rate was driven by a change in the mix of debt outstanding. During the year ended September 30, 2019, we recorded $5.9 million of interest expense related to amounts owed to former holders of shares of Bob Evans common stock who demanded appraisal of their shares of Bob Evans common stock under Delaware law. No such interest expense was recorded during the year ended September 30, 2020.

For additional information on our interest rate swaps, refer to Note 14 within “Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.” For additional information on our debt, refer to Note 17 within “Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements” and “Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk” in Item 7A of this report.