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Financial Instruments
 12 Months Ended
Nov. 30, 2025
Derivative Instrument Detail [Abstract]  
Financial Instruments FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS
We use derivative financial instruments to enhance our ability to manage risk, including foreign currency and interest rate exposures, which exist as part of our ongoing business operations. We do not enter into contracts for trading purposes, nor are we a party to any leveraged derivative instrument and all derivatives are designated as hedges. We are not a party to master netting arrangements, and we do not offset the fair value of derivative
contracts with the same counterparty in our financial statement disclosures. The use of derivative financial instruments is monitored through regular communication with senior management and the use of written guidelines.
Foreign Currency
We are potentially exposed to foreign currency fluctuations affecting net investments in subsidiaries, transactions (both third-party and intercompany) and earnings denominated in foreign currencies. Management assesses foreign currency risk based on transactional cash flows and translational volatility and may enter into forward contract and currency swaps with highly-rated financial institutions to reduce fluctuations in the long or short currency positions. Forward contracts are generally less than 18 months duration. Currency swap agreements are established in conjunction with the terms of the underlying debt issues.

The following is a summary of the notional amounts of outstanding foreign currency exchange contracts as of November 30, 2025 and 2024:

(millions)20252024
  Fair value hedges$877.3 $818.1 
  Cash flow hedges140.9 216.1 
Total$1,018.2 $1,034.2 
All of these contracts were designated as hedges of anticipated purchases denominated in a foreign currency or hedges of foreign currency denominated assets or liabilities. Hedge ineffectiveness was not material. All foreign currency exchange contracts outstanding at November 30, 2025 have durations of less than 12 months, including $250.2 million of notional contracts that have durations of less than one month and are used to hedge short-term cash flow funding.
Contracts which are designated as hedges of foreign currency denominated assets are considered fair value hedges. These foreign currency exchange contracts manage both exposure to currency fluctuations in certain intercompany loans between subsidiaries as well as currency exposure to third-party non-functional currency assets or liabilities. Gains and losses from contracts that are designated as hedges of assets, liabilities or firm commitments are recognized through income, offsetting the change in fair value of the hedged item. Contracts which are designated as hedges of anticipated purchases denominated in a foreign currency (generally purchases of raw materials in U.S. dollars by operating units outside the U.S.) are considered cash flow hedges. The gains and losses on these contracts are deferred in accumulated other comprehensive income until the hedged item is recognized in cost of goods sold, at which time the net amount deferred in accumulated other comprehensive income is also recognized in cost of goods sold.
We also utilize cross currency interest rate swap contracts that are designated as net investment hedges. Any gains or losses on net investment hedges are included in foreign currency translation adjustments in accumulated other comprehensive loss. Net interest accruals excluded from the assessment of hedge effectiveness are included in earnings as interest expense.
As of November 30, 2025 and 2024, we had cross currency interest rate swap contracts of (i) $250 million notional value to receive $250 million at USD SOFR plus 0.907% and pay £194.1 million at three-month GBP SONIA plus 0.859% and (ii) £194.1 million notional value to receive £194.1 million at three-month GBP SONIA plus 0.859% and pay €221.8 million at three-month Euro EURIBOR plus 0.808%. These cross-currency interest rate swap contracts expire in August 2027. In conjunction with the phase-out of LIBOR, during 2023 we amended the terms of this cross currency swap such that, effective February 15, 2023, we pay and receive at USD SOFR plus 0.907% (previously USD LIBOR plus 0.685%).
As of November 30, 2025 and 2024, we also had cross currency interest rate swap contracts of $250 million notional value to receive $250 million at USD SOFR plus 0.684% and pay £184.1 million at GBP SONIA plus 0.574% and (ii) £184.1 million notional value to receive £184.1 million at GBP SONIA plus 0.574% and pay €219.2 million at Euro ESTR plus 0.667%, both of which expire in April 2030.
Interest Rates
We finance a portion of our operations with both fixed and variable rate debt instruments, primarily commercial paper, notes and bank loans. We utilize interest rate swap agreements to minimize worldwide financing costs and to achieve a desired mix of variable and fixed rate debt.
The following is a summary of our outstanding interest rate swaps as of November 30, 2025 and 2024 ($ amounts in millions).
Fair value hedge of changes in fair value of:
$250 3.25% notes due 2025
$750 3.40% notes due 2027
$500 2.50% notes due 2030
Notional$100.0 $250.0 $250.0 
Receive rate3.25 %3.40 %2.50 %
Pay rate
SOFR + 1.487%(1)
SOFR + 0.907%(2)
SOFR + 0.684%
ExpirationNovember 2025August 2027April 2030
(1)In 2023, we amended our $100 million interest rate swaps which expired in November 2025 such that, effective February 15, 2023, we paid and received at USD SOFR plus 1.487% (previously U.S. three-month LIBOR plus 1.22%).
(2)In 2023, we amended our $250 million interest rate swaps which expire in August 2027 such that, effective February 15, 2023, we paid and received at USD SOFR plus 0.907% (previously U.S. three-month LIBOR plus 0.685%).
Any unrealized gain or loss on these swaps was offset by a corresponding increase or decrease in the value of the hedged debt. Hedge ineffectiveness was not material.
The following tables disclose the notional amount and fair values of derivative instruments on our consolidated balance sheet:
As of
November 30, 2025:
(millions)Asset DerivativesLiability Derivatives
DerivativesBalance sheet
location		Notional amountFair valueBalance sheet
location		Notional amountFair value
Interest rate contractsOther current 
assets/Other long-term assets		$— $— Other accrued liabilities/Other long-term liabilities$500.0 $20.8 
Foreign exchange contractsOther current assets894.6 6.5 Other accrued liabilities123.6 0.7 
Cross currency contractsOther current assets/Other long-term assets500.8 8.5 Other accrued liabilities/Other long-term liabilities511.1 18.1 
Total  $15.0   $39.6 
As of
November 30, 2024:
      
(millions)Asset DerivativesLiability Derivatives
DerivativesBalance sheet
location		Notional amountFair valueBalance sheet
location		Notional amountFair value
Interest rate contractsOther current 
assets/Other long-term assets		$— $— Other accrued liabilities/Other long-term liabilities$600.0 $37.9 
Foreign exchange contractsOther current assets374.4 5.2 Other accrued liabilities659.8 12.5 
Cross currency contractsOther current assets/Other long-term assets945.5 36.8 Other accrued liabilities/Other long-term liabilities— — 
Total  $42.0   $50.4 
The following tables disclose the impact of derivative instruments on our consolidated income statement, other comprehensive income (OCI), and accumulated other comprehensive income (AOCI) for the years ended November 30, 2025, 2024, and 2023:
Fair value hedges (millions)
 Income statement
location		Expense
Derivative202520242023
Interest rate contractsInterest expense$(14.1)$(19.7)$(17.7)
 
 Income statement locationLoss recognized in incomeIncome statement locationGain recognized in income
Derivative202520242023Hedged Item202520242023
Foreign exchange contractsOther income, net$(8.6)$(9.0)$(16.2)Intercompany loansOther income, net$7.6 $4.0 $15.6 
Cash flow hedges (millions)
 Loss
recognized in OCI		Income statement location      Gain (loss)
  reclassified from AOCI   
Derivative202520242023202520242023
Interest rate contracts$— $— $(2.6)Interest expense, Other income, net$(0.6)$(0.6)$0.1 
Foreign exchange contracts— (0.1)(0.7)Cost of goods sold (0.6)1.6 0.2 
Total$— $(0.1)$(3.3) $(1.2)$1.0 $0.3 
The amount of gain or loss recognized in income on the ineffective portion of derivative instruments is not material. For all cash flow and settled interest rate fair value hedge derivatives, the net amount of accumulated other comprehensive income expected to be reclassified into income related to these contracts in the next twelve months is a $0.7 million increase to earnings.
Net investment hedges (millions)
 Gain (loss)
recognized in OCI		Income statement location      Gain
excluded from the assessment of hedge effectiveness
Derivative202520242023202520242023
Cross currency contracts$(46.6)$19.5 $(18.4)Interest expense      $10.2 $9.1 $11.2 
For all net investment hedges, no amounts have been reclassified out of other comprehensive income (loss). The amounts noted in the tables above for OCI do not include any adjustments for the impact of deferred income taxes.
Concentrations of Credit Risk
We are potentially exposed to concentrations of credit risk with trade accounts receivable and financial instruments. The customers of our Consumer segment are predominantly food retailers and food wholesalers. Consolidations in these industries have created larger customers. In addition, competition has increased with the growth in alternative channels including mass merchandisers, dollar stores, warehouse clubs, discount chains and e-commerce. This has caused some customers to be less profitable and increased our exposure to credit risk. We generally have a large and diverse customer base which limits our concentration of credit risk. At November 30, 2025, we did not have amounts due from any single customer that exceed 10% of consolidated trade accounts receivable. Credit markets are volatile and some of our customers and counterparties are highly leveraged. We continue to closely monitor the credit worthiness of our customers and counterparties and generally do not require collateral. We believe that the allowance for doubtful accounts properly recognized trade receivables at realizable value. We consider nonperformance credit risk for other financial instruments to be insignificant.