The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company
Public
Traded as NYSE: SMG
Industry Manufacturing
Founded 1868
Headquarters Marysville, Ohio, U.S.
Key people
 O.M. Scott, Founder
James Hagedorn, CEO, and Chairman of the Board
Michael C. Lukemire, COO and President
Products Products for lawn and garden care
Revenue Increase$2.82 Billion USD (2013)[1]
Increase$174.4 Million USD (2013)[1]
Number of employees
 8,000+[2]
Website www.thescottsmiraclegrocompany.com

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Marysville, Ohio, where O.M. Scott began selling lawn seed in 1868. The company has grown to be an industry leader in the lawn and garden market, with regional offices and research facilities across the U.S. and businesses in Canada, Europe and Asia Pacific. In the U.S., the company's Scotts, Miracle-Gro and Ortho brands are market leading in their categories, as is the consumer Roundup brand, which is marketed in North America and most of Europe exclusively by Scotts. Outside of North America, the company has various popular brands, including Miracle-Gro, Evergreen, KB, Fertiligene, Celaflor and Substral.

Overview

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company manufactures provides do-it-yourself lawn, garden and home protection products in North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific. Among their offerings are consumer fertilizers, plant foods, soils and mulches, pest controls, grass seed and bird food. The company's principal consumer brands in North America are Scotts, Miracle-Gro, and Ortho. In addition, Scotts is Monsanto's exclusive agent for the marketing and distribution of consumer Roundup.

Scotts LawnService serves the "do-it-for-me" consumer in the U.S. with on-site lawn, tree and shrub fertilization, insect control and other related services through its network of 160 locations. Scotts LawnService has quickly emerged as an industry leader in this $5 billion category.

In 2013, The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company reported net sales of $2.82 billion, highlighted by a 9% increase in the second half of the year, and an adjusted income of $174.4 million.

History

Scotts' headquarters in Marysville

Scotts was founded in 1868, by Orlando Scott as a premium seed company for the U.S. agricultural industry. In the early 1900s, the company began a lawn grass seed business for homeowners and, in 1924, became the first to ship grass seed products directly to stores. Prior to that, consumers could only purchase Scotts seed through the mail.[3] By 1940, Scotts's sales had reached an all-time record high of $1,000,000 and the company boasted 66 associates.

For the next 15 years the company focused on developing new products to combat weeds, fertilize grass and develop automated electronic seed processing and packaging plants. It also organized its field sales staff into six sales territories, a blueprint for the company’s current Retail Sales Force.

The early 1960s saw some major milestones. It was then that Scotts started selling a "program" of products for lawns; established special training classes to help retailers better assist customers in developing their lawns; received a U.S. Patent for Trionized bonding which produced fertilizers that delivered sustained feeding; and introduced a complete line of Turf Builder combination products. By the end of 1971, the company had added two new divisions to its portfolio: the Golf Course Division, developed to promote an exclusive line of professional products for golf courses and other large institutional accounts; and Scotts LawnService, established after Scotts found a significant "do-it-for-me" customer segmentation. The service offers on-site lawn, tree and shrub fertilization, insect control and other related services through its network of 160 locations. The company also launched a direct-to-consumer helpline allowing lawn owners to call Scotts for advice and assistance.

Later that year, privately owned O.M. Scott & Sons was purchased by ITT, the international business conglomerate. Fifteen years later, Scotts became an independent company through a leveraged buyout from ITT. In 1992, Scotts became a publicly traded company with an initial offering of $19.00 a share. Three years later, it merged with Miracle-Gro, a gardening company, to create the Scotts Miracle-Gro Company.[4]

During the United States presidential election, 2012 the company endorsed the election of Republican Party candidate Mitt Romney[5]

Sale of bird seed in 2005–2008

On January 27, 2012, Scotts Miracle-Gro agreed to plead guilty in federal court and pay $4.5 million in fines for selling 73 million units of bird seed from November 2005 to March 2008 that was coated with pesticide known to be deadly to birds and fish. Pesticides were added to protect the product from insects during storage, notwithstanding that Storcide II, one of the pesticides used, was clearly marked as extremely toxic to birds. Records show that its own experts warned of the risk in the summer and fall of 2007 and yet Scotts continued to sell the deadly product until March 2008. In 2008, Scotts Miracle-Gro also falsified pesticide registration numbers required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on its products.[6]

On September 7, 2012, in Ohio, a federal court sentenced Scotts to pay a $4 million fine and perform community service for 11 criminal violations of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). In a separate agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency, Scotts agreed to pay more than $6 million in penalties and spend $2 million on environmental projects. According to the Justice Department, both the criminal and civil settlements are the largest under FIFRA to date.[7]

GM Grass

Scotts has developed several genetically modified grasses, including herbicide-tolerant Kentucky bluegrass and creeping bentgrass. In 2007, the U.S. Department of Agriculture fined Scotts Miracle-Gro $500,000 when modified DNA from GM creeping bentgrass, was found within relatives of the same genus (Agrostis)[8] as well as in native grasses up to 21 km (13 mi) from the test sites.[9]

Mergers and acquisitions

Brands

United States

Outside the US

References

  1. 1 2 "NYSE: SMG - Financial statements". google.com.
  2. ↑ "The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company". The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company. Retrieved 2012-02-21.
  3. ↑ "Scotts.com: About Us". The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company. Retrieved 2007-09-19.
  4. ↑ "Scotts.com: About Us". The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company. Archived from the original on October 17, 2006. Retrieved 2007-09-19.
  5. ↑ http://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/miracle-gro-goes-public-in-backing-romney/
  6. ↑ Hunt,Spencer. "Scotts to Pay 4.5 Million in Fines" "The Columbus Dispatch" Columbus, OH, 27 January 2012
  7. ↑ United States. Environmental Protection Agency. "Scotts Miracle-Gro Will Pay $12.5 Million in Criminal Fines and Civil Penalties for Violations of Federal Pesticide Laws" "Press Release. 7 September 2012
  8. ↑ Watrud LS, Lee EH, Fairbrother A, Burdick C, Reichman JR, Bollman M, Storm M, King G, Van de Water PK (October 2004). "Evidence for landscape-level, pollen-mediated gene flow from genetically modified creeping bentgrass with CP4 EPSPS as a marker". Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 101 (40): 14533–8. Bibcode:2004PNAS..10114533W. doi:10.1073/pnas.0405154101. PMC: 521937. PMID 15448206.
  9. ↑ Pollack, Andrew (July 6, 2011). "U.S.D.A. Ruling on Bluegrass Stirs Cries of Lax Regulation". New York Times. Retrieved 26 February 2015.

External links

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