Scotts Miracle Gro Co Company Profile

We are a leading manufacturer and marketer of branded consumer lawn and garden products. Our products are marketed under some of the most recognized brand names in the industry. In North America, key brands include Scotts® and Turf Builder® lawn and grass seed products; Miracle-Gro®, Nature’s Care®, Scotts®, LiquaFeed® and Osmocote®1 gardening and landscape products; and Ortho®, Roundup®2, Home Defense® and Tomcat® branded insect control, weed control and rodent control products. In the United Kingdom, key brands include Miracle-Gro® plant fertilizers; Roundup®2, Weedol® and Pathclear® herbicides; EverGreen® lawn fertilizers; and Levington® gardening and landscape products. Other significant brands in Europe include Roundup®2, KB® and Fertiligène® in France; Roundup®2, Celaflor®, Nexa Lotte® and Substral® in Germany and Austria; and Roundup®2, ASEF®, KB® and Substral® in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. We are the exclusive agent of the Monsanto Company (“Monsanto”) for the marketing and distribution of consumer Roundup® non-selective herbicide products within the United States and other contractually specified countries. We have a presence in similar consumer branded products in Australia, the Far East and Latin America. In addition, with our recent acquisitions of Gavita Holdings B.V. (“Gavita”), General Hydroponics, Inc. (“General Hydroponics”) and Bio-Organic Solutions, Inc. (“Vermicrop”), and control of AeroGrow International, Inc. (“AeroGrow”), we are a leading producer of liquid plant food products, growing media, advanced indoor garden and lighting systems and accessories for hydroponic gardening. Prior to April 13, 2016, we operated the Scotts LawnService® business (the “SLS Business”), which provided residential and commercial lawn care, tree and shrub care and pest control services in the United States. On April 13, 2016, pursuant to the terms of the Contribution and Distribution Agreement (the “Contribution Agreement”) between the Company and TruGreen Holding Corporation (“TruGreen Holdings”), we completed the contribution of the SLS Business to a newly formed subsidiary of TruGreen Holdings (the “TruGreen Joint Venture”) in exchange for a minority equity interest of approximately 30% in the TruGreen Joint Venture. We now participate in the residential and commercial lawn care, tree and shrub care and pest control services segment in the United States and Canada through our interest in the TruGreen Joint Venture.

Scotts Miracle-Gro, an Ohio corporation, traces its heritage back to a company founded by O.M. Scott in Marysville, Ohio in 1868. In the mid-1900s, we became widely known for the development of quality lawn fertilizers and grass seeds that led to the creation of a new industry-consumer lawn care. In the 1990s, we significantly expanded our product offering with three powerful leading brands in the U.S. home lawn and garden industry. First, in fiscal 1995, through a merger with Stern’s Miracle-Gro Products, Inc., which was founded by Horace Hagedorn and Otto Stern in Long Island, New York in 1951, we acquired the Miracle-Gro® brand, the industry leader in water-soluble garden plant foods. Second and third, in 1998, we acquired the Ortho® brand in the United States and obtained exclusive rights to market the consumer Roundup® brand within the United States and other contractually specified countries, thereby adding industry-leading weed, pest and disease control products to our portfolio. Today, we believe that Scotts®, Turf Builder®, Miracle-Gro®, Ortho® and Roundup® are the most widely recognized brands in the consumer lawn and garden industry in the United States.

Our strategy is focused on (i) growing our core branded business, primarily in North America where we can leverage our competitive advantages in emerging areas of growth including organics, hydroponics, live goods, water positive landscapes, and internet-enabled technology, (ii) maximizing the value of non-core-assets including the divestiture of Scotts LawnService® and exploring alternatives in Europe, and (iii) cash flow including near-term investments that will drive long-term growth, a natural mid-term shift to integration of acquired businesses, and a long-term plan to return increasing amounts of cash to shareholders.