Scotts Miracle-Gro Company Explained

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company
Type:	Public
Traded As:	S&P 400 Component
Industry:	Manufacturing
Founder:	Orlando Scott
Location:	Marysville, Ohio, U.S.
Key People:	O. M. Scott, Founder James Hagedorn, CEO and Chairman of the Board Michael Lukemire, COO and President
Products:	Products for lawn and garden care
Revenue:	2.66 billion (2018)^[1]
Net Income:	64 million (2018)
Num Employees:	6,500

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Marysville, Ohio, where O.M. Scott began selling lawn seed in 1868.^[2] The company manufactures and sells consumer lawn, garden and pest control products, as well as soilless indoor gardening equipment.^[3] In the U.S., the company manufactures Scotts, Miracle-Gro and Ortho brands. It also markets and distributes the herbicide Roundup in the U.S. and several international markets including China.^[4]

History

Scotts was founded in 1868 by Orlando M. 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 company to ship grass seed products directly to stores. Prior to 1924, Scotts products were only available through the mail.^[5] By 1940, Scotts's sales had reached $1,000,000 and the company had 66 associates.

In 1971, privately owned O.M. Scott & Sons was purchased by ITT, an international business conglomerate. Fifteen years later, in 1986, Scotts became an independent company again through a leveraged buyout. In 1992, Scotts became a publicly traded company with an initial offering of $19.00 a share and three years later merged with Miracle-Gro, a gardening company, to create the Scotts Miracle-Gro Company.^[5]

During the 2012 United States presidential election, the company endorsed the election of Republican Party candidate Mitt Romney.^[6]

Sale of bird seed in 20052008

On January 27, 2012, Scotts Miracle-Gro pled guilty in federal court and paid $4.5 million in fines for selling 73 million units of bird seed between 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, including Storcide II, that was clearly marked as extremely toxic to birds. Records show that Scotts Miracle-Gro's own experts warned of the risk in the summer and fall of 2007 but they continued to sell the 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.

On September 7, 2012, a federal court ordered 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 DNA from genetically modified creeping bentgrass was found within relative plants of the same genus, (Agrostis),^[8] and other native grasses up to 21km (13miles) from the test sites.^[9]

Peat bogs in the UK

In 2001, Scotts was involved in a major dispute with nature conservation bodies and the UK Government about the future of several peat bogs in the north of England. Under pressure from the European Union the UK government moved to declare a number of peat bogs, covering an area of in Yorkshire and Cumbria, as Special Areas of Conservation, thus ending Scotts ability to harvest peat for their garden products. During the course of the dispute Nick Kirkbride, the then managing director of Scotts in Britain, described the peat bogs as having "no more conservation interest than a ploughed field".^[10] The peat bogs were eventually saved from further destruction by the payment by the UK government of compensation of £17 million to Scotts for loss of the right to extract peat.^[11]

Lunarly Subscription Service

In July 2018, Scotts collaborated with BuzzFeed Inc. to develop a subscription service called Lunarly, which mails crystals, house plants, and other wellness items based on the lunar calendar.^[12] The joint effort with BuzzFeed's Product Labs, facilitated by ad agency MullenLowe U.S., is an attempt to make gardening popular among millennial women, thereby opening up avenues for the 150+ year-old company to make inroads with younger consumers.^[13] While reviews of the self-care boxes have been mixed,^[14] they have repeatedly sold out with over $1 million in incremental sales as of May 2019.

Mergers and acquisitions

• 1914 – The O.M. Scott & Sons Company was incorporated
• 1992 – Scotts acquired Republic Tool & Manufacturing Company
• 1993 – Scotts acquired the Grace-Sierra Horticultural Products Company
• 1995 – Scotts merged with Miracle-Gro Products, Inc.
• 1997 – Scotts purchases Miracle Care Garden Ltd.
• 1997 – Scotts acquired Emerald Green Lawn Service, which would become Scotts Lawn Service in 1998.
• 1997 – Scotts purchased privately held Levington Horticulture Ltd.
• 1998 – The company acquired 80% ownership of plant breeding company Sanford Scientific, Inc. (SSI).
• 1998 – Scotts acquired Rhône-Poulenc Jardin
• 1998 – Scotts acquired the Shamrock brand of U.K. and Irish peat products from Bord na Mona, Ireland.
• 1998 – Scotts enters into collaboration with the Monsanto Company
• 1998 – Scotts completes an acquisition with ASEF
• 1999 – Scotts completes agreements with Monsanto Company for exclusive U.S., Canada, U.K., France, Germany, and Australia agency and marketing rights to Monsanto's consumer Roundup herbicide products and for the purchase of the Ortho and related lawn and garden businesses.
• 2000 – Scotts acquires Substral. Scotts also purchases Smith & Hawken
• 2005 – Scotts acquires the Morning Song brand
• 2014 – Scotts Miracle-Gro sells wild bird food line to Global Harvest Foods Ltd.
• 2015 – Scotts Miracle-Gro buys General Hydroponics and Vermicrop Organics to move into the marijuana market, under the name Hawthorne Gardening Company
• 2015 – Scotts Lawn Service is merged with ServiceMaster's TruGreen lawn care service
• 2016 – Scotts acquires Blossom, a California manufacturer of Internet enabled sprinkler systems.^[15]
• 2016 – Scotts acquires a minority share of Bonnie Plants.^[16]
• 2017 – Scotts sells its European and Australian operations and brands to Exponent Private Equity LLP.^[17]
• 2017 – Scotts acquires Can-Filters, a Canadian-based carbon filter manufacturer and fan wholesaler under their Hawthorne Gardening Co. brand.
• 2018 – Scotts Miracle-Gro announced its plan to acquire Sunlight Supply Inc., a hydroponics supplier, for $450 million in cash and stock.^[18]
• 2019 – Scotts sells its minority stake in TruGreen for $234 million.^[19]
• 2020 – Scotts acquires AeroGrow International lnc., a hydroponics maker.^[20]
• 2022 – Scotts acquires Luxx Lighting Co., A horticultural lighting maker.^[21]

Brands

United States

• AeroGrow
• Black Magic
• Blossom
• Botanicare LLC
• Bovung
• Can-Filters
• Earthgro
• Ecoscraps
• Gavita
• General Hydroponics
• Greendigs
• Greenlight
• Hawthorne Gardening Company
• Hyponex
• Lunarly
• Miracle-Gro
• Mother Earth
• Ortho
• Ortho Elementals
• Osmocote
• Scotts
• Scotts Lawn Service
• Supersoil
• TOMCAT
• Vermicrop Organics
• Whitney Farms

Outside the U.S.

• Gavita Holland B.V.
• Pathclear
• Scotts Ecosense
• Weedol

Notes and References

1. Web site: Scotts Miracle-Gro Revenue 2006-2019 SMG. www.macrotrends.net. 2019-05-07. May 7, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190507225015/https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/SMG/scotts-miracle-gro/revenue. live.
2. Web site: Lean green machine . Jaffe . Thomas . November 16, 1998 . Forbes . May 7, 2019 . March 4, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160304062620/http://www.forbes.com/forbes/1998/1116/6211090a.html#62464c9e23ea . live .
3. News: BizJournals.com (Columbus). Scotts Miracle-Gro completes acquisition of company that makes home-grow kits. Carrie Ghose. November 23, 2020. August 19, 2022. September 27, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220927195821/https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2020/11/23/scotts-miracle-gro-completes-aerogrow-acquisition.html. live.
4. Web site: Pucci . Jackie . 2015-05-20 . Monsanto Extends Roundup Partnership with Scotts Miracle-Gro . 2024-06-09 . AgriBusiness Global . en-US.
5. Web site: Scotts.com: About Us. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company. 2007-09-19. February 11, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110211211820/http://www.scottsmiraclegro.com/aboutus/history_popup.html. live.
6. Web site: Miracle-Gro goes public in backing Romney. August 9, 2012. July 6, 2015. September 24, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150924115426/http://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/miracle-gro-goes-public-in-backing-romney/. live.
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 . 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 . October 2004 . 15448206. 521937 . 10.1073/pnas.0405154101 . 2004PNAS..10114533W . free .
9. News: U.S.D.A. Ruling on Bluegrass Stirs Cries of Lax Regulation . Pollack . Andrew . July 6, 2011 . . February 26, 2015 . January 20, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160120201137/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/07/business/energy-environment/cries-of-lax-regulation-after-usda-ruling-on-bluegrass.html?_r=2& . live .
10. Web site: Supplier fights to keep mining at peat bogs. Charles Clover. April 15, 2001. www.telegraph.co.uk. April 5, 2018. January 24, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180124070811/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1316275/Supplier-fights-to-keep-mining-at-peat-bogs.html. live.
11. Web site: Bogs to be preserved for peat's sake . Simon . Jeffery . February 27, 2002 . . September 19, 2016 . September 27, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160927200828/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/feb/27/simonjeffery . live .
12. Web site: BuzzFeed Will Tell You What Millennials Want, for a Fee. Gerry. Smith. 16 November 2018. Bloomberg. March 15, 2020. September 4, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190904020733/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-16/buzzfeed-to-businesses-let-us-tell-you-what-millennials-want. live.
13. Web site: MullenLowe Mediahub In the News. MullenLowe U.S. . May 13, 2019.
14. Web site: Lunarly is the self-care box for people who are into crystals . Morgan . Sung . March 21, 2019 . Mashable . March 15, 2020 . March 17, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200317171913/https://mashable.com/article/lunarly-self-care-subscription-box-review/ . live .
15. Web site: Lawn Device Startup Bought . ocbj.com . 2016-11-14 . 2016-11-28 . November 29, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20161129100023/http://www.ocbj.com/news/2016/nov/14/lawn-device-startup-bought/ . live .
16. Company (The). Scotts Miracle-Gro. 2016-03-02. ScottsMiracle-Gro Completes Minority Investment in Bonnie Plants. 2020-11-18. GlobeNewswire News Room.
17. News: Scotts finalizes $250M European business sale as company focus turns inward. Konczal. Jeffry. 2017-09-05. Columbus Business First. 2019-05-08. September 7, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170907143029/https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2017/09/05/scotts-finalizes-250m-european-business-sale-as.html. live.
18. Web site: Scotts Miracle-Gro to Acquire Hydroponics Supplier Sunlight Supply . Cherney . Max . MarketWatch . April 30, 2005 . MarketWatch . April 17, 2018 . April 18, 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180418005113/https://www.marketwatch.com/story/scotts-miracle-gro-to-acquire-hydroponics-supplier-sunlight-supply-2018-04-17 . live .
19. Web site: ScottsMiracle-Gro sells TruGreen stake to retire debt. Castelli. Giovanni. 2019-03-22. Lawn & Landscape. en. 2019-05-08.
20. Web site: Scotts Miracle-Gro completes acquisition of company that makes home-grow kits. 2020-11-23. www.bizjournals.com. November 23, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201123161729/https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2020/11/23/scotts-miracle-gro-completes-aerogrow-acquisition.html. live.
21. Web site: ScottsMiracle-Gro Acquires Luxx For $215 Mln. www.nasdaq.com. January 5, 2022. January 5, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220105020934/https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/scottsmiracle-gro-acquires-luxx-for-$215-mln-buys-true-liberty-bags-for-$10-mln-backs-fy21. live.