The Toro Company Explained

The Toro Company
Type:	Public company
Traded As:	S&P 400 Component
Foundation:	1914
Location:	Bloomington, Minnesota, U.S.
Key People:	Richard Olson, Chairman, President and CEO
Num Employees:	11,280 (full-time)^[1]
Industry:	Irrigation supplies, landscape & turf maintenance products
Products:	Turf and landscape maintenance, snow and ice management, underground utility construction, rental and specialty construction, and irrigation and outdoor lighting solutions
Area Served:	Worldwide^[2]
Revenue:	US$4.51 billion (2022)^[3]

The Toro Company is an American company based in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota that designs, manufactures, and markets lawn mowers, snow blowers, and irrigation system supplies for commercial and residential, agricultural, and public sector uses.

History

The company was established as the "Toro Motor Company" in 1914 to build tractor engines for The Bull Tractor Company.^[4] In 1948, Toro entered the push mower market, acquiring Whirlwind Corp. They sold push mowers under this name for several years. In 1952, the Whirlwind's factory in Windom, Minnesota was closed.

In 1986 Toro acquired the Wheel Horse Products Division of American Motors Corporation (AMC).^{[5] [6] [7]} Wheel Horse manufactured lawn and garden tractors as well as riding lawn mowers. The division was spun off from AMC for $8 million so that the automaker could maintain focus on vehicles.^[8]

Lawn and garden tractors were then marketed under the Toro, Wheel Horse, and Toro Wheel Horse names. Acquisitions continued with the purchase of Lawn-Boy in 1989 from Outboard Marine Corporation.

In the 1990s, then CEO Kendrick Melrose changed the company's strategy, shifting its focus to golf courses, sports fields, municipal parks, and commercial properties. The company acquired James Hardie Irrigation in 1996, Exmark Manufacturing in 1997, Hayter in 2005, Rain Master Irrigation Systems, and Turf Guard Wireless Monitoring Technology in 2007.

In 2007 almost 70 percent of the company's sales came from professional markets, versus one-third in 1990. In 2007, the low-end lawn and garden tractor product manufacturing was outsourced to MTD Products, to be sold at Home Depot stores.^[9] Toro discontinued its Wheel Horse models and retired the brand name in 2007.^[10] Products and other brands expanded with Toro's purchases of TYCROP Manufacturing turf equipment product line in 2009 and USPraxis in 2010.

In 2014, the snowplow and snow removal equipment company Boss Products was purchased by Toro.^[11]

On February 15, 2019, Toro announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire privately held The Charles Machine Works, the parent company of Ditch Witch and MTI Equipment and other brands, for $700 million.^[12]

In May 2022, Toro announced it was bringing an automated robotic mower to market in spring 2023.^[13]

Brands

The company's products are marketed under several brands:^[14]

• Toro – irrigation systems & supplies, professional and consumer mowers, compact utility equipment, snow blowers, and handheld trimmers and leaf blowers^[15]
• Toro Ag – agriculture professional microirrigation systems, such as driplines, driptapes and sprayers for professional agriculture applications
• Boss Snowplow – snow and ice removal
• Charles Machine Works – Includes the following brands
  • Ditch Witch – Underground utility construction equipment
  • Radius –
  • American Augers –
  • Subsite –
  • Trencor –
  • HammerHead –

• Dingo – compact heavy duty hydraulic equipment^[16]
• eXmark – commercial mowers^[17]
• Hayter (United Kingdom) – consumer and professional mowers.^[18]
• Intimidator Group – utility vehicles and lawn mowers ^[19]
  • Intimidator – 4x4 utility vehicles
  • Spartan Mowers – Lawn mowers
  • eNVy – Neighborhood Vehicles
• Irritrol Systems – irrigation systems for residential and commercial landscapes^[20]
• Lawn-Boy – consumer mowers^[21]
• Lawn Genie – consumer irrigation
• Perrot – Regnerbau Calw GmbH (South-Germany) and the subsidiary Perrot-Polska were taken over by The Toro Company/USA as of 01.01.2017.^[22]
• Unique Lighting – low voltage landscape lighting^[23]
• Ventrac - tractors for maintenance and lawning
• Yardcare - a Toro-branded website of yard care tips from Toro experts^[24]

Notes and References

1. Web site: The Toro Company (TTC) Number of Employees . Yahoo! Finance . 10 September 2015.
2. Web site: Toro Co/The . bloomberg.com . 16 January 2020.
3. Web site: The Toro Company - 2022 Annual Report. thetorocompany.gsc-web.com.
4. Web site: The Toro Company History 1910-1919 . Toro . 10 September 2015.
5. Steve Wolfe to Retire as CFO of The Toro Company . 30 March 2011 . Business Wire . 12 February 2017.
6. Web site: Wheel Horse Lawn Tractor History . Tractor Data . 12 February 2017.
7. Web site: The Toro Company History 1980-1989 . Toro . 10 September 2015.
8. Book: Foster, Patrick R. . American Motors Corporation: the rise and fall of America's last independent automaker . 2013 . Motorbooks . 9780760344255 . 182.
9. New Line of Toro Lawn and Garden Tractors to Debut at Toro Dealers and The Home Depot . Toro . 5 January 2006 . 10 September 2015.
10. Web site: Gillespie . Evan . Wheel Horse Tractor Information . homeguides.sfgate.com . 16 January 2020.
11. Boss Products to be Purchased by The Toro Company . 27 October 2014 . Boss Products . 10 September 2015.
12. The Toro Company to Acquire The Charles Machine Works, Inc.. 15 February 2019 . www.businesswire.com . 16 January 2020.
13. Web site: 2022-05-24 . Toro Launches New Robotic Mower, Delivering on Technological Innovation . 2022-09-05 . www.businesswire.com . en.
14. Web site: The Toro Company - Our brands . Toro . 20 March 2022.
15. Web site: Toro Company.
16. Web site: Small Machines with Big Paybacks . Group C Media . Turf . Giles . Lambertson . 1 June 2014 . 9 December 2018.
17. Web site: eXmark.
18. http://www.hayter.co.uk/ Hayter
19. Web site: Intimidator Group.
20. Web site: Irritrol.
21. Web site: Lawn-Boy.
22. Web site: Unternehmen . 2023-07-14 . www.perrot.de.
23. Web site: Unique Lighting.
24. Web site: Yardcare . Yardcare.