Scotts Miracle-Gro enjoys strong core growth in 2015

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company sustained a strong full-year sales increase in fiscal 2015 thanks to unit volume growth in its core U.S. business.

“A highly engaged consumer, strong retailer support, new product launches, and a dedicated team of associates allowed us to report our strongest results in years,” said Jim Hagedorn, chairman and CEO. “In our core business, the gardening, controls and mulch categories all saw strong increases in consumer purchase activity, and Scotts LawnService continued to benefit from higher customer count, solid retention levels and record customer satisfaction scores."

Full-year sales were up 6% in 2015 to $3.02 billion, compared with $2.84 billion a year ago. Full-year sales and operating income increased 10% for Scotts LawnService.

However, the bottom line told a different story, with net income of $158.7 million decreasing from 2014's $166.2 million.

“During the year, we also completed eight acquisitions, successfully renegotiated our Roundup agency agreement with Monsanto, increased our quarterly dividend and continued to streamline our executive ranks to improve efficiency," added Hagedorn. "We’re well-positioned as we start a new fiscal year and I’m confident that we continue to take the right steps to drive shareholder value.”

For the fourth quarter, net sales were up 6% to $483.2 million, up from $454.3 million in the year-ago period. This owed to 2% growth in organic volume, 7% in acquisitions and negative 3% from the impact of foreign exchange rates.

However, net loss widened in the fourth quarter to $24.6 million, down from a year-ago loss of $15.5 million.

The company is already looking ahead to fiscal 2016 with a projected adjusted earnings per share of $3.75 to $3.95 and sales growth of 4% to 5%.

“We’re confident that the strong performance we saw throughout our business in fiscal 2015 will carry into the upcoming season,” Hagedorn said. “The discussions we are having with our retail partners about the upcoming season have been encouraging and our entire organization has begun executing plans to make 2016 even stronger.”