Content about James Hagedorn

Scotts Miracle-Gro reported first-quarter net sales of $211.2 million, an 8% drop over sales of $230.2 million during the prior-year quarter.

Net loss for the industry’s largest lawn and garden supplier was $1.21 million for the first quarter, which ended Dec. 31, 2011. This compares with a net loss of $1.02 million during the first quarter of 2010.

Marysville, Ohio-based Scotts Miracle-Gro said it expects to report a 2% decline in sales for fiscal 2011 when it issues its full-year financial results Nov. 8.

The sales shortfall, coupled with associated gross margin pressure, will likely result in adjusted net earnings in a range of approximately $2.70 to $2.75 per share, according to the company. The company had forecast earnings of about $3.00 per share back in August.

The challenges from unfriendly weather hit Scotts Miracle-Gro hard in the quarter ended July 2, as sales declined 10% to $1.06 billion.

The decline was driven primarily by poor weather across most of the United States throughout the duration of the lawn and garden season, as well as a more competitive promotional landscape and changes in certain retailer strategies within the mass merchandise channel, the Marysville, Ohio-based company said. 

Scotts Miracle-Gro, its sales hurting from the pullback in big-box expansion, is looking into new sources of revenues for its lawn and garden products. One of them, according to CEO Jim Hagedorn, is medical marijuana. 

“I want to target the pot market,” Hagedorn told the Wall Street Journal in an interview published June 14. “There’s no good reason we haven’t.”

Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. said it will phase out phosphorus from lawn fertilizers, including the market-leading Scotts Turf Builder brand, by the end of 2012.

Additionally, the Marysville, Ohio-based company said it will sharpen its focus on more efficient and optimized ways to use nitrogen in its lawn fertilizer products.