>>caution - this briefing is stolen from the Scotts company website and so is complete corporate propaganda. nevertheless, there is much useful information should you want to research the company or do actions (anyone reading this in Ohio?) If we manage to dig some more dirt on the company we will replace it with one of our own<<

The company known today as The Scotts Company was known for most of its existence as O.M. Scott & Sons. The name came from our founder, Orlando McLean Scott, who heard about Marysville, Ohio, from men in his regiment while serving in the Civil War. He moved to Marysville after the war to manage a seed elevator and, in 1868, purchased a hardware store and seed business. That business evolved into The Scotts Company, the largest turf and horticultural products company in the world.

In the early days, O.M. Scott used a seed-cleaning machine to remove weeds and inert matter from farm seed. That service was highly successful and, after the turn of the century, the business evolved from hardware store to mail order seed company and began to focus on grass seed. Through an advertisement placed in a farm journal, Scotts sold 5,000 pounds of Kentucky bluegrass seed to a New York real estate firm that was building one of the nation's first golf courses. Within 5 years, one out of every five golf courses in America was being seeded with Scotts grass seed. Today, thousands of golf course superintendents around the world rely on Scotts products to maintain their courses in top shape.

In 1928, Scotts created a new product which would begin an entire new industry in the United States. Up until that time, people who wanted to improve their lawns used farm fertilizers. Then Scotts discovered a readily available nutrient source with a high concentration of nitrogen, and Turf Builder lawn fertilizer was born.

Scotts introduced the breakthrough Trionized fertilizer technology in 1957, combining the three essential fertilizer nutrients in one homogeneous particle, and it remains the basis of Turf Builder and many other Scotts products today.

Scotts continues to be an innovator. The Dwight G. Scott Research Center in Marysville includes laboratories, greenhouses, offices, and a library surrounded by more than 100 acres of research plots. Scotts research has resulted in innovations such as the first lawn spreader, the first selective control for broadleaf weeds in lawns, the first home lawn crabgrass preventer, the first patented Kentucky bluegrass, and many more.

In 1972, Scotts introduced the toll-free Consumer Hotline to provide homeowners with a reliable source for helpful lawn care advice. It has proven so popular that Scotts lawn consultants now receive more than 400,000 calls per year.

The acquisition of Hyponex in 1988 added potting soils, soil conditioners, bark mulches, and other organics to the Scotts product mix. The 1992 acquisition of Republic Tool & Manufacturing created a vertically integrated Scotts lawn spreader business. And acquiring Grace-Sierra Horticultural Products Co. in 1993 added the Osmocote extended-time-release fertilizer line as well as a well-established international organization for manufacturing, sales, and distribution.

Miracle-Gro Miracle-Gro was born in 1950 when Horace Hagedorn, an advertising executive, and his partner, Otto Stern, invested $2,000 to introduce a new product to make house and garden plants stronger, healthier, and more beautiful.

Horace had worked his way up through radio advertising, selling time and writing promotional material. In the late 1940s, Otto, a nurseryman from Geneva, New York, walked into Horace's office to buy advertising time on a radio program. They soon became friends and partners in Otto's mail order garden products business.

Otto was frustrated by complaints from his customers that their plants didn't stay healthy after they were planted. Otto began shipping a small packet of water-soluble fertilizer with each plant. Customers loved it! Soon they were back for more of that plant food. Horace convinced Otto that they had a stand-alone consumer product worth pursuing.

In 1951, Horace ran a full-page ad in a New York City newspaper, telling readers about Miracle-Gro. Three days after the ad appeared, the mail brought $22,000 in cash orders, and the company was on its way to success.

Over the years, the original Miracle-Gro All-Purpose Plant Food was joined by Miracid Soil Acidifier, Miracle-Gro for Roses, and Miracle-Gro for Tomatoes. The company also introduced several garden feeders and a line of products for houseplant care. The Scotts Company and Stern's Miracle-Gro Products merged in 1995, uniting the two leading brands in lawn care and gardening and strengthening Scotts as the number one marketer of branded consumer lawn and garden products in the world.

In 1997, the company expanded further with acquisition of Miracle Garden Care Ltd. and Levington Horticulture Ltd. in the United Kingdom , giving Scotts an even stronger base for expansion in Europe. The company also grew its organics business with the acquisition of Earthgro, Inc., and added lawn care service to its consumer businesses with the purchase of Emerald Green Lawn Service - now called Scotts Lawn Service.

The Scotts Company continued to grow through strategic acquisition in 1998. Scotts obtained an 80 percent interest in Sanford Scientific, Inc., giving Scotts exclusive access to use "gene gun" technology in the commercial development of genetically transformed turfgrasses, flowers, and woody ornamentals. Scotts also moved to the top of the lawn and garden market in Europe with the purchase of Rhône-Poulenc Jardin, continental Europe's largest consumer lawn and garden products company, and ASEF, a leading lawn and garden products company in The Netherlands. In addition, Scotts acquired the Shamrock brand of U.K. and Irish peat products from Bord na Mona of Ireland, strengthening our access to peat reserves for consumer and professional growing media . In 1999, Scotts entered the pesticide industry through agreements with the 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 business. The Ortho business group was established and relocated to Marysville. Scotts World Headquarters is located on the 35th floor of the Huntington Center in downtown Columbus, Ohio.

Later that year, Scotts, responding to its rapid global expansion, established a new World Headquarters in the heart of downtown Columbus, Ohio, and renamed the corporate offices in Marysville as its North American Headquarters. The company also dedicated a headquarters building for its International Division in Lyon, France. In addition to primary fertilizer manufacturing in Marysville, plus more than 20 other locations across the United States, Scotts has facilities throughout Europe and sales organizations around the world - including Australia, Japan, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

The rapid pace of change continued in 2000 as Scotts embarked on an expansion of its North American Headquarters facility, and relocated its Consumer Gardens Business group from Port Washington, New York, to Marysville. The nearly 45,000-sq.-ft. addition also houses Scotts' growing Lawn Service business, order processing unit, and a training facility, and provides additional room for future expansion. In addition, Scotts sold its Professional Turf business and merged its Professional Horticulture business in North America with International 's professional division to form Scotts' Global Professional Business Group.

Since 1868, the seeds of change at Scotts range from buggies and farm seeds to the study of genetics and the introduction of The Scotts Company Web site. The Scotts Company is the world leader in lawn and garden products and is growing rapidly. It is Scotts' continuing mission to strengthen its position as the world's foremost marketer of branded products and services for lawn and garden, while meeting challenging profit and return on investment growth goals.

Company Overview The Scotts Company, headquartered in Ohio for over 130 years, is the world's leading supplier and marketer of consumer products for do-it-yourself lawn and garden care, with a full range of products for professional horticulture as well. The company owns what are by far the industry's most recognized brands. In the U.S., consumer awareness of the company's Scotts®, Miracle-Gro® and Ortho® brands outscores the nearest competitors in their categories by several times, as does awareness of the consumer Roundup® brand which is owned by Monsanto, and for which Scotts is the exclusive marketing agent worldwide. In the U.K., Scotts' brands include Weedol® and Pathclear®, the top-selling consumer herbicides; Evergreen®, the leading lawn fertilizer line; the Levington® line of lawn and garden products; and Miracle-Gro®, the leading plant fertilizer. The company's leading brands in continental Europe include KB® and Fertiligène® in France and Nexa Lotte® and Celaflor® in Germany.

The North American Consumer Business Segment includes our Consumer Lawns, Consumer Gardens, Consumer Growing Media, and Ortho Business Groups. These business groups sell products in the United States and Canada. In fiscal 2000, this segment accounted for 72% of consolidated sales.

Consumer Lawns Group The Consumer Lawns products include lawn fertilizers, fertilizer combination products, grass seed, and spreaders. Scotts LawnService™, also part of this group, leverages off the powerful Scotts® and Miracle-Gro® brands to serve the premium end of the lawn care service market.

Consumer Gardens Group The Consumer Gardens products include plant foods, plant care products, and Garden Feeders marketed under the Miracle-Gro®, Osmocote, and Scotts brand names.

Consumer Growing Media Group The Consumer Growing Media Group sells a complete line of organic products for indoor and outdoor uses, including retail potting soils, top soil, humus, peat, manures, soil conditioners, barks, and mulches under the brand names Miracle-Gro®, Scotts®, Hyponex®, Earthgro®, and Peters Professional®. In addition, the Consumer Growing Media Group produces the Martha Stewart label for Kmart as well as the Sam's Choice and Garden Basic labels for Wal-Mart.

Ortho Business Group The Ortho Business Group was created in 1999 following the completion of the Roundup® Marketing and Agency Agreement and the acquisition of the Ortho® business from Monsanto. The group is responsible for managing the Ortho and related lawn and garden business and for managing the agreement in which we are Monsanto's exclusive agent for the marketing and distribution of consumer Roundup products in the U.S., Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany and the U.K. The group's products include selective and non-selective herbicides and both outdoor and indoor insect controls.

The International Business Segment serves consumers outside the United States and Canada, and professional markets worldwide. In fiscal 2000, this segment accounted for approximately 18% of consolidated sales.

International Consumer The European consumer lawn and garden marketplace is the largest outside North America. After scaling up our overseas operations through a series of acquisitions, Scotts now markets it products in approximately 85% of this marketplace, and has become the leader in the European consumer lawn and garden care market. In 1999, we acquired Rhône-Poulenc Jardin (RPJ), ASEF, and began exclusively marketing consumer Roundup® as part of our worldwide marketing and agency agreement with Monsanto. Our portfolio of international consumer brands includes the leading UK brands Weedol®, Pathclear®, Evergreen®, Miracle-Gro®, and Levington®. In France our portfolio consists of the market leaders KB® and Fertiligène®; in Germany and Austria we own the number two brands Nexa Lotte® and Celaflor®; and in the Benelux countries our strength is in the combination of the ASEF® and KB® brands.

Worldwide Professional The Global Professional Business Group of the International Business Segment was created in 1994 following Scotts' acquisition of Grace-Sierra Horticultural Products Company. In 2000, the group was expanded to include Scotts' North American Professional Horticulture business, and is now responsible for all business to professional users of Scotts products worldwide. The current portfolio of professional products includes controlled-release fertilizers, methylene-urea based fertilizers, water-soluble fertilizers, and numerous plant protection and growing media products marketed under the Osmocote®, Levington®, Shamrock®, and Peters Professional® brand names overseas, and under the Miracle-Gro®, Osmocote®, Scotts®, and Contec® brand names in North America.