Business Description

developments in our business during fiscal 2025. Each reference in this Annual Report on Form 10-K (“Form 10-K”) to a “fiscal” year is to our fiscal year ended or ending, as applicable, on September 30 of the referenced year. For additional information on recent business developments, see “ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS” of this Form 10-K. Through our U.S. Consumer and Other segments, we are the leading marketer of branded consumer lawn and garden products in North America. Our products are marketed under some of the most recognized brand names in the consumer lawn and garden industry. Our key consumer lawn and garden brands include Scotts ® Turf Builder ® lawn fertilizer and Scotts ® grass seed products; Miracle-Gro ® soil, plant food and gardening products; Ortho ® herbicide and pesticide products; and Tomcat ® rodent control and animal repellent products. We are the exclusive agent of Monsanto Company, a subsidiary of Bayer AG (“Monsanto”), for the marketing and distribution of certain of Monsanto’s consumer Roundup ®1 branded products within the United States (“U.S.”) and certain other specified countries. In addition, we have an equity interest in Bonnie Plants, LLC, a joint venture with Alabama Farmers Cooperative, Inc. (“AFC”), focused on planting, growing, developing, distributing, marketing and selling live plants. Through our Hawthorne segment, we are a leading provider of nutrients, lighting and other materials used for indoor and hydroponic gardening in North America. Our signature brands include General Hydroponics ® , Gavita ® , Botanicare ® , Gro Pro ® , Mother Earth ® , Grower’s Edge ® , HydroLogic Purification System ® and CYCO ® . Scotts Miracle-Gro traces its heritage to a company founded by O.M. Scott in Marysville, Ohio in 1868. In the mid-1900s, we became widely known for the development of quality lawn fertilizers and grass seeds that led to the creation of a new industry – consumer lawn care. In the 1990s, we significantly expanded our product offering with three leading brands in the U.S. home lawn and garden industry. In fiscal 1995, through a merger with Stern’s Miracle-Gro Products, Inc., which was founded by Horace Hagedorn and Otto Stern in Long Island, New York in 1951, we acquired the Miracle-Gro ® brand, the industry leader in water-soluble garden plant foods. In fiscal 1999, we acquired the Ortho ® brand in the U.S. and obtained exclusive rights to market Monsanto’s consumer Roundup ® brand within the U.S. and other contractually specified countries, thereby adding industry-leading weed, pest and disease control products to our portfolio. Today, the Scotts ® , Miracle-Gro ® , Ortho ® and Roundup ® brands make us the most widely recognized company in the consumer lawn and garden industry in the U.S. Business Segments We divide our business into the following segments: • U.S. Consumer • Hawthorne • Other U.S. Consumer consists of our consumer lawn and garden business in the United States. Hawthorne consists of our indoor and hydroponic gardening business. Other primarily consists of our consumer lawn and garden business in Canada. Corporate consists of general and administrative expenses and certain other income and expense items not allocated to the reportable business segments. Financial information about our segments for each of the three fiscal years ended September 30, 2025, 2024 and 2023 is presented in “NOTE 19. SEGMENT INFORMATION” of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Form 10-K. 1 Roundup ® is a registered trademark of Monsanto Technology LLC, a company affiliated with Monsanto Company. 2 Table of Contents Principal Products and Services In our segments, we manufacture, market and sell lawn and garden products in the following categories: Lawn Care: The lawn care category is designed to help users grow and enjoy the lawn they want. Products within this category include lawn fertilizer products under the Scotts ® , O.M. SCOTT & Sons TM and Turf Builder ® brand and sub-brand names; clover and grass seed products under the O.M. SCOTT & Sons TM , Scotts ® , EZ Seed ® , PatchMaster ® and Thick’R Lawn TM brand and sub-brand names; and lawn-related weed, pest and disease control products primarily under the Scotts ® brand name, including sub-brands such as GrubEx ® .…