Scotts Miracle-Gro Cuts FY17 Guidance - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (SMG) lowered its fiscal 2017 financial outlook due to an anticipated shortfall in sales. The company now expects sales in its U.S. Consumer segment to be slightly down from last year, leading to expected company-wide sales growth of 3 to 4 percent, compared with the previous guidance of 6 to 7 percent sales growth. The company now expects adjusted earnings for the year to range from $4.00 to $4.20 per share compared to an original range of $4.10 to $4.30 per share.

"While we still have 30 percent of the season in front of us, it's become clear that we'll fall short of our original plans on both the top and bottom line. The contingency plans we've put in place will help partially offset the sales shortfall we've seen thus far, but we are unwilling to cut too deeply if the impact begins to affect our planning for next season."

The company also said it has increased its share repurchase activity in recent weeks and expects to repurchase $250 to $275 million of its shares on a full-year basis. Additionally, the completion in recent weeks of two small acquisitions - one in Hawthorne and another in the core business - is expected to be immediately accretive to earnings, adding $0.05 to $0.07 to earnings per share on an annualized basis.