NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) July 7, 2008—Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that its ratings and outlook on The Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. (BB/Negative/--) are not currently affected by the ongoing investigation, jointly led by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), related to the registration status of some of the company's products, nor by any product recalls or existing Stop Sale, Use, or Removal Order from the EPA with respect to any of the company's products. However, given the company's weakened credit measures primarily because of operating losses related to product recalls and inventory impairments for improperly registered products, we now expect the company's average adjusted debt to EBITDA to remain elevated
