...- U.S.-based The Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. has rebounded from the lows it experienced in 2022 and 2023, which stemmed from several headwinds including a significant decline in retailer orders and consumer demand following a large pandemic-related increase, substantial inflation, unfavorable weather conditions, and disruptions in the hydroponics business. - Industry conditions have stabilized, the risk of a U.S. recession has declined, and U.S. GDP will increase slowly over the next few years. - We assume the changes to the executive team announced today (including the CFO transition) will not alter the company's financial and strategic objectives. - We revised our outlook to stable from negative and affirmed our 'B+' issuer credit and 'B-' issue-level ratings on the company's senior unsecured notes. The recovery rating on the notes remains '6', reflecting our expectation of negligible (0-10%; rounded estimate 0%) recovery in the event of a payment default. - The stable outlook reflects our...
