U.S.-based lawn and garden product company The Scotts Miracle-Gro Co.'s (Scotts) willingness to make acquisitions and shareholder payments has, at least temporarily, increased in our view. We are affirming all of our ratings on the company, including our 'BB+' corporate credit rating, and revising the rating outlook to negative from stable. The negative outlook reflects the potential that Scotts' future financial policy may be more aggressive than our base-case forecast assumes, resulting in leverage sustained well above 3x beyond the next 18 months. CHICAGO (Standard&Poor's) Aug. 4, 2015--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services today said it affirmed its 'BB+' corporate credit rating on Marysville, Ohio-based The Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. and revised the rating outlook to negative from stable. We
