Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE: SMG) is making major changes to its executive rank.
Chris Hagedorn, who leads the company’s Hawthorne Gardening Co., was promoted to executive vice president and chief of staff to Chairman and CEO Jim Hagedorn, his father. The younger Hagedorn will maintain oversight of the hydroponics subsidiary, which serves the cannabis industry, while taking on corporate strategy and communications duties, the company said.
“The chief of staff position is new on the executive team,” according to a news release Tuesday.
Hawthorne, once a high-growth business, saw sales fall 37% to $294.7 million in fiscal 2024, though executives noted during a November earnings call that the unit achieved consecutive quarters of positive EBITDA for the first time in two years after strategic restructuring.
“We dismantled Hawthorne to make it a much smaller and more profitable business,” the elder Hagedorn told investors. Scotts overall posted a fourth-quarter loss despite revenue beating estimates.
Chief Financial Officer Matt Garth will leave the company Dec. 31 after two years in the role, and Mark Scheiwer, currently vice president and treasurer, will become interim CFO and chief accounting officer. The company is conducting a search for a permanent CFO. Chief Operating Officer Nate Baxter was promoted to add president to his role.
Scheiwer, who has been with the company since 2011 in various finance leadership roles, will receive an annual base salary of $550,000 and target incentive of 90% as interim CFO. Garth’s departure agreement includes two years of base salary, benefits continuation and two times his target bonus opportunity for fiscal 2025, along with prorated vesting of certain equity awards, according to filings.
Filings also show that Scotts’ cannabis investment arm, The Hawthorne Collective, is set to exchange its convertible debt holdings in RIV Capital (CSE: RIV) (OTC: CNPOF) for an equity stake in Cansortium Inc. (OTC: CNTMF), pending the completion of Cansortium’s acquisition of RIV Capital. The transaction resulted in a $64.6 million impairment charge for Scotts in the fourth quarter.
The company on Tuesday reaffirmed its fiscal 2025 guidance provided earlier this month.
[[{“value”:”The company reaffirmed its fiscal 2025 guidance provided earlier this month as its cannabis play starts to materialize.
The post Scotts Miracle-Gro shakes up C-suite, takes hit on cannabis stake appeared first on Green Market Report.”}]] Read More
