Published on 8 Apr 2024 on Zacks via Yahoo Finance
ScottsMiracle-Gro (SMG) Issues Fiscal Second-Quarter Updates
The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company SMG recently stated that it aims to attain a second-quarter net leverage ratio of about 7 times adjusted EBITDA. This will be less than the company's fiscal first-quarter net leverage ratio and its second-quarter maximum of 7.75 times.As debt reduction and covenant compliance are manageable, net leverage will not only be substantially below the second-quarter maximum and better than the first quarter, but it will also become a less critical metric moving ahead, SMG noted.In the second quarter, the company generated near-record retail shipments with year-to-date POS units trending at mid-teens percentage growth compared to the last year.The company now has stronger retail partnerships than before. Free cash flow in the first half of the year exceeded expectations, providing strong support for meeting the remainder of the company's $1 billion free cash flow target in the fiscal 2023 and fiscal 24 period.Shares of SMG have lost 2% over the past year compared with an 19.1% decline of its industry.
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