Scotts Miracle-Gro reported first-quarter net sales of $211.2 million, an 8% drop over sales of $230.2 million during the prior-year quarter.

Net loss for the industry’s largest lawn and garden supplier was $1.21 million for the first quarter, which ended Dec. 31, 2011. This compares with a net loss of $1.02 million during the first quarter of 2010.

Scotts Miracle-Gro, the nation’s largest supplier of lawn and garden products, reported net sales of $417.2 million for its fourth fiscal quarter, a decrease of 1% from sales in the same quarter last year. Sales in the global consumer segment declined 8% to $308 million.

Scotts LawnService reported sales of $83.4 million, an increase of 5% from the comparable quarter in 2010.

Marysville, Ohio-based Scotts Miracle-Gro said it expects to report a 2% decline in sales for fiscal 2011 when it issues its full-year financial results Nov. 8.

The sales shortfall, coupled with associated gross margin pressure, will likely result in adjusted net earnings in a range of approximately $2.70 to $2.75 per share, according to the company. The company had forecast earnings of about $3.00 per share back in August.

The weather is always a popular topic in discussions of retail performance, but it seems this recent quarter has produced a storm of exceptionally intense meteorological commentary.

The following are just some of the examples of CEOs talking about the weather taken from news reports of the past several days:

Scotts Miracle-Gro, the industry’s largest supplier of lawn and garden products, has entered into a new $1.7 billion secured revolving credit facility, scheduled to mature in 2016. This replaces its existing $2.2 billion facility, which was set to expire in February 2012.

Las Vegas -- Thirty-two home channel industry suppliers were recognized as Golden Hammer winners during a ceremony Wednesday in Las Vegas at the National Hardware Show.

The event also produced five vendor winners selected by the Golden Hammer retail committee in five retail disciplines. The Golden Hammer Committee Choice winners for 2011 are:

• Scotts Miracle-Gro, New Product Innovation;

• Irwin Tools, Inventory Management;

• Andersen, Serving the Pros;

• 3M, Category Management; and

While posting strong second-quarter results, Marysville, Ohio-based Scotts Miracle-Gro is hoping for more cooperative weather. 

Scotts posted net sales of $1.13 billion for the quarter ended April 2, up 8% from the same quarter last year. Net income increased 50% to $177.6 million.

For the quarter, company-wide adjusted gross margin rate increased 41.1% compared with 39.6% a year earlier. The improvement was due to the benefit of lower commodity costs, as well as supply chain efficiencies and a favorable product mix.