Pat Norton to Retire from Scotts

Pat Norton, who led Barefoot Grass through a dynamic growth period that made it the second-largest lawn care company in the country before its acquisition by TruGreen-ChemLawn in 1996, announced his retirement as The Scotts Co.'s chief financial officer, effective Jan. 1, 2003.

Norton will remain on Scotts' board of directors and he will serve as a consultant to the rapidly growing Scotts LawnService. He will be replaced as CFO by Chris Nagel.

"We regret that Pat has decided to retire, but we certainly understand his desire to spend more time with his family," remarked James Hagedorn, Scotts' president and chief executive officer. "Pat's experience in the lawn service business has been invaluable to us as we have successfully and aggressively grown Scotts LawnService. We're glad that he will continue to provide counsel and strategic insight for this business as it becomes increasingly more critical to our long-term financial performance and success. He will also continue to contribute, particularly in the areas of financial strategy, financial reporting and investor relations as he has done during his tenure as CFO."