Scotts Miracle-Gro Reprimands Its CEO

NYSE traders
Adam Jeffery | CNBC

Scotts Miracle-Gro has reprimanded CEO and Chairman Jim Hagedorn for using inappropriate language. The lawn care products maker also announced that three board members have resigned, and that it will stick with a smaller board.

Scotts did not provide any details about the specific comments that Hagedorn made or the context for them.

In the statement, Hagedorn was contrite and said it wouldn't happen again.

"While I have a tendency to use colorful language, I recognize my comments in this case were inappropriate and I apologize," Hagedorn said.

He said that he and the rest of the board "consider the matter resolved and I have made a personal commitment to prevent a future recurrence."

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Scotts said that Carl F. Kohrt, John S. Shiely and William G. Jurgensen have resigned from their board posts. The company said the resignations were not tied to any disagreement related to its operations, policies, practices or financial reporting.

The Marysville, Ohio-based company said it had previously considered shrinking the board's size, but that the matter was sped up by the resignations.

Scotts said that it doesn't plan to fill the board vacancies at this time, adding that having a smaller board will be more efficient and in line with its peers. The company plans for the board's size to be between eight to 10 directors.

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With the three resignations, it currently has nine directors.

Scotts shares finished at $46.97 on Monday. They peaked for the past year at $49.24 last week. They traded as low as $35.49 almost a year ago.