CENTA
#Thanks.
Thanks, <UNK>.
Difficult to answer that completely, <UNK>.
I would say this, we saw some rebound in our business in June and the early part of July remained very strong as well.
Now if you missed some of the spring planting season, you may not get that back until the fall, or it may be next spring before you see it again.
I don't think that ---+ we may not capture that in this current fiscal year, let's put it that way.
It's too hot now in many markets to plant grass seed or to apply certain applications to your yard, so there may be some lost sales as a result of that.
However, if there's lawn damage this summer, you could pick that up again this fall.
Difficult to project.
This is <UNK>.
Yes, we actually have seen a little bit of a slowing per the Nielsen numbers.
Now keep in mind that doesn't include Amazon; it doesn't include a lot of the club channels.
But there has been a bit of a softening across ---+ broad base, real softening across the Pet categories.
So we're sort of following that lead and tempering expectations.
Great question.
I think ---+ I don't know.
Is it the consumer; is it a cyclical thing.
We haven't been able to put our finger on it.
Again, we're trying to read the tea leaves here, looking through the Nielsen data.
But I think ---+ one of the things to get our arms around is you've got a lot more data to get your arms around these days.
Whereas before you could get a better handle on things through Nielsen, now you've got big chunks of the business that don't really report through Nielsen.
So we have to keep our eyes really all over the place with respect to clubs online; there's just a lot more going on.
The other thing I would add is, if you look at the overall Nielsen line for the categories in aggregate, we're not talking a major deceleration.
We're talking roughly a point or point and a half, the thing (inaudible).
So it's really tough to tease out what exactly is causing that type of change.
The other thing to add too is, if you recall, our Pet businesses had really been outperforming each category by a dramatic amount.
So I think it would be a bit unrealistic to expect that to continue in perpetuity.
So I think tempering it a little bit is prudent.
Thank you.
I can answer that, all of the above.
So I go back to our strategy.
In some cases innovation will be a bigger driver on a business, and particularly businesses that we want to grow faster than the Company average.
A lot of pet businesses, for example, fit that boat.
I will tell you in terms of trying to grow more aggressively than market, you absolutely have to look at adjacencies, and we actively do that.
Matter of fact I give a garden example, we've looked at hydroponics and we made a small acquisition there.
So what I would say is, we are going to look at adjacencies.
It is one way we're going to drive innovation and faster growth.
We'll look at whether it makes more sense to develop those internally or make acquisitions if we can get them at the right price and the right timing.
Sure, this is <UNK>.
What you see on the marketplace right now are the repellents being the biggest beneficiaries of the Zika phenomenon.
Our repellent business is on the professional side, and we rely on municipalities for business.
We haven't seen really the federal funds trickle down to those municipalities and have not seen it manifest itself in orders as of yet.
That said, we're certainly prepared to do our best, and we're on standby to help any city, county, or any of the abatement districts if we're called upon.
And this is J.
D.
On the Garden side of the business, you're exactly right.
So the controls business would have some products that could help in the control of mosquitoes, broad-spectrum multipurpose insecticides, but we don't compete in the area of personal repellent business.
We're not going to shy away from private label.
In instances where we're the low cost producer, in particular where we have excess capacity, we'll pursue private label.
We particularly like private label in instances where we can work in partnership with the customers to develop a better product and some claims ---+ in many cases working with them on the claims on packaging, actual packaging graphics, so very much almost acting like a branded partner for our retail partners.
So private label is something that we'll continue to pursue, and again we're the low cost producer and we have capacity leverage that we can use.
Sure.
So the IMS acquisition, which was the rawhide business, is a little bit further along.
One of the top initiatives is to ---+ I think we mentioned earlier in the call that we were consolidating seven facilities into two in our dog and cat toy and treat business.
That ---+ IMS is one of those businesses that we're consolidating.
So that's well under way.
That will be happening during 2017.
The second one, DMC, which is the bedding business is a little bit behind IMS as far as that integration process.
And I think we're going to see more of that as 2017 develops, that we will begin to integrate that as well.
There's also a lot of manufacturing synergies and expenses that we can take out of that business as well, so we're eagerly waiting to get into that on a more meaningful level.
No, it hasn't.
We like to stay in that 3 to 4 times range.
And like we've said before we could live at the upper end of that range for a period of time for the right acquisitions.
So all the same.
I didn't mean for that to be the takeaway.
The example I gave that the dog and cat business is related to what I'll call complex cost savings projects, which are fueling ---+ providing the funds to drive innovation.
In innovation I would talk way beyond dog and cats, frankly across the entire Company.
We're looking at all the businesses that we want to drive top-line growth on, and some will have more of that role than others.
And across all those businesses we'll be doing exactly what I was talking about in terms of taking a look at our pipelines, improving the depth of our consumer insights, and investing in people and capabilities to drive even stronger innovation.
It is.
Yes, that was ---+ within our pro business that was the star of the group and has been the last few quarters.
About a year ago we had added some sales folks to that team and it's done quite well.
We couldn't be happier with the results.
There's plenty of opportunity there.
As far as penetration, we don't give that sort of guidance in a business that size, but we certainly are not opposed to hiring more sales folks and putting a little more resource behind it since what we're doing right now is working quite well.
Yes, we've picked up a large food and treat manufacturer and we continue to roll out the distribution there.
We've also won some business at some large retailers.
Again that ---+ we initially start that in a given territory, and then that starts to roll out across all of our territories.
So we're starting to see that really take hold and that's really what's driving a lot of the growth.
Great, everybody, thank you for spending the time with us.
We had a terrific quarter.
We feel good about our progress and our future and appreciate you spending the time with us today, so thanks.
