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Founded in 1945 by Brooks Pennington, Sr., Pennington Seed, Inc., is a leading manufacturer and distributor of lawn, garden, turf care, forage grasses, wild game and birdseed products. Pennington is the largest packager of grass seed in the world, which includes Lofts(R) Seed brand. Pennington has grown from a rural feed and seed store in Madison, Ga., to a diversified company with more than 10,000 products and services, 800 employees and 16,000 dealers nationwide.

The Lofts brand was established and well-respected in Northeastern United States when it was acquired by Central Garden & Pet's Pennington subsidiary in 2000. Since then, with the support of its parent company, Lofts has become the trusted brand in the professional landscaping and maintenance industry.

Manufacturing divisions operate new state-of-the-art production and distribution facilities from coast to coast. Grass seed manufacturing facilities in Madison, Ga.; Greenfield, Mo.; Roll, Ariz.; El Centro, Calif.; and Lebanon, Ore., use the latest technology to test, process, and package a full range of Pennington seed varieties, with a guarantee of consistency and high quality. Pennington also maintains important observation nurseries at all manufacturing locations, enabling the company to track seed growth for Pennington quality prior to selection.

Because of a commitment to research and development, Pennington has become one of the leading developers of high quality turfgrass varieties. R&D of our new grass seed varieties is performed in Lebanon, Ore. The R&D staff works with many top research sites, including Rutgers University, to produce improved turfgrass cultivars and varieties that germinate quicker, produce a darker green color, are more insect and disease resistant, and can withstand the toughest drought conditions. In most cases, successful varieties have taken as many as 10 years of growing, evaluating, re-growing and re-evaluating prior to market introduction. Pennington's R&D focus has resulted in its varieties leading the National Turfgrass Evaluation Program (NTEP) trials with the best overall turfgrass quality rankings in the industry.

Pennington's state-of-the-art fertilizer plant, Gro Tec, in Eatonton, Ga., manufactures Pennington's fertilizers, including granular products and liquid plant foods. Gro Tec also produces a variety of lawn and garden chemical products.

Pennington Quality Control Labs are located at each and every Pennington manufacturing facility to ensure that only top quality seeds are processed to carry the Pennington name.

Pennington is a subsidiary of Central Garden and Pet Company (NASDAQ: CENT) headquartered in Lafayette, Calif. The company is a leading manufacturer, supplier and merchandiser of consumer lawn and garden and pet supply products with revenues of more than $1.1 billion in 2003. For more information on our parent company, visit www.centralgardenandpet.com.