consumer was against a 24% comp, and a 39% growth in Hawthorne was against a comp of 64%.
But I've been a public company CEO for 20 years now.
Our strategic plan assumed a relatively mature core business, and enterprise growth of roughly 4% to 6%, driven by the higher growth at Hawthorne.
We sought to achieve a consistent shareholder return of 10% to 12% by leveraging the P&L, repurchasing shares, maintaining a roughly 2% dividend yield.
We also set a five-year target of cumulative free cash flow of $1.5 billion.
Between the first two pillars, we believe the U.S. consumer segment can achieve sustainable long-term growth of 2% to 4% annually.
Our previous strategic plan assumed growth of 0% to 2%.
More importantly, it was 21 points better than fiscal '19 and actually got stronger later in the year.
Consumer volume during the fourth quarter of fiscal '21, while down seven points from last year's record performance was 35 points higher than the same period in fiscal 2019.
POS and units were up 4% in October, compared to last year's record result and up 42% compared to fiscal 2019.
A 30-year-old couple buying a home today and entering our category for the first time has the potential to stay with us for 20 years or longer.
This area is approaching 10% of our U.S. consumer sales and will only grow higher.
In the near term, we do not expect to see an impact from the investment in RIV on our P&L, and the amount of capital we've employed $150 million does not impact our ability to invest in other areas, or return cash to shareholders.
I told you last quarter, we had allocated $250 million for that purpose.
We now expect to add another $100 million to that total, and we hope to acquire as many of those shares as possible in the next two quarters.
U.S. consumer sales did better than we expected, finishing up 11%, compared to the 7% to 9% growth we expected.
At $3.2 billion, sales grew by nearly $900 million in the last two years.
consumer segment, sales declined 28% in Q4, we were up against a plus-92% comp.
Adjusting for that, sales in the quarter would have declined 23%.
While year-over-year sales declined 2%, the segment would have been up 5% on an apples-to-apples basis when adjusting for the calendar.
And the U.S. Hawthorne business, grew by over 10% last year in Q4 given the same comparison.
Finally, recall that Hawthorne was up against a plus-64% comp in the same period a year ago.
On a full year basis, Hawthorne grew 39% to $1.4 billion.
I'll remind you that number was $640 million in fiscal 2019.
On the segment profit line, Hawthorne earned $164 million in fiscal '21, for an operating margin of 11.5%.
The profit was up 46% from last year and more than 200% from 2019.
On top of a strong harvest from the first turn of crops earlier in the year, many growers harvested their second crop of cannabis earlier this season due to concerns about wildfires drought, and in the case of the legacy market, fear of increased enforcement efforts.
In Q4 of fiscal '21, the adjusted gross margin rate was 17.4% compared with 24.3% in 2020.
Companywide sales in Q4 of last year were up nearly 80%.
If you compare the Q4 gross margin rate in '21 versus '19, you'll see the difference is only 100 basis points, and that difference is a combination of segment mix and higher commodity costs.
On a full year basis, the gross margin rate declined 270 basis points to 30.3%.
The year-over-year increase in commodity costs of about $85 million nearly all of which was on plan, was the primary reason for the decline, followed by higher distribution costs.
SG&A came in 2 percentage points lower in fiscal '21 at $743 million.
It declined 21% in the quarter to $161 million.
Interest expense was $5 million higher in Q4 compared with a year ago.
Remember, we issued $900 million of bonds in the second half of the year, which drove an increase in the quarter.
On the bottom line, adjusted net income, which excludes restructuring, impairment, and onetime items, was up 28% to $528 million or $9.23 a share.
That's just $0.01 shy of a $2 per share increase in a single year and more than twice the $4.47 a share we earned in 2019.
This assumes the U.S. consumer segment is flat to minus 4%, and that Hawthorne grows 8% to 12%.
Remember that last year's Q1 was up nearly 150%, as retailers worked hard to remedy depleted inventory levels.
As it relates to Hawthorne, we're planning for 8% to 12% growth on a full year basis.
We expect to see gross margin rate decline by 100 to 150 basis points on a full year basis.
That said, we expect about 65% to 70% of our costs to be locked in by the end of the calendar year.
We would expect some leverage out of SG&A, meaning this line can range from a 6% decline year over year to a slight increase, maybe 2%.
Below the operating line, interest expense should be roughly $25 million higher, based on the full year impact of our recent bond offering.
All of this rolls up to a guidance range for adjusted earnings per share of $8.50 to $8.90.
For the year we just completed, free cash flow, that's operating cash flow minus capex, came in at $165 million.
That was about a $60 million impact.
Second, we increased capex by about $45 million.
Third, inventory levels were up $500 million from fiscal '20.
As we look to fiscal '22, we're aiming for free cash flow of up to $300 million.
We've got a lot of moving pieces right now and several active initiatives that could require us to update our outlook as we move through the year.

Summary:
Our previous strategic plan assumed growth of 0% to 2%.
On top of a strong harvest from the first turn of crops earlier in the year, many growers harvested their second crop of cannabis earlier this season due to concerns about wildfires drought, and in the case of the legacy market, fear of increased enforcement efforts.
All of this rolls up to a guidance range for adjusted earnings per share of $8.50 to $8.90.
As we look to fiscal '22, we're aiming for free cash flow of up to $300 million.
We've got a lot of moving pieces right now and several active initiatives that could require us to update our outlook as we move through the year.