Hayward Holdings, Inc.

Welcome to Hayward Holdings' fourth quarter 2025 earnings call. My name is Carrie and I will be your operator for today's call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question and answer session. During the question and answer session, if you have a question, please press star then one on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to Kevin Masca, Vice President, Investor Relations, and FP&A. Mr. Masco, you may begin.

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. We issued our fourth quarter and full year 2025 earnings press release this morning, which has been posted to the Investor Relations section of our website at investor.hayward.com. There you can also find the earnings slide presentation referenced during this call. I'm joined by Mr. Officer. and Evian Jones, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that during this call, the company may make certain statements that are considered forward-looking in nature, including management's outlook for 2026 and future periods. Such statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, including those discussed in our most recent forms 10-K and 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission that could cause actual results to differ materially. The company does not undertake any duty to update such forward-looking statements. During today's call, the company will discuss non-GAAP measures. Reconciliations of historical non-GAAP measures discussed on this call to the comparable GAAP measures can be found in our earnings release and the appendix to the slide presentation. All comparisons will be made on a year-over-year basis unless otherwise indicated. Additionally, I'd like to highlight a change in accounting principle. During the fourth quarter 2025, we changed to a preferred presentation of warranty costs from SG&A to cost of sales. This change has no impact on net sales, operating income, net income, or adjusted EBITDA. The change has been applied retrospectively to all periods presented and affects cost of sales, gross profit, and SG&A expense. Tables outlining this presentation change are included in our earnings press release and in the appendix, to the earnings slide presentation. I will now turn the call over to Kevin Halloran.

Thank you, Kevin, and good morning, everyone. It's my pleasure to welcome all of you to Hayward's fourth quarter earnings call. I'll begin on slide four of our earnings presentation with today's key messages. Hayward delivered strong fourth quarter and full year 2025 results, outperforming expectations and extending our momentum. Our team executed at a high level across the organization, translating into sales and earnings growth continued gross margin expansion and robust cashflow generation. I'm pleased to report that our net sales increased 7% in the fourth quarter against a very strong prior year comparison. Gross margin expanded and adjusted EBITDA increased 4%, demonstrating our ability to drive profitability even as we continue to invest in the business. Our full year performance was strong across all . Net sales increased 7%. Gross margin achieved a record 48%. and adjusted EBITDA grew 8%. These results underscore the success of our business development strategies and the durability of our aftermarket driven model. Cashflow generation was exceptional, enabling a further meaningful reduction in net leverage to 1.9 times by year end. At the same time, we're executing on our strategic priorities. We're investing in innovation, operational excellence, and customer experience while maintaining a strong financial profile. These actions are strengthening our competitive position and supporting long-term value creation. 2025 also marked the 100-year anniversary of Hayward's founding in 1925, a remarkable milestone and testament to our resilience. It was important to us that we honor that legacy with strong performance in our centennial year, and I'm proud to say we did exactly that. As we enter our next century, we do so with a solid foundation for future growth and an unwavering commitment to our customers. Looking ahead, we enter the new year with confidence in the strength of our business and our ability to execute our strategic growth initiatives for the full year we expect continued sales and earnings growth. With net sales increasing approximately 4% and adjusted diluted EPS increasing approximately six to 12% turning out of slide five highlighting the results of the fourth quarter and full year. Net sales in the fourth quarter increased 7% to 349 million against a strong prior year comparison of 17% growth. Gross profit margins continued to expand and adjusted EBITDA increased 4%. Adjusted EBITDA margin of 29.4% was reduced largely due to the increased variable compensation costs associated with better than expected performance. Adjusted diluted EPS increased 7% to 29 cents. For the full year, 2025 net sales increased 7% to 1,122,000,000 and adjusted EBITDA increased 8% to 299 million, each exceeding our most recent guidance. Profitability was strong with gross margin increasing to 48% and adjusted EBITDA margin increasing to 26.7%. Adjusted diluted EPS increased 15% to 77 cents. Overall, this performance reflects solid growth and margin expansion, balanced against targeted strategic investments in the business to support long-term value creation. Turning now to slide six, I'd like to share some strategic accomplishments from the year. 2025 was an important and successful year for Hayward, our centennial year, and one in which we delivered on our financial commitments while further strengthening our position as a premier company in the industry. I'm extremely proud of our team's performance And I want to thank all of our valued customers and vendor partners for their efforts throughout the year. Our aftermarket model focused on serving the large installed base of existing pools with regular equipment replacements and upgrades represents roughly 85% of our total sales and continues to prove its resilience. We generated another year of solid growth and profitability through a challenge macroeconomic backdrop in which new pool construction in the US approached post GFC lows. From a financial standpoint, we delivered robust growth in sales and double-digit increases in both adjusted diluted EPS and free cash flow, enabling a meaningful reduction in that leverage to 1.9 times. At the segment level, North America delivered record margins. Canada continued its strong performance, and we were very pleased with the performance of Clore King in the first full year of ownership, strengthening our position in commercial pool equipment. Europe and the rest of the world showed a solid recovery in sales and margins, reflecting the benefits of our organizational realignment and operational focus. As I reflect on the post-pandemic period for the industry, we have now delivered two consecutive years of top-line growth aligned with our long-term algorithm, 6% in 2024 and 7% in 2025, alongside meaningful margin expansion and balance sheet delevering. Further, looking back to before the pandemic, our six-year CAGRs from 2019 to 2025 are approximately 7% for net sales and 10% for adjusted EBITDA, underscoring the sustainable organic growth trajectory we believe our business can deliver over time, despite some year-to-year variability. Beyond our financial results, we executed on key strategic growth initiatives to further strengthen the foundation for Hayward's next century of growth. As a technology leader, we increased our disciplined investments in research, development, and engineering to support growth-enhancing innovation. We launched several differentiated products during the year, including the introduction of OmniX Automation Ecosystem. I'll discuss this in more detail on the following slide. Hayward has a longstanding culture of operational excellence and continuous improvement, and we demonstrated our capabilities again in 2025. We successfully mitigated the impact of tariffs, realigned our supply chain, and continue to de-risk our sourcing footprint while making strategic investments in automation and productivity. We also continue to elevate the customer experience. We recently expanded the network of Hayward Hubs, opening one in California in the fourth quarter, and our fifth hub is scheduled to open in Florida soon. We also increased training and support for dealers and trade professionals. After a successful pilot program, we are now scaling up the use of AI-enabled technical service agents to improve efficiency and service quality for our customers. These efforts are supporting successful dealer conversions and share gains. Turning now to slide seven. Last year, we first introduced you to OmniX, an industry-first automation platform providing wireless connectivity and app control for a suite of products without the need for a central controller. This strategy directly addresses the need of the approximately 3.5 million U.S. pools with little or no automation, offering a seamless path to modernization. Today, I'm excited to share another key step in building out the OmniX ecosystem. Now, every new Hayward variable speed pump and gas heater is OmniX enabled. As homeowners replace older equipment, they will get automation as standard. lowering the barrier of large upfront costs and making aftermarket upgrades more accessible. With more OmniX-enabled products on the horizon, our ecosystem will continue to offer robust aftermarket upgrade options, driving further growth and giving pool owners even more ways to enhance and enjoy their pools over time. Additionally, our new OmniX products feature a common, intuitive, universal display. For pumps, this also includes universal communications, supporting seamless aftermarket integration with existing non-Hayward automation systems. On slide eight, innovation in the aftermarket remains core to our strategy given the large addressable market for efficient connected products. Here we showcase several new products, each designed to unlock significant aftermarket upgrade opportunities for Hayward either by providing access into new product categories or by broadening compatibility with competitive systems. Starting on the left hand side of the slide, we've expanded our variable speed pump line with superior performing OmniX enabled four horsepower models for large residential and small commercial pools. This is a key established segment of the pump market not previously served by Hayward. Our new color logic LED landscape lights allow homeowners to create coordinated custom color effects across the pool, spa, water features, and now their surrounding landscape. The track jet pressure cleaner shares many of the same performance elements as our successful track back suction cleaner fast cleaning and improved access to hard to reach spaces. entering the pressure cleaner category opens up another segment of the automatic cleaner space for new and replacement installations in Europe. New pumps have been introduced as direct drop-in replacements for the extensive installed base of competing products, presenting a promising opportunity to increase market share. Finally, we've also expanded our pool lighting product line. These lights present an excellent aftermarket alternative for trade professionals seeking robust lighting solutions compatible with non-Hayward systems. Collectively, these new products unlock incremental aftermarket opportunities by enabling easier upgrades replacements, and conversions across both Hayward and non-Hayward pool pads. Turning now to slide nine, I'd like to briefly revisit the strategy we're executing to drive growth and value creation in 2026 and beyond. Hayward is fundamentally a growth company built on a strong and reliable organic growth engine complemented by disciplined and organic opportunities. On the organic side, our product management and engineering roadmaps are focused on delivering innovative energy efficient and highly automated solutions that elevate the pool ownership experience. This includes industry leading technology platforms like OmniX positioning us at the forefront of connected intelligent pool solutions. We continue to enhance the overall customer experience through investments in sales and marketing programs, additional Hayward hubs, as well as hosting premier industry events that reinforce our leadership and deepen engagement across the channel. Our commercial pool and industrial flow control businesses, those smaller in scale are high quality, high potential contributors to our portfolio. We are experts in water movement and treatment solutions focused on accelerating profitable growth in these attractive categories that scale our core capabilities. We have a proven track record of expanding margins from already strong levels. Over the past six years, our gross profit margin has expanded more than 700 basis points from 41% to 48%. We continue to see long-term margin upside supported by four pillars, productivity gains, a richer mix of higher margin technology products, operating leverage from increased capacity utilization, and proactive price cost management. Finally, as we've emphasized, we maintain a balanced and disciplined approach to capital allocations. prioritizing organic growth investments while pursuing strategic acquisitions that enhance our product portfolio, expanding our geographic reach and strengthening customer relationships. In summary, we are confident that our strategy positions Hayward to deliver sustainable, profitable growth and compelling shareholder returns in the years ahead. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Avian to discuss our financial results in more detail.