Fluidra Sa

Good morning and welcome to our first half 2024 results call. I am Clara Valera, Strategy, Investor Relations and M&A Senior Director. Joining me today on this call is our Executive Chairman Eloy Planas, our outgoing CEO Bruce Brooks, and Xavier Tintoret, our CFO. They will walk you through a few slides on our results and then they will be available to take your questions. I'm also pleased to have on the call Jaime Ramírez, Fluidra's new CEO, who joined us on 1st June. You can follow this presentation in its original English version or in Spanish. Please select your preferred option in the drop-down menu at the bottom right-hand side of your screen. If you would like to ask a question, please find the information and instructions in the Ask a Question tab on the webcast. Please register to receive dial-in details After the registration process, you will need to press star 5 on your telephone keypad to ask your question. The presentation is accessible via our website, fluidra.com, and has also been uploaded to the Stock Exchange Commission this morning. A replay of today's presentation will be made available on our website later today. With that, I hand over to our Executive Chairman, Eloy Planas.

Thanks, Clara. Good morning to you all, and thank you for taking the time to join us this morning and for your interest in Fluidra. Today we are presenting our second quarter and first half 2024 results. Bruce and Xavier will provide more detail shortly. But first, let me summarize the key points I want to convey this morning. Our first half performance was very strong and in line with our expectations for the year. Sales in the second quarter improved sequentially across all regions, with North America delivering a strong performance while Europe was affected by wet weather and sluggish macro environment. The simplification program continues to strengthen our business for the long term. This program, together with our actions on price, led a strong expansion on gross margin another quarter. Cash generation was excellent. We made outstanding progress in working capital management and reduced net debt levels in the first half of the year. Having six months of trading behind us, we are confident on delivering our full year 2024 guidance. Bruce will give more details later. Today's call is a special one for me. This is the last earnings call with Bruce as CEO, who has been instrumental to Fluidra's success over the past six years. I only have words of gratitude for him, and I look forward to his continued contribution as non-executive director. At the same time, I'm delighted to welcome Jaime as our new CEO. With his extensive experience in global consumer and industrial products, proven track record and strategic vision, he is the ideal leader to guide Fluidra in the next phase of development. Jaime.

Thank you, Eloy, and team, for your warm welcome. Hello, everybody. I'm really excited to be here and be part of the Fluidra family. I do believe there are plenty of opportunities for the group as a leading player in an industry with attractive fundamentals. I must say that my onboarding has been fantastic and the transition very smooth. I have had the opportunity to visit key operations, meet our teams, and some of our customers across a number of countries. Delivering shareholder value is top of mind for me on my list, and I look forward to working with you in the future. Now I'll let Bruce present results in more detail.