Fluidra Sa

Good morning and welcome to our first half 2026 results call. My name is Clara Valera, Strategy, Investor Relations and FP&A Senior Director. Joining me today on this call is our Executive Chairman, Eloy Planes, our CEO, Jaime Ramirez, and Xavier Tintore, our current CFO, who will step down on first of August. They will walk you through the presentation and afterwards we will open the floor for questions. I am also pleased to have on the call Juan Graham, Fluida's incoming CFO, who joined us on 1st of June. You can follow the presentation in either English or Spanish by selecting your preferred language 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 dialing details. Thank you Clara. Good morning and thank you for joining our results call today and for your interest in Fluidra.

Jaime and Xavier will provide more details shortly but let me start with a few key points from my side Our performance in the second quarter was outstanding reflecting the effectiveness of our strategy and the quality of our business This enabled us to continue strengthening our leadership position and generating solid results across dynamic market conditions Jaime will comment further on this We delivered continued sales growth and complemented this with initiatives to protect margins while continuing to invest in our strategic priorities. Over the six-month period, sales were up 5% year-on-year at constant effects, with positive volume and positive price. Adjusted BTDA was up 6%. In a market that remains below historical new build levels, we continue to outperform through disciplined and consistent execution, strong customer focus and continued market share gains. Cash generation was strong, allowing us to further strengthen our balance sheet and continue reducing leverage. Given our performance in the first half and current trading, we are maintaining our full year guidance. We remain focused on delivering the year with discipline and agility while closely monitoring the trading environment. I am proud with how the team is executing in a volatile macro environment. We are making strong progress against our priorities and we remain firmly focused on building a stronger and better fluida. Supported by the structural attractiveness of our industry and the resilience of our business model, we remain confident in our ability to continue creating value for shareholders now and into the future. Finally, today we are launching a 40 million euro share buyback to enhance shareholder remuneration. At current valuation levels, we believe buying back our own shares is an attractive investment and a clear demonstration of our confidence in Fluidrans' long-term value. Before I hand over to Jaime, I would like to take a moment to recognize Javier's contribution over his 16 years at Fluida. As you know, Javier will be stepping down as CFO this August. 16 years leave a mark on any company. Javier's mark on Fluida will remain for many years to come. On behalf of the board, the management team and everyone at Fluidra, I want to thank Xavier for his outstanding contribution. His leadership, professionalism, integrity and unwavering commitment have played a defining role in shaping the Fluidra we know today. On a personal note, Xavier, it has been a genuine privilege to share this journey with you. We have grown alongside this company, faced many challenges together, celebrated many successes and always kept the long-term interest of Fluidra at the center of every decision. For that and for your friendship over all these years, I will always be grateful. We all wish you every success and happiness in the next chapter. Xavier, from the bottom of my heart, thank you very much. Javier Ramirez Garcia He has been working closely with Xavier and the wider leadership team to ensure a smooth transition and I am pleased to have him on board as we continue executing our strategy and entering the next chapter of Fluidra's development. Juan, welcome to the team.

Thank you Eloy, Jaime and team for your warm welcome. I am very pleased to be joining Fluidra as its next Chief Financial Officer. and I appreciate the opportunity to speak on this call for the first time today. Although I'm still early in my journey with the company, I have already spent considerable time with the leadership team, our financial organization and colleagues across the business. My initial impressions are very positive. I have been particularly struck by the strength of the company's competitive position, global reach, its depth of its brands and customer relationships, and the commitment of our people worldwide. There's a great deal of expertise throughout the organization together with a clear understanding of the opportunities and challenges ahead. I have also been positively impacted by the strategic direction of the business. Our priorities are clear, accelerating our growth, fostering competitive differentiation and enhancing operational excellence. As an organization, we have internalized these priorities Javier Ramirez Garcia My focus has been on listening, understanding the business in detail, and developing a fact-based view of where we are performing well and where we can raise the level of visibility and speed of execution. My initial experience has reinforced my enthusiasm about joining Fluidra and my confidence in its long-term potential. I look forward to meeting many of you over the coming months, listening to your perspectives, and building an open and constructive dialogue. I understand the importance of credibility and consistency in this role and I'm committed to earning your trust through clear communication and strong execution. I also want to take this time to thank Xavier for his support through my transition and wish him the very best in his next chapter. Thank you and I will hand over the call to Jaime.

Thank you Juan and good morning all. First, I would like to thank Xavier for his contribution and close collaboration since I joined Fluidra. It has been a real pleasure to work with you. And welcome aboard Juan. Let me start with the highlights of our first half performance before Xavier takes you through the financials in more detail. We delivered another strong set of results. Growing sales year on year 5% at constant currency. Adjusted EBITDA was up 6% with a stable margin year on year. This performance is driven by our relentless focus on serving customers, the resilience of the aftermarket, and our ability to consistently gain market share across our key markets. This is not by coincidence, but by design. For many years Fluidra has been focused on being a reliable partner to customers around the world. We stand out for delivering on time, innovative High quality solutions that make the lives of pool professionals and pool owners easier. And we continue to work to make our platform stronger, more efficient, and more effective. Of course, this goes hand in hand with our focus to deliver on our financial objectives for our investors. In the second quarter, sales grew 5% at constant rate, while adjusted EBITDA increased 8%, demonstrating the operating leverage of the business. This reflects a strong sequential improvement in the second quarter, supported by pricing actions and the decisive cost measures we have implemented, which have successfully ousted inflation and an unfavorable mix. Adjusted EPS increased by 7%, demonstrating the strength of our operating performance. Finally, our balance sheet continues to strengthen. Strong cash generation and disciplined working capital management Enable us to further reduce net debt, bringing leverage down to 2.2 times net debt to adjusted EBITDA. Overall, these results demonstrate that we continue to execute our strategy well. We are growing ahead of the market, improving the quality of the business and creating value, while remaining disciplined and well positioned for the remainder of the year. Turning to slide 6. On the right hand side you can see 3% volume growth in the period and a positive price contribution. M&A was small but positive while FX had an overall negative effect on sales in the first half. However, this impact is lower than in the first quarter when it had a negative effect of 5%. By region, North America achieved 4% growth year to date at constant FX on perimeter. We sell through across our channels up high single digits outperforming the market. This reflects consistent and continued market share gains and underscores the strength of our customer-centric model with excellent service, our strategic focus on the Sunbelt region, and our position in the mid to high-end segments. We're managing well selling and sell-through dynamics across our customer network and we feel confident with the level of inventory in the channel today. In Europe, positive momentum continued in Southern Europe with a strong demand this summer season supported by good weather and tourism. Sales were at approximately 8%. France delivered strong growth continuing the positive trend we've seen in the last 12 months driven by our commercial actions and saw market recovery. While Spain continued its resilient growth trajectory. The rest of Europe was affected by mixed demand and the timing of commercial pool projects. The rest of the world was 3% at constant effects on perimeter, with impact in the second quarter from the situation in the Middle East, a region representing around 3% of group sales, which was offset by the solid performance in countries like South Africa, Morocco, or Egypt. In summary, While demand for new build remains soft across most of our markets, Aster market activity is solid and we continue to expand our share across core regions. We have the leading global platform with geographic diversification and a strong presence in key pool markets across the globe. Turning to slide seven, let me walk you through how we are executing our strategy. First, on accelerating growth. We continue to sharpen our focus on commercial excellence initiatives that bring us closer to our customers and unlock our market potential, including further developing our pricing framework and stressing our go-to-market strategy. On the acquisition front, April continues to perform well and remains in line with our expectations, with sales growing 21% year-on-year in the first half. As anticipated, profitability is modest at this early stage as they are investing in R&D and marketing, but we are working with the business to deliver the plan. Looking ahead, we expect to complete phase two of the transaction by 2027, creating a leading global platform in robotic pool cleaners and stressing Suidra's leadership position in one of the fastest growing categories within the industry. At the end of July, We also signed the acquisition of Idra Pro in France, expressing our water treatment platform and reinforcing our position in one of our key European markets. Subject to customary conditions, the deal is expected to complete in early 2027 and will add approximately 30 million euros of annual sales. In addition, we expect to complete the acquisition of Ryan Pool Group during the third quarter with an alternative of around 10 million euros It further expands our presence in South Africa. Second, on fostering competitive differentiation. Our digital roadmap continues to advance. Food Tracker is now alive in both the US and Australia, and we remain on track to launch in the first European markets in early 2027. Innovation remains a key differentiator for Fluidra. We have a good pipeline of breakthrough innovative products. For instance, we're excited to be launching in the second half our latest innovation, Jandy Edge, which reimagines pool automation with the aim of bringing a clean, modern, intelligent smartphone-style experience to the backyard that not only simplifies the pool experience, but makes it enjoyable. On top of that, we have been focusing on several aftermarket drop-in solutions, There are issues for the poor professional to install and for the poor owner to use, launching for the 2027 season. Finally, on enhancing operational excellence, we continue to execute the actions announced earlier this year to protect margins against higher inflation. Our efficiency plan continues to deliver as expected, generating approximately 15 million of savings year to date, while improving the structural competitiveness of the business. Our plan to optimize our manufacturing footprint is on track. The new facility in Tangiers will start in Q3 to serve core global markets. The fixed cost reduction initiatives announced in the first quarter are progressing well and are delivering the expected savings. During the quarter, we also completed the closure of our R&D center in France as part of our broad optimization efforts. Overall, we continue to make good progress across all three strategic pillars. Thank you Jaime. Let's turn to page 8 to start with the P&L. Sales of 1,258,000,000

Javier Ramirez Garcia Javier Ramirez Garcia Thank you very much. We are starting to see the benefits of the cost reduction measures executed, which will lead us to full year OPEX increases of around 3.5% at constant effects. Adjusted EBITDA of $321 million was up 5.7% and adjusted EBITDA margin was 25.5%. Flattish year on year. This is a strong performance considering the changing macro environment we have faced, with higher inflation, lower activity in the Middle East in the second quarter and new build at the lower end of our expectations. Our decisive action on implementing price increases and restructuring initiatives, together with some tariff recovery at the end of the period, have supported this performance. Adjusted EBITDA of $268 million is up 6% with a margin of 21.3% which is 20 bps above last year's. Below the adjusted EBITDA line, PPA amortization is down 6.3% to $26 million. Restructuring, stock-based compensation and other expenses of $35 million are up year-on-year. As we have executed a significant portion of the reorganization plans of the year, including the closure of an R&D center in France and headcount reduction. Additionally, we continue to progress with our manufacturing footprint project, closing a plant in China and a plant in Oregon, USA. Financial results amounted to $34 million. Slightly up at constant rate versus 2025 despite having executed the extension to January 2029 of the 450 million euro revolver credit facility which included around 2 million in one of cost Tax rate was 26% similar to the one of 2025 Net profit reached 126 million a decrease of 2.9% As you know, we track adjusted net profit, a good indicator for Fluidra as we have a significant amortization charge entirely purchase accounting related that impacts our net profit and EPS calculation. Adjusted net profit amounted to $175 million. 7.1% higher than last year. Page 9 shows the free cash flow evolution as well as the net debt position. Free cash flow generated in the period has been 16 million that compares to a use of cash of 74 million last year. Let's look into the different components of this strong performance. Operating cash flow was 81 million versus 31 million last year due to better contribution of networking capital thanks to higher payables driven by the increased activity in the quota and some accruals associated to the restructuring actions, coupled with stable inventories and receivables. Overall, the networking capital to sales ratio is at 22.5%, 230 bps lower than last year. On the investment front, we have used 40 million versus 80 million a year ago. The variance is generated to the size of VarioPool, the acquisition that reinforces our commercial pool business, versus the VAC acquisition and other investment cash flow last year. On the financing front, we have seen a flat evolution. NetDebt reached 1 billion and 101 million down 16 million compared to the prior year period with FX starting to impact negatively as the euro has weakened versus the US dollar at the end of June versus the prior year period Our leverage ratio is 2.2 times versus 2.3 times ratio last year And before I turn the call to Eloy allow me to share one personal reflection This is my 64th consecutive quarterly resource presentation and my last one as CFO of Fluidra. Looking back, I realize the story of these years has never been about a single quarter. It has been about building a stronger company quarter after quarter, year after year. Today marks a personal transition Javier Ramirez Garcia Behind every earning release, every annual report, and every presentation, there has been an extraordinary group of professionals committed to providing transparent, consistent, and meaningful information so that investors can make well-informed decisions. Finally, I live with complete confidence in the future of Luida. The company has outstanding people, a clear strategy, and a strong leadership team. Thank you for your trust over all these years. And now, back to the chairman to wrap up the presentation.

Thank you, Xavier, and thank you again for being one of the people to help build a strong Fluidra year after year. Let me finish with a few key takeaways from today's presentation. We deliver a strong first half, growing ahead of the market and in line with our expectations despite a changing macroeconomic environment. The resilience of the aftermarket, our strong focus on customers and continuing market share gains once again demonstrate the strength of our business model. At the same time, we have continued to execute with discipline. Our cost actions are delivering as planned, supporting profitability while allowing us to continue investing behind our strategic priorities. Thank you very much. This is a clear demonstration of our confidence in Fluidra's long-term value. Looking ahead, we remain confident in our future. We are consistently executing our strategy, accelerating growth, strengthening our competitive differentiation and enhancing operational excellence to build an even stronger business and continue delivering attractive returns. All of this supported by the structural attractiveness of our industry. All of that gives us confidence in our ability to continue creating value. Now I hand it over to Clara for the Q&A.

Thank you Eloy. We now begin the Q&A session and as a reminder if you would like to ask a question please find the information and instructions in the Ask a Question tab on the webcast. You have to register to receive dialing details to ask your questions. For those registered, if you would like to ask a question, please press SR5 on your telephone keypad. And the first question comes from Chigrita Sina at JP Morgan. Chigrita, please go ahead.

Hi, good morning, guys. Thank you for taking my questions. I have three, please, and I'll take them one by one. So, firstly, just regarding some inventory levels at the distributors, I know this is one of the concerns, you know, recently. Maybe if you could touch on, you know, your own view with regards to what you're seeing amongst your customers and if there's any risk in page two here.

Okay. Hi, Chepeta. How are you doing? So, on the inventory side, this is a great question. As we think about the nature of our business being a seasonal business, and we know there has been a lot of noise in the market on this topic, we feel very good about our inventory situation across the different channels. We work very closely with our customers. We have great relationships with all of them. And one of the key indicators for you is The selling and the sell out numbers. So we said at the beginning of the year in Q1 that our sell out was up in double digits. Our sell out in Q2 is in the high single digits. And our selling for the first half in North America is in the mid single digits. So you see that there is a clear liquidation of inventory. So we're very comfortable with the level of inventories we have in the channel today. We feel very good about our position to get into the second half as we think about what's coming and getting ready for the next season. But also because we're very focused on launching, as you heard in the speech, A lot of new products, a lot of new things, especially in the North American market. So we're very happy with where we are. We're very happy with the balance between selling and sell out. And we look forward to a very good second half in terms of how healthy our position is in the channels.

Perfect. Thank you so much. My second question is just on the margin. I'm just wondering if, you know, just in the quarter, if you saw any benefit from tariff-free funds.

We are happy with the performance of the margins in the quarter. We saw a positive impact of pricing, we saw the benefit of our efficiency plans and that was coupled by, as I said in the call, a negative mix impact. I will especially highlight the pressure we are seeing on robots but all in all the performance is very good and we are comparing to a very high comparable that we had a year ago so very solid performance. There has been a small refund in the last part of the quarter but we report it under the OPEX line.

And then my final question is regarding the development in commercial, which I think was down about 10% in the quarter. So if you just elaborate on the performance there.

Great question. So the commercial business continues to do really well. You know, it's a project-oriented business. Last year we had a very strong – let me start with last year. Last year we had a very strong Q2 in commercial projects. What is going on this year is with the Middle East situation, we're seeing that that was the most impacted business in Q2, and there is, because of the uncertainty, some delay on the projects. The pipeline continues to be very good, but it's more about timing than the issue or the situation we face in Q2.

Perfect. Thank you so much, guys.

And all the very best, Xavier. Thank you, Jessica. Thank you, Rita. And the next question comes from Carlos Caburrasi from Kepler. Carlos, please go ahead.

Thank you, Clara, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for the presentation and for taking my questions. I have three, but before I jump to each of you, I just wanted to wish you all the best for the future. And now coming back to the questions, first I was wondering if you could walk us through the volume and pricing dynamics. Thank you very much. Thank you. And lastly, on shareholder remuneration, I was wondering if buybacks could eventually become a recurring piece of the capital allocation policy rather than remaining just opportunistic. Thank you.

So let me start. Hi, Carlos. Thank you. Thank you for your nice wishes. And let me start. Going backwards on shareholder remuneration as you see we have shareholder remuneration on our capital allocation policy today is like what you have seen over the last few years so a little bit more opportunistic seeing when really we believe that this is a good deployment of cash based on where we see the value of the shares There is ongoing discussion about should we adjust or not our capital allocation but at this point in time this is what you should expect from us. We have a consistent capital allocation policy and today If we go to your second point, the restructuring cost evolution, as I said in the call the big components of the impact that you see In the quarter is the closure of the R&D center in France, the closure of the plant in China, the closure of the plant in Oregon. as well as the fixed cost restructuring plan that we indicated in Q1. We confirmed that the impact for 2026 is going to be between 50 to 55 million including the stop-waste compensation charge as we As we said, and what is happening really is that we are anticipating some of the actions that we'll share with you in our Capital Markets Day and at the beginning of the year. So some of these expenses were planned for 2027 and what is happening is that we are going slightly faster in the plan and recognizing those expenses that we had anticipated.

So on the volume side, you saw the number, the total number for our company in Q2. We had 2% price and 3% volume. So if we go across the regions, and I will get a little bit different into the total numbers, we're very happy with the volume performance. Let me start with Europe. We had a phenomenal volume performance in Q2, almost 6% to 7% growth. North America volume was around one point something percent. And in terms of pricing, if we go across the regions, we can call that that two percent is kind of, and Average Across with a little bit of ups and downs. On the pricing side, so on the volume side, we were very happy. We continue gaining market share in North America. The share gains we're getting are reflected through the sell-out numbers that we're seeing. We're very happy. And in terms of pricing, this is a combination of our mix. and the impact of our robots business that we were very happy with the performance of acres but that business for the legacy fluid business has an impact in our numbers. And then the rest is geographic and product needs. Some of the categories we have in the, especially on chemicals in Europe. But that's the performance across all the businesses. So happy with the volume piece and also very happy with the pricing Given the market circumstances and what is going on with the mix.

Very clear. Thank you.

Carlos, and the next question comes from Rajesh Bhatti at Barclays. Rajesh, you go ahead.

yes uh good morning all i've got three questions and would like to go one by one firstly i think you mentioned uh small refund related to uh the tariffs could you please quantify and uh is there more to come on this during the second half of the year just to understand what the total exposure there is

As I said in the last part of Q2, we received some refund, around 5 million euros of refund in the quarter. We have additional refunds to receive in the situation obviously is a little bit unknown because we don't have the timing but we expect potentially anywhere between additional 5 to 10 million. However, let me also be clear that the situation is there's a lot of moving parts. First, it's not clear when and how we will receive those refunds. There were new tariffs also announced recently, as of the last weekend, which also have an impact on our numbers. And in addition, the situation with the conflict in the Middle East and inflation is also not clear. So, all in all, although there's going to be positive and negative impacts, we believe that there is not going to be a very significant impact coming in the second half of the year. However, also, let me be clear that regardless of whatever the situation is with tariffs, we don't need the refunds to be within our guidance.

That's very clear. The second question is about the U.S. and the dislocation seen at your competitor. Do you believe you have gained market share there? And would you say this is structural?

Yes, we're, as I said before, we are very confident on the market share gains we've been having in the North American business. and let me kind of give you a little bit of color on this. Fluidra has been very careful and very thoughtful after what happened during COVID with how the company has managed inventory, how the company has managed the balance between selling and sell out. So we're not worried about the inventory in channels and we've been working very closely with our customers to make sure that we have Good Selling, connected to absolutely the sell out. At the same time, this is part of how we structurally work the business and work with our customers in terms of proximity, in terms of how we continue working on demand generation, converting products into our products, in terms of the quality of our products, in terms of how we support inventory. For Fluidra, the situation, as I said before, in the market is very healthy. Getting out of the season, and I think that's a very important point, as we get ready for the second half, we feel in a very good position, and we have very good plans in terms of new products and innovation for the second half of the year as we get ready for the early buy and the beginning of the 2027 season.

Sorry, can I add a follow-up on that? Have you already started thinking about next year's pricing strategy? Some of your peers seem to suggest that pricing needs to be lower than prior years. Any thoughts on how you're thinking about market share versus margin dynamic for next year? That would be great.

That's a great question. As Xavier said before, I mean, we're The marketing is very dynamic. We're having a lot of moving pieces. So we're working in that process internally and also talking to our customers. So more to come on that topic, but we cannot be specific right now.

Very clear. And my last question is about the buyback announcement, which was a surprise today. Are you seeing the valuation on potential M&A opportunities to be at a How far are you willing to go with the buybacks? Thanks.

Yeah, I'll take that one. Look, the buyback, as I said, is opportunistic. It's 40 million, around 2.1 million shares, so it's a fine. And as I said earlier in my presentation, It's part of our capital allocation that we take those opportunities when they come. As to how we see the market and we see M&A, clearly if I look at how we have completed the recent acquisitions, we have acquired M&A multiples around five to six, six and a half. So clearly below our multiple. So that's what I can tell you from that front.

It's all very clear. Thank you very much and all the very best.

Thank you, Roger. And the next question comes from Juan Canovas at Westin Bell. Juan, please go ahead.

Hi. Good morning. Thank you for taking my question. I have a couple. The first one, on the improvement in payment conditions, can you comment whether this is something that we are likely to continue seeing in the future or it is somewhat off? Second, on ITAR, could you provide some hard figures rather than the sales growth figure? I mean, it would be very difficult to give us the sales for the year today. Third, On the, I mean going back to the share by back comments, I take this because you see your valuation very low. In the past it has been commented that you might have been looking at US listing and I wanted to ask Eloy whether you consider this is closer than a year ago or you are still considering this as a potential long term? Thank you Juan, thank you.

Let me start by taking the first one. Improvement in payables, as I said in the call, There is a little bit of one-off benefit as we have significant accruals coming from the process of closing the R&D center in France and the plants in China and in the US. Is there opportunity in terms of trade payables? There is a little bit of opportunity in continuing to improve trade payables as we evolve as a company but that will be part of our improvement in how we manage capital and if you look at our history we have a history of improving our networking capital to sales ratio step by step If I go back to my early, you know, 64 quarters ago, we were well above 30% at year end, and as you know, last year we closed around 17%, so there's been significant improvement. If I look at the second question, just to give you hard figures, that 21% growth, means that APER has delivered sales of around 180 million dollars as I said with around 6% EBITDA IFRS margin so very pleased with the growth story they are on improving trends on EBITDA margins but they are still investing on investing heavily on R&D and marketing to develop the brand and to continue to pull growth

Just to add on April, that number, as Javier said, is a 20% revenue growth versus last year. And as we monitor the market, they continue to gain market share and perform really, really well.

As to the US listing, I mean, this is an option that is... Thank you, Juan. And the next question comes from Francisco Ruiz at BNC Paribas. Paco, please go ahead.

Thank you very much. Probably this is my 64th quarterly presentation as well with you, Xavier. So I would like to thank you for all this time we have together. Wish you the best in the future and hope to have some time to catch up in the future with less pressure than during this course. So getting back to my questions, I mean, I have two which are follow-up as many others have been already answered. So the first one is, again, on the selling is allowed situation. I mean, Jaime, you commented that there is a gap between mid-single-digit and high-single-digit between the two, but you already reported a 1.5% volume growth of the acceleration from this mid-single-digit This could imply a certain level of risk for the coming quarters in a row. The second question is on this refund of the tariff. While, of course, the new tariffs will go on the gross margin, this refund goes on the OPEX. Is this fast to 10 additional refund included in the 3.5% increase on OPEX growth for the year? Thank you.

So, Paco, thank you for the question. It's exactly the opposite, the way we see it as we finish the season. What we're doing and we're very confident is we're liquidating inventory in the channel as the sellout is higher than the selling. So we're very pleased on how inventory is performing and how the team continues to perform in the US. And this is the ideal situation as you finish the season. When we start the season, selling is strong, but as you finish the season, this is exactly where you want it to go. Higher sell out and lower selling.

As to your second question, Paco, no, we don't need that three point, we don't need the tariff refund to get to that 3.5%. That would be incremental, you know, or lower reduction, let's say, in the back half. Thank you.

Good. And the next question comes from Christoph Grulich at Derenberg. Christoph, please go ahead.

Yeah, good morning and thanks for taking my questions. It's true from my side, please. Firstly, I wanted to ask about... The distribution side of the industry in North America, it seems like there have been some shifts in the market share among some of the leading players. And I was just wondering if you think that has any positive or negative implications for your business. And then I wanted to also ask about the latest trends in Europe. So we've seen quite a bit of extreme heat. We have seen quite a lot of wildfires. Do you see any impact on your business?

On the first question, we say it in a very simple way, which is we have great relationship with all our customers and we work very closely with them. And that's exactly how we work with the team. So from that perspective, whatever trend we have in the market, we're going to be very aligned. We continue working on strategic partnerships. and we will stay very close and build the business plans together. So the change in the market is it is naturally that's the way it has to be how it is. We just gotta have to continue supporting them, delivering good service, good quality products, good innovation. So on the, and you can help me on this, on the fires, first of all, we feel very sorry about That situation is really a shame and it's affecting a lot of people and our thoughts are with them. So the reality of warm weathers, that brings opportunity for this business and the season from that perspective has been very positive. We can call it that way for the business, not positive from the people perspective given the situation. But the season so far from that perspective has been very good.

Thanks a lot and all the best to you Xavier Thank you, Christophe.

Thank you. We seem to have a couple of follow-up questions, if I'm not mistaken. Chidrita, would you like to go ahead?

Yeah, hi. Thank you for taking my follow-up. I just wanted to sort of dig deeper into that tariff refund comment, so just so I'm clear. There was a $5 million impact and that increased adjusted EBITDA a bit by $5 million. And similarly, you're commenting to H2, we can expect another $5 to $10 million benefit, maybe Q3, Q4. Is that right? Thank you.

Yeah, Chirita, that's right. That's what I said. Also coupled with the fact that there's a lot of moving parts in that second half of the year with incremental tariffs that were recently announced by the Trump administration, inflation associated to the conflict in the Middle East, which it seems to finish and then it seems to continue. So there's a lot of moving parts. There's that potential Thank you very much.

And if I could just follow up with the regards to the unchanged guidance for the full year. I mean, just maybe if you could touch on some of the moving parts with regards to maybe the low end and the high end of the margin guidance, just given that refund commentary. Thank you.

Clearly, probably the refund is the moving part. We have... When we look at guidance, we have confidence in the midpoint of the sales range on the margin side as we express in the Q1 call and we have expressed today. We're probably more in the low to medium due to the impact of inflation, which we are offsetting with pricing, but we are offsetting in absolute, so therefore it has an impact on a margin percentage. And then, clearly, the potential tariff refund will be helpful. Again, you know, putting that caveat up front of, you know, there's incremental tariffs, there's inflation, so the situation has a lot of moving pieces.

Very clear.

Thank you so much. Thank you, Chidrita. And we have one last question from a follow-up from Rajesh. Rajesh, is that right? Would you like to go ahead?

Yes, please. I've got two follow-ups. First one, again, going back to the US. One of your channel partners has said their medium-term growth ambition of 6% to 9% might be challenging if conditions remain as they are currently. So interested to hear your thoughts on that.

Well, we continue with our plan in the U.S. The reality is, as you're seeing, I mean, the market is not helping. New construction is not getting better. But aftermarket continues to be a huge opportunity for us, and we have gained market share in aftermarket. At the same time, as I said before, Working closely with our customers, improving how we serve the market, bringing new products, bringing new innovation. We see our objectives of growth in the mid-term and long-term in North America that will continue. So we're very confident about what the team is doing. And probably the right way to put this is we focus on what we can control, not expecting that the market is going to change dramatically. We haven't seen that in the last two years.

got it right here and a couple of housekeeping questions on cash flow do you expect the working capital to sales ratio uh to normalize in the second half or do you expect it to remain lower than last year and can you remind us of the guidance and capex as well thank you yep um

I would say that from a working capital perspective at Yeren we would be around the same ratio as we were a year ago and then in terms of CapEx we would be around 3.5% of sales more or less Very clear, thank you very much Thank you

Thank you all for your questions and your interest in Fluidra. This marks the end of today's presentation. As always, the investor relations team is here if you have any further queries. Goodbye.