Jul 29, 2022   SOURCE: BusinessWire

Fluidra Sales Grew by 22% in the First Half of the Year

Fluidra, global leader in pool and wellness equipment and connected solutions, ended the first six months of the year with record sales of 1,445 million, up 21.8% on the first half of 2021. These solid results were driven by price and the run rate impact of M&A transactions.

EBITDA was up 9.3% to 361 million euros, a record as well, with a 25% margin that was impacted by higher-than-anticipated inflation and the lag between cost inflation and price read-through.

Cash Net Profit reached 219 million euros, up 1% compared to 2021 which is due to the one-off tax benefit from the Zodiac merger taken in Q2 2021.

Fluidra continues to assess optimal allocation of resources and has today announced a new share repurchase program amounting to 3.5 million shares in accordance to the capital allocation policy announced at the last Annual Shareholders meeting.

North America leads growth, boosted by inorganic activity

In terms of geographical areas, growth was led by North America, which delivered a 41% increase in the first half of 2022, boosted by inorganic activity. Southern Europe was up 16%, with good performance across all regions driven by the return of tourism, with excellent performance in Spain.

Affected by a challenging environment in Northern Europe and a tough comparison due to the elevated growth in 2021, the Rest of Europe saw a decline of 8%. Meanwhile, the Rest of the World witnessed a strong evolution led by Australia, reporting an increase of 33%.

In terms of business units, Residential Pool sales were up 19% in the first half of the year. Commercial Pool saw strong growth of 57%, supported by the rebound in tourism, strategic investments and inorganic activity. The Pool Water Treatment business, meanwhile, was up 32% and Fluid Handling witnessed a rise of 13%.

Changing towards a more normalized world

As the supply chain normalizes, the industry is going back to a more normalized ordering pattern which, along with the higher-than-anticipated inflationary pressure, leads Fluidra to revise 2022 guidance based on H1 results, despite margin improvement in H2.

Fluidra expects sales between €2,500m and €2,600m (which implies a 14%-19% growth range) this year. The company is also forecasting that EBITDA will be between 600 and 630 million euros and Cash EPS between 1.77 and 1.90 euros.

“We have achieved record sales and EBITDA results despite the temporary margin decline. The company continues to demonstrate pricing power, with improved margin year-over-year expected in H2,” explains Eloi Planes, Fluidra’s Executive Chairman.

Danish company Swim & Fun acquired

Fluidra announced today that it has acquired one hundred per cent of the share capital of the Danish company Swim & Fun Scandinavia ApS (Swim & Fun), which is a market-leading distributor in the Nordic countries.

Swim & Fun supplies a wide assortment of water treatment, maintenance and upgrade products and above-ground pools and spas, mainly for the mass market. In 2021, the company reported revenues and adjusted EBITDA of approximately 30 million and 5.5 million euros, respectively. Total consideration is defined as an upfront payment of approximately 21 million euros already paid, plus future earn-out payments based of Swim & Fun's performance in the years 2023, 2024 and 2025, to be satisfied during 2026. The transaction is expected to be EPS accretive in 2023.

The current management team of Swim & Fun now will join Fluidra with an aim to continue Swim & Fun’s successful trajectory since its foundation.

According to Eloi Planes: “The mid- and long-term fundamentals of the business are solid, supported by the step change. Fluidra is well prepared to weather the new environment and will continue to grow, with additional margin levers and strong cash conversion profile. We continue executing our consolidation strategy with the acquisition of Swim & Fun which will reinforce our presence in the Nordics.”