Good morning. Welcome to our full year 2025 Results Call. I'm Clara Valera, Strategy Investor Relations and FP&A Senior Director. Joining me today on this call is our Executive Chairman, Eloi Planes, our CEO, Jaime Ramírez, and Xavier Tintoré, our CFO. They will walk you through the presentation. Afterwards, we will open the floor for questions. 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 dial-in details. After the registration process, you will need to press star five on your telephone keypad to ask your question.
The presentation is available on our website, fluidra.com, and was filed with the Stock Exchange Commission earlier this morning. A replay will also be available on our website. With that, I now hand over to our Executive Chairman, Eloi Planes.
Thank you, Clara. Good morning. Thank you for joining our result call today and for your interest in Fluidra. Jaime and Xavier will provide more detail shortly. Let me start with a few key points from my side. We delivered strong results in 2025, continuing to outperform the market while advancing our strategic priorities in a dynamic environment. This achievement is a testament to the strength of our platform, the clear strategy and objective we pursue, and the dedicated Fluidra team behind it. My sincere thanks to all of them for their resilience, commitment, and contribution. At constant FX, sales were up 7%. EBITDA grew 9% in the year, reflecting consistent volume growth across all the regions. We are particularly pleased with the market share gains achieved in 2025, which has been a focus for us.
We successfully delivered the final year of the simplification programs. Since its 2022 launch, margin expansion has been significant. Gross margin has improved by more than 500 basis points and EBITDA margin by 150 basis points. There is more to come, as Jaime will explain shortly. Cash generation was strong, further consolidating our progress in working capital management. Net debt to EBITDA stood at 2.2x at year-end, down 0.2x versus last year, while accommodating dividend payments and the completion of Aiper and other acquisitions in 2025. We are pleased the board of director has proposed a 2025 dividend of EUR 0.65 per share, up 8% versus prior year, subject to shareholders' approval.
This reflects the confidence in the future of our business and represents a payout of approximately 50% of Adjusted EPS, fully aligned with our dividend policy and capital allocation framework. If approved, the dividend will be paid in two installments in the second half of the year. Today, we are also introducing guidance for 2026. While macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty remains, we are confident in our ability to continue delivering growth in sales and EBITDA margin expansion. Beyond 2026, we expect to further expand our leadership in a structurally attractive industry, with long-term growth underpinned by favorable secular growth drivers and a robust and recurring aftermarket. Our focus is clear: disciplined execution of our strategic framework and continued investment to strengthen the business for the long term.
We are committed to improving returns on capital by accelerating growth, both organic and inorganic, driving competitive differentiation through product innovation and digitalization of the customer's experience, and further enhancing operational excellence. On the next slide, you can see how over the past six years, we have delivered outstanding performance, exploiting our established position to further strengthen our global leading platform. This was achieved in extraordinary and volatile period, whose dynamics I think you are all familiar with. We generated this progress, growth, margin, and efficiency, cash generation, and returns on invested capital with a clear focus on delivery and execution, and judicious capital allocation aligned with our framework. We have grown revenues over the period at a compound average growth rate of 8%, expanded, Adjusted EBITDA margin by more than 300 basis points, and improved return on capital by more than 600 points.
We have also returned around EUR 650 million to shareholders. I'm proud of the team and what we have accomplished. We look forward to discussing our results with you this morning. With that, I hand first to Jaime to continue with our presentation.
Thank you, Eloi. It is a pleasure to be here with all of you today. Moving to our full year performance on slide 6, I will provide some highlights and then turn it over to Xavier to share more detail on the financial results. I'm proud of our strong execution in a complex context. Sales were up 7% on constant FX, with growth across all regions, driven by higher volumes and prices, and the contribution from acquisitions. Adjusted EBITDA was up 9% year-on-year on constant FX, to what? To EUR 501 million, which represents a 23% margin, up year-on-year, driven by higher volumes and prices, and ongoing operational excellence focus. We continue to invest in the business to support long-term growth. The underlying performance remains strong. Adjusted EPS was up 14% year-on-year on constant FX.
We reduced leverage by 0.2 times net debt to Adjusted EBITDA on the back of our strong operating performance and FX tailwinds. I would like to remind you that we have funded 3 acquisitions and paid a dividend of EUR 0.60 per share in 2025, and our balance sheet remains strong, providing strategic flexibility. Last but not least, we have expanded our return of capital by around 150 basis points versus last year, which represents our progress on margin and asset efficiency. Turning to slide 7. On the right, you see 4% volume growth in the year as we continue to gain share, together with accelerated price contribution. Revenue growth was also benefited from our bold acquisitions in Australia, Portugal, and Central Europe. FX had an overall negative effect on sales in the period.
North America delivered 7% organic growth year-on-year on constant FX and perimeter, aligned with underlying sell-through trends across our customer network. This reflects continued market share gains and underscores the strength of our customer-centric model, our strategic focus on the Sunbelt region, and our positioning in the mid to high-end segments. I will discuss further later. In Europe, the positive momentum continued, resulting in approximately 4% organic growth. France continued to recover in Q4, driven by the aftermarket, ending the year flat, while Spain recorded strong growth. Performance across other European markets was good in the year. Growth in the rest of the world was also strong on a constant FX and perimeter, supported by double-digit growth in commercial pool. This is the beauty of our global platform. We are geographically diversified, with a strong presence in key pool markets across the globe.
In summary, although demand for new builds remained slightly negative across our markets, aftermarket activity was solid, and we continued to expand our share across core regions, both in residential and commercial pool. Next, on slide 8, as Eloi mentioned, we are executing on our strategy to deliver growth, margin expansion, and higher returns, as we presented at our Capital Markets Day last April. This is based on the three strategic pillars you see on the slide, which are supported by the enablers below. I will provide further details on the progress made in 2025 on each front. Moving to slide 9, let me briefly touch on how our strategy to accelerate growth is translating into real, tangible results.
In 2025, we made clear progress in strengthening our position in the markets that matter most to us, confirming that our value proposition continues to resonate with customers, even in a demanding environment. We also took important steps in commercial excellence, with a particular focus on pricing. This was not just about price increases, but about better discipline, better tools, and better execution across regions. These initiatives are now embedded in the organization and will continue to contribute to more resilient performance. Our customer-centric approach and service levels were once again recognized. Being named Supplier of the Year in the US for the fifth consecutive time by leading distributors is something we're especially proud of, as it reflects consistency, trust, and our commitment to long-term partnership. We continue to create value through both organic and inorganic growth.
In 2025, we completed the acquisitions of BAC, Aiper, and a multiple cover producer, PowerPlastics. We have also signed the agreement to acquire Variopool, a movable floors commercial pool player in Northern Europe. These acquisitions both strengthen our portfolio and position us well in attractive segments. On slide 10, let me now turn to how we are advancing competitive differentiation by transforming our organization to accelerate innovation and time to market, leveraging our global scale to deliver a customer-centered digital experience platform. In 2025, we invested EUR 64 million in R&D, or around 3% of sales, ensuring that innovation remains a core driver of value creation at Fluidra. A key milestone this year was the opening in Q4 of our new global R&D center in China, which will increase our agility and cost efficiency in product development.
We measure how innovation translating to sales with our Vitality Index. New products launched in the last five years represented 19% of total sales, demonstrating our ability to continuously renew our portfolio while maintaining high quality and service levels. We are accelerating our digital strategy. After the acquisition of Pooltrackr, rolling it out for our customers in Australia, and the platform will be launched in the U.S. in the first half of 2026. This will improve the day-to-day experience of pool professionals, strengthening customer engagement, and providing a key ingredient to our digital experience platform mentioned earlier. Overall, these achievements show that we are not only investing in innovation, but doing so in a disciplined and focused way, turning differentiation into tangible results for our customers and returns for our investors.
Moving to slide 11, let me show you examples of products to be launched in 2026. Many of these were showcased at the Atlantic City Pool Show, and customer feedback was extremely positive. Our latest innovation, Jandy Edge, reimagines how pool automation, with the aim of bringing a clean, modern, intelligent, smart, home-style experience to the backyard, that not only simplifies the pool experience, but makes it enjoyable both for the pro and the homeowner. We're also bringing this innovation mindset to other categories, such as salt chlorination. We soft launched CellGuard last year, and we expect to see accelerated sales in 2026 as the product gains increased market adoption. CellGuard's breakthrough patented salt cell technology enhances the life of the chlorinator by automatically removing the cell's limescale, an industry first. At the same time, the product enables lower cost of production to support stronger margins.
Additionally, we are continually growing our portfolio of drop-in equipment lines for the aftermarket, focusing on energy efficiency, ease of installation, and competitive replacement and reliability. These products allow pool professionals to upgrade existing pools with higher performance solutions while supporting sustainability and lower operating costs for end customers. Overall, this innovation pipeline reinforces our leadership position and supports both growth and margin expansion over the medium term. Let me now turn to operational excellence on slide 12, a critical pillar of our strategy. In 2025, we delivered very tangible results with this program. First, we achieved the EUR 100 million gross savings target under our simplification program, growing our margins over the last 3 years. This is a major milestone and a clear demonstration of disciplined execution across procurement, manufacturing, and supply chain. Importantly, we did not stop there.
During the year, we completed the development of a new efficiency plan, which is expected to generate an additional EUR 120 million in savings over the next 5 years. This gives us strong confidence that operational excellence will remain a structural driver of margin improvement. We're building a more agile, cost-effective, and resilient global supply chain. At the same time, we continue to strengthen our operational platform for the future. We're investing in technology and systems, including S&OP tools and a new ERP, to unlock further efficiencies, improve visibility, and enhance decision-making across the organization. This plan builds on the strong foundation established through our previous simplification program and is fully embedded in our long-term operating model. It is designed to structurally enhance efficiency and competitiveness through 3 core levers: a strategic supplier management, discipline designed to value initiatives, and a more flexible, competitive, and scalable industrial footprint.
We'll further optimize our manufacturing and sourcing network while maintaining the high service levels to our customers, that our customers expect. In terms of impact, approximately 75% of the savings will come from gross margin expansion, with the remaining 25% driven by operating expense efficiencies. As shown on the chart, these benefits are expected to ramp up progressively between 2026 and 2030, providing sustained support to margin expansion over the planned period. The program involves non-recurring costs of approximately EUR 50 million. We expect this to occur in the next three years. This efficiency plan reinforces our ability to expand margins, enhance our competitiveness, strengthen our cash generation, and fund growth while maintaining the flexibility needed to support the business long term. With that, I will turn it over to Xavier to explain the financial results in more detail.
Thank you, Jaime. Let's turn to page 14 to start with the PNL. Sales of EUR 2,184 million represent a 3.9% increase year-on-year. FX represented a significant negative impact of 310 basis points. Acquisitions added 90 basis points of growth. For the quarter, FX was a significant headwind with 600 basis points of impact. Gross margin reached 56.6%, flat year-on-year, where the positive contribution of the simplification program and pricing read-through were offset by tariff, inflation, and mix. Operating expenses reached EUR 735 million, up 3.1%, with enhanced investments in digitalization, R&D, and inflation in labor cost and logistics. M&A contributed EUR 6 million to operating expenses.
Adjusted EBITDA of EUR 501 million was up 5%, driven by top-line growth, leveraging our OpEx base despite the above-mentioned investments. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 22.9%, 20 basis points higher than in 2024. EBITDA of EUR 395 million is up 4.1%, with a margin of 18.1%. Below the EBITDA line, PPA amortization is down 10% to EUR 57 million. Restructuring M&A stock-based compensation and other expenses of EUR 29 million were 49% lower than prior year, as one-off costs from the simplification program come to an end. Financial result amounted to EUR 66 million, flat year-over-year, with lower cash interest. Tax rate was 26%, similar to the one of 2024. Net profit reached EUR 176 million, compared to EUR 138 million, a remarkable increase of 28%.
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 EUR 250 million, 8% higher than last year. Adjusted EPS was EUR 1.30, marginally below our guidance range, mainly due to slightly higher than expected depreciation in 2025. Page 15 shows the net debt evolution , as well as the cash flow generation and the cash allocation priorities during the year, which has been very consistent with our Capital Markets Days guidelines. You have the traditional cash flow statement in the appendix. Of the EUR 501 million EBITDA, EUR 101 million was used to pay tax and interest, which is 38% lower due to lower cash taxes.
We invested EUR 23 million in net working capital , with excellent work, finishing the year at 16.4% of sales, or 130 basis points better than in 2024. On the investment front, CapEx is flat year-over-year, and we have used EUR 113 million in acquisitions, including BAC in Switzerland and Pooltrackr in Australia, as well as completing the Phase I of the Aiper acquisition with a $100 million U.S. dollar investment for the 27% ownership agreed. In the next slides, I will provide more color on the investment in Aiper. On the financing front, dividends were up 8%, reaching EUR 117 million. Finally, net debt reached EUR 1,087 million, down EUR 45 million compared to the prior year period.
Our leverage ratio is 2.2 times versus 2.4 times last year, improving 0.2 terms. Let's focus on Aiper and why this is a strategic investment for Fluidra. Aiper is a fast-growing, innovative company that has developed great cordless robots and has successfully disrupted the market with an omni-channel approach. We believe the robotic cleaner market is going to be the winning technology for cleaning pools, and therefore, this is a growth market with 30 million in-ground and above-ground pools to serve. We have completed Phase I of the investment, owning now 27% of the company. When Aiper reaches more than $370 million of sales and 15% Adjusted EBITDA margin, we will increase the stake to 51% by contributing in kind our robotic cleaner business.
The resulting entity will develop and manufacture cleaners, while distribution will leverage the strength of both companies in consumer and professional channels. By working together, we will develop better products faster and have global reach. On the following page, you can see the evolution of Aiper in recent years. Based on internal market share data at retail prices, Aiper is already the number one player in the industry, with good penetration in North America and Europe, and a growing share in the rest of the world. With nearly a 40% compound annual growth rate in sales for the period from 2023 to 2027, we expect to execute Phase II in 2027, when Aiper will be above the $400 million in sales and around 15% IFRS EBITDA margin.
As a reminder, our 2025 financial statements just reflect the investment of EUR 100 million, as we have completed the deal on the last days of the year. In 2026, we will report Aiper under the equity method accounting, but we will provide quarterly business highlights to help you understand their performance. Now, I will give the floor to Jaime and Eloi to conclude today's call.
Thank you, Xavier. Moving to our guidance for 2026 on slide number 18. We are positive about 2026. Volume-wise, we anticipate broadly flat demand in residential new construction and remodel. Performance will vary by geography, with some markets slightly up and others slightly down. On the other hand, we expect residential aftermarket, in particular maintenance and repair, to grow low single digits, reflecting the resilience of demand to maintain the install base. We also anticipate continued positive momentum in our commercial pool business, alongside further market share gains. For the 2026 pool season, we have implemented moderate price increases. This, along with the positive contribution from the new efficiency plan, mostly in gross margin, should more than offset tariff effects as well as inflation in raw materials and labor. We will continue investing in growth initiatives and digitalization to further strengthen the business and enhance our long-term competitive position.
Our guidance is based on constant Euro-USD exchange rate and includes the contribution of M&A. All in all, we're expecting, at constant FX, sales growth between 3%-7%, adjusted EBITDA margin between 23.3% and 24.3%, and EPS growth between 4%- 13%. Now, back to Eloi to wrap up before we move to Q&A.
Thanks, Jaime. Our performance this year was strong, with growth across all regions and an effective implementation of our strategy and plan. The simplification program delivered the planned savings and play a key role in sustaining an excellent gross margin level in 2025. Looking ahead, we are well prepared for this season, for 2026. Early trends point to a resilient aftermarket and flat new construction. In this context, we remain firmly focused on disciplined execution of our strategy to future-proof our business and ensure our long-term success. We are a global leader in an attractive industry, driven by long-term structural growth drivers, having positioned the business for growth and transformation. We are positioned exceptionally well to continue growing and delivering value into the future. Clara, over to you for the Q&A.
Many thanks, Eloi, Jaime, and Xavier, for your presentation. We now begin the Q&A session. 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 dial-in details to ask your question. Those registered, if you would like to ask a question, please press star 5 on your telephone keypad. The first question comes from Chitrita at JP Morgan. Chitrita, please go ahead.
Hello, can you hear me? Hello?
We can hear you.
Okay. Okay. let's go to the next question, which comes from Timothy Lee from Barclays. Apologies. Please bear with us. There seems to be some delay on the line. Just give us a few seconds. Question, which comes from Timothy Lee from Barclays.
Hi, can you hear me? Hello, can you hear me?
Yes, we can hear you.
Hi. I actually have a very broken line from your side, so I'm not sure whether it is only my problem or it is, you know, the platform issue. I'll try to, you know, go ahead with my questions. The first question is about the sell-in, sell-out. Can you please, you know, elaborate a bit about how the situation is going on? Related to that, you know, if I look at PoolCorp numbers we put the last few days, they have some increase in inventory levels in the fourth quarter. I'm not sure whether that is implying some of the inventory build-up, you know, in the channel.
What do you see about, you know, the overall sales performance from the distributor side of things? Yeah, that's the first question. The second question is about the new builds and remodel market in 2026. I think in your guidance, you're assuming kind of flattish volume in 2026. Can you please give us a little color about what's going on in the market and whether you are seeing some of the green shoots, you know, let's say in Europe, in terms of recipe build-up? Yeah, that's my two questions. Thank you.
Thank you for the question. With regards to sell-in and sell-out, that's a very good question for us, as that's the way we run the business. We are always focused on how sell-in and sell-out for the year, those two align. We feel that 7% that you see, especially in the North American market, that revenue growth is very in line with the sell-out numbers we have from all the different channels of distribution. That's kind of a very positive news for us in the business. From the perspective of the selling, for inventory for Pool Corporation, they were very clear that there was a pre-buy connected to price increases last year.
The price increase dynamics last year changed a little bit what happened, because we were increasing prices because of tariffs, because of inflation, so there was a combination of price increases, and that's what they referred to on the call. With regards to new build flattish, yes, our model for 2026 has new build flattish. We are, I would say, not optimistic on a significant change on new construction. As you heard from what we said before, we will continue to focus on new construction regardless of where it goes, but the best opportunity to continue gaining market share is in aftermarket. As you saw our numbers, one of the things that I wanna highlight about our numbers is our volume number in 2025.
We grew volume 4% in our full business, which is an outstanding performance from the market share perspective, and that mainly came from aftermarket, so we will continue very focused on that piece.
Just to give you a little bit more specific color on the guidance, on the midpoint, we are assuming around 2% volume growth, around a similar number for pricing, and around 1 percentage point of growth coming from M&A. Remember that this guidance is provided at constant currency.
Connects with our focus on volume as the main driver for growth.
Thank you. Thank you.
Okay.
Apologies, we seem to have some problems with the line, and we are looking to fix that. In the meantime, I am going to try to ask Francisco Riquel , please go ahead with your questions.
Okay, good morning. Thank you. I mean, I had some problems listening to the previous answer, but probably it's on this. On the guidance, I mean, you commented on flat new build, but positive aftermarket. This aftermarket includes market share gains, and if you could be more specific in geographies? Second, I mean, could you give us an idea of what is the current weight or size of your robotic division in order to think what's gonna be the impact of the Phase II in Aiper? Thank you. These are my two questions.
I'll take the second one, yeah.
Okay.
On the growth by regions and our view in 2026, yes, the way we're seeing what is going on in the market, we're confident on our capacity to continue gaining market share through volumes in 2026. As Xavier mentioned, in our model, we have 2% volume growth for next year that will reflect market share gains. When we talk about regions, we're very proud of the outperformance we're having in all the markets. In North America, as we said before, we grew a volume last year, 2% above our competitors, and we see that trend continuing. Of course, price had a big weight on that growth. We grew price 5% and volume 2%, and for next year, we're also going after price.
In Europe, as we said before, I would say this is one of the beauties of this company, I mean, the diversification of our portfolio and the scale of that, of those regions are very meaningful. Europe, we're seeing a positive trend. You saw the growth, we had 4%. We see great performance in Spain, France, which is the second largest market. We're seeing a recovery in France from a very negative numbers the previous year, to a point that we finished the year almost flat in 2025. In the rest of the market, in Europe, we're seeing growth and new construction continues to be slow, but we continue seeing growth. Australia was a very positive surprise for us.
We had a 6% growth in revenue in Australia, and as you know, they are finishing the season, and they started this year very strong and finishing the season very strong. You wanna turn to robotic?
Paco, as I go to your second question, today, the weight of the robotic cleaner business is around 6% of our revenue. What we have seen in 2025, and we expect to continue seeing in 2026, as some of these Chinese players come into the picture, we're seeing some pressure on people trading down and some more intense competition that is affecting our margin and will continue to affect in 2026. As to the second part of your question, which is how this will impact into Phase II, as I explained to the call, and obviously as you can understand, the Phase II is a couple of years away.
We don't have all the details, but you should think about what the Fluidra is today, will continue to be just a distributor of robotic cleaners, mainly focusing on the channels that we, where we lead, which are the more the professional channels. Aiper will be the R&D manufacturer and distributor, mainly focusing that distribution piece on the consumer side. I mean, there's always gray lines between that consumer and professional business, but that's the main idea behind that Phase II. We will continue having sales, but our margin, instead of being a manufacturer margin, will be a margin of a distributor.
Thank you, Xavier. The next question comes from Juan Cánovas at Alantra. Juan, please go ahead.
Hello there. Yeah, my question was, whether you could provide the guidance at current FX. That was the first one. The second one, whether your focus on maintenance has impacted the fourth quarter growth, as this is less of a maintenance quarter. Given that you are expecting to grow in maintenance and commercial in full year 2026, where do you expect some fall in volumes? What part of the business? Thank you.
I think the guidance.
Yeah. Well, I mean, at obviously, at current, at current rates, you know that 3%-7% sales growth is probably gonna be around a couple of points lower. Obviously, you know, FX rate is very volatile these days. The biggest impact obviously is gonna be on Q1. If you look at EBITDA, that margin has a slight decline. If what you're looking is at an absolute value, this is gonna be around EUR 511-EUR 553.
Then if I go to the second question, the different components, you know, as we said in the call, we expect a flat new build. With probably a better performance in France than what we have seen today, a 15% decline and a better performance in Europe, as we are seeing these days. We expect the aftermarket to grow between a point to a couple of points, depending on where you place yourself in the guidance. Remodel also around 1%-2% growth. Commercial, which has been a very positive growth contributor, is probably going to be around, you know, flat to 5%-6% in the top end of the range.
Market share gains contribution, we expect to be around a point of growth. Okay?
Thank you, Juan. The next question comes from Christoph at Berenberg. Christoph, please go ahead.
Good morning. Thanks a lot for taking my questions. Just two from my side, please. Firstly, on the sales growth in Q4, and more specifically in North America, there was a lower number than what you had posted in Q3, and it also there was somewhat below of what your main competitors have reported for the quarter. Just wondering, what were the reasons for that development? Was it just flagging? I could not understand your answer on the sell-in, sell-out dynamics, in case that had something to do with it. The second question is on the rollout of the Pooltrackr Software as a Service offering that you have mentioned in the prepared remarks.
Just wondering, if you expect that to have any material contribution to your P&L in 2026 or over the medium term?
Thank you very much for your question. Let's start with the Q4 dynamics. The way I will describe the Q4 dynamics is I'm gonna start with part of your question. The way we see the business is the connection between sell-in and sell-out. As I said before, our full year numbers are fully in line. What happened specifically in Q4 in North America, you saw a 3% revenue growth. Let's just start with the base of the number for 2024. North America in 2024 grew almost 13%, so we have a very high base for the North American business. The other piece was related to FX.
The other critical thing as we see the dynamics of the market, we're seeing the retail business, a part of our business in North America, is changing and is going through a kind of transition that impacted our numbers. From that perspective, we believe the market share gains continue. It was a timing dynamics, but we're very confident, as I said before, connecting, selling and sell-through in the market. Regarding Pooltrackr, it's a very interesting question because the first view of Pooltrackr that we see today is more to improve and to enhance and to differentiate ourselves in our digital experience to the customer.
We're bringing Pooltrackr to create more demand, to generate demand, to improve our connectivity, our digital experience and connectivity with, our customers and consumers, the pro and the consumer. That's kind of the first phase. One of the things that we see as a potential opportunity is thinking on the SaaS business. That's something we don't have in the numbers today. We're not incorporating that as part of our numbers. It's more the demand generation opportunity and the differentiation that we can have in the digital experience.
Thank you, Christoph. The next question comes from Manuel Lorente, and then, after Manuel's question, Chitrita, if you are still on the line, we would be happy to go to your questions. Otherwise, I can read them aloud because I have them on my email. Manuel, please go ahead.
Yes. Hello, good morning. My first question is a little bit of granularity on the constant currency sales guidance. That 3%-7% range, let's say, low range implies slight flat to slightly negative new builds, and upper range of the guidance implies some new build adds or there is something else. For example, the +7% also include, let's say, better-than-expected Aiper sales or faster-than-expected recovery in France. A little bit, what is the moving parts on the different ranges of the guidance?
Well, I'll take that one. First, let me clarify that Aiper, we own 27%, so we will be accounting for it with the equity method, so it doesn't impact our revenue numbers, okay? You will see it flow through on the net income line, okay? Excluding that impact, what is built on our assumption is flattish new build. Obviously, the high end may include some slight positiveness, while the low end may include some slight negativeness. What drives that high end is better performance in terms of aftermarket, a little bit of a longer season, a little bit more remodel than in that midpoint, remodel growing around 2%.
The high end implies an excellent performance on commercial pool, similar to the one that we have had in 2025, with mid-single-digit type of type of growth. It implies share gains. That's what really differentiates the midpoint from the high end. The last piece is we have built a M&A contribution of around 1%, which may be a little bit higher on the high end.
Okay, it's not new build related, huh? Looks like. My second question then probably is for Jaime. When we have tried to explain the evolution on the second quarter on the U.S. segment, you mentioned that some retail changes impacting our results. That is something related with Pool Corporation, let's say, losing market share versus other competitor, or is nothing related to that?
It has nothing to do with the Pool Corporation. It has to do with the B2B and, let's say, the B2B2C markets. Customers that we have and the evolution and some of the dynamics that is going on in the market. The way I would say it is, we're seeing as a total, the growth, the volume growth in North America, which is the key indicator for us, we have to manage that dynamics. Q3 was a very good quarter. We recognize that Q4 was a slower quarter for us, but we're very happy with the full year performance. As I said before, I go back to the sell-in and sell-out, a way to see the business for us.
I need to highlight again that Q4 of 2024 was a high, a very high quarter for us. Total company was up 9%, and North America was up 14%.
Thank you, Manuel.
My final question, just looks like a lot of the top-line evolution, it's coming and might come.
Market share gains. You have mentioned, several times on the call these market share gains. Where it you can be a little bit more precise, this is market share coming from other larger players, smaller competitors, certain categories, where aftermarket, new builds, or where do you expect these market share gains coming from?
From, I would say, all the channels of distribution is small and big customers, number one. Number two, as we said, is mainly coming from aftermarket. New build continues to be strong, but new build didn't grow. In fact, the number of new pools that were built in 2025 in North America was lower than the number in 2024. That market share, probably to be deeper in your question, in aftermarket gains, comes from a dealer conversion. We have said this in other calls, that the way we operate is very focused on converting dealers from other brands into our brands, and that's the way we gain market share, number one.
Number two, the information we got from the market, from the different channels, it reflects also those market share gains. Also, remember something that. Again, I go back to the same dynamics. We have significant business outside of North America, and when you see our numbers, our volume growth outside North America, that's also reflects the gain shares we're having in the majority of the significant markets, like France, like Spain, like Italy, like Australia.
Thank you, Manuel. Chitrita, if you are still on the line, would you like to try again your questions? Please go ahead. If she doesn't go on the line, she has sent me her question. Her first question is on the fourth quarter, in particular in North America, which we have addressed.
Yeah.
She specifically mentions regarding Adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter and for the full year 2025. EBITDA came at the lower end of the guidance. Was there anything in particular, any particular headwind that you would like to highlight? Her second question is regarding the 2026 guidance range. We have addressed this question because she was asking about the building blocks for the low and the high end, and I think we've gone through that. Perhaps Xavier Tintoré, on the 2025 performance, I think we came in the guidance, no? Of course, maybe some color from your side.
Yeah. I mean, I think what it that reflect the 2025 performance, I'll move away from the quarter, which obviously was impacted by the mix, geographic mix of the lower contribution from North America and the currency. I think that overall, what drives the results for 2025 have to do with tariffs. As you remember, we managed to cover the tariffs on absolute value, but that has an implication in terms of margin, and you see that in the gross margin, but it also has an impact on the EBITDA margin, where the expansion is more limited. I think that's one of the bigger drivers.
We've also seen inflation, the impact of the robotic cleaners, as I have mentioned earlier, and that has offset the positive contribution from the simplification program. As we look into 2026, we will continue to execute on our plan. Jaime has shared the contribution of the operational excellence program with, you know, the adding the footprint optimization to the equation, which will allow us to continue expanding margins. I think that the bigger impact there has been tariffs on a margin %. As we look at 2026, we feel confident that we will continue expanding margin, and that the opportunities for continued margin improvement for the company are still there for 26, 27, and beyond.
Thank you, Xavier. I wait a few seconds in case we have more questions. We have one more question from Jingyi at UBS. Jingyi, please go ahead.
Thank you very much. Good evening. I have two questions, if I may. First is on commercial pools. I know there's a good 12% in the quarter and 10% in full year like for life, and in your outlook, you're guiding for mid-single digit at the higher end. With that pace, I wonder that implies an underlying moderation in growth trend, or is it a matter of higher comp or being conservative?
Can you repeat the question? Sorry, it was very difficult to hear you. I know it's about commercial pool and the guidance, which we said mid, you know, up to mid-single digit growth. Can you repeat your question? Apologies.
Yeah, yeah, exactly. I just wonder, in that case, does that imply an underlying moderation in the growth trend, or is it more a matter of higher comp or being conservative?
We are, you know, guiding in 2026 for organic growth of around 5%. We will have the contribution of Variopool, which is an M&A contribution. We are being, let's say, conservative after a really strong year in 2025, which we are very pleased about. Of course, for 2026, we expect to do even a little bit better, at least our, you know, mid-single-digit growth target. I think 2025 was a strong year, so it's good to think about 2026 with some cautions, but very positively.
We're putting a lot of focus on commercial pool resources, and it's a strategic growth area for us as we think about organic growth. As Clara said, we're also active from the inorganic perspective. We mentioned Variopool. That's an acquisition that is coming in 2026, and will reinforce that business.
We couldn't hear your second question, Jing Ji.
My second question is on the new efficiency program. It's very clear to me now you're going for progressive delivery over the year. I wonder, in 2026, looking at the cadence for 2026, do you expect the delivery to be back-end loaded, or do you expect to start from the beginning of the year and seeing this as a continuation of the simplification program?
I think, it's, her question is around the guidance for 2026 and the phasing throughout the year and well, the efficiency plan contribution. Jing Ji, we expect more or less a linear contribution. Javier, you may.
Yeah. Well, I mean, I think, growth-wise, I would say that we expect more or less, as Clara was mentioning, a linear contribution, probably, due to the strong quarter we had in Q3, no, and the weaker Q4 that we have had. Those are, you know, comps that you should take into consideration, where you may see a, you know, slower growth there. In terms of the margin evolution, I think you need to take into consideration that we still have tariff impact in the beginning of the year, because last year, on the first four or five months, we didn't have any tariff impact.
I know that there's a lot of volatility on tariffs out there, but our guidance is built on the assumptions that there's no major changes to the tariff. Margin-wise, this is something that you should take into consideration.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you, Jing Ji. That marks the end of today's call. I'd like to thank our speakers and all of you for participating, as always, please feel free to reach out to the investor relations team for further queries. Thank you and goodbye.