Good morning, and welcome to our Q3 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 Ramírez, and Juan Graham, our Chief Financial Officer. They will walk you through the presentation, and 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 of today's call will also be available on our website. With that, I will now hand over to our Executive Chairman, Eloy Planes.
Thank you, Clara. Good morning, and thank you for joining our results call today and for your interest in Fluidra. Before I begin, we would like to express our deepest condolences to everyone affected by yesterday's tragic train accident in Toledo. Our thoughts are with those who have lost their life, the injured, and their families, as well as with the teams working to assist them. And now, turning to our results, while Jaime and Juan will provide more detail shortly, let me start with a few key points from my side. We delivered a strong performance in the first nine months of the year in a soft and volatile macro environment.
Our performance has been resilient and consistent in the context of our industry and once again, demonstrate the quality of our business, the effectiveness of our strategy, and the organization's productivity in recent months under Jaime's, and more recently, also Juan's leadership. Year-to-date, sales were up 4% at constant FX, with volume growth led by Southern Europe and North America and sequentially higher price contribution. We continue to outperform the market. Our efficiency plan continues to pay off, with savings and diligent cost control offsetting higher inflation and unfavorable mix effects.
In the third quarter, we delivered a good performance over a strong prior year comparable, with sales up 3% at constant FX and adjusted EBITDA up 7%, reaching EUR 107 million. We remain confident to deliver within our existing full-year guidance. Given our performance year-to-date and the current market environment, we are narrowing our range. Jaime will take you through the details later in the presentation. We are focused on finishing the year with discipline and agility while closely monitoring the trading environment. Our strategy to continue to win is driving growth, differentiation, and competitiveness to deliver value today and into the future.
This year, for the sixth consecutive time, we have been recognized by leading U.S. distributors, a clear testament to the strength of our customer relationship, our service, and our brands. I am proud of how the team is executing. 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 our shareholders now and into the future. With that, I hand over to Jaime.
Thank you, Eloy, and good morning, all. Let me start with the highlights of our nine-month performance before Juan takes you through the financials in more detail. Year-to-date sales reached EUR 1,780 million, up 4% at constant FX. Growth was driven by solid aftermarket demand, good execution, and the contribution from M&A, with continued market share gains that allow us to once again outperform the market. Adjusted EBITDA was up EUR 428 million, up 6% at constant FX, with a margin of 24.1%, 20 basis points above last year. Diligent cost control and the EUR 23 million savings delivered by our efficiency plan offset inflation, showing the further improved operating leverage of the business.
Adjusted EPS was EUR 1.15 per share, up 6% at constant FX. Net debt stood at EUR 1,145 million, and leverage was broadly stable year-on-year at 2.2x net debt to adjusted EBITDA. After completing the EUR 40 million share buyback program launched in July, the formalization of the lease coming from our plant in Tangiers and some FX impact. Overall, these results show that we continue to execute our strategy well. We are growing ahead of the market, protecting and improving our profitability, and maintaining a strong balance sheet that gives us strategic flexibility.
Turning to slide six. On the right-hand side, you can see the impact of the 1% volume growth year-to-date and the + 2% price contribution, which accelerated in the third quarter as the pricing actions implemented earlier in the year flow through. M&A added around 1 point of growth, mainly from the Variopool acquisition, while FX had a negative effect of around 1 point, a lower impact than in the first half. In the third quarter, sales grew 1% at constant FX and perimeter, against strong prior year comparable across key markets, U.S. and Southern Europe.
By region, North American sales grew 3.5% year- to- date and 2.6% in Q3 at constant FX and perimeter. With sell-through across our channels up mid to high single digits, outperforming the market. Let me remind you that Q3 last year was very strong with 13% organic growth, so a difficult comparable. Our performance reflects continued market share gains driven by our customer-centric model, excellent service, our focus on the Sunbelt region, and our position in the mid to high-end segments. With sell-through running ahead of sell-in, channel inventory of our products remains at healthy levels.
In Europe, Southern Europe sales are up 6% year- to- date after a strong first half and a good and early summer season compared to a season that started late last year. The rest of Europe was up 1%, both year- to- date and in the quarter, affected by mixed market demand and the timing of commercial pool projects. Sales in the rest of the world grew 1% year- to- date at constant FX and perimeter, and were broadly flat in the quarter, with continued softness in the Middle East, offset by solid performance of the emerging markets. Commercial pool sales are down 4% year-to-date on a strong prior year period, driven by the timing of some of the projects.
We firmly believe in the attractiveness of this segment. We have a strong pipeline of projects for the months ahead. It is a matter of timing. In summary, while demand for new build remains soft across most of our markets, the aftermarket remains resilient, and we continue to gain share in our core regions, reflecting our initiatives being executed on our strong leading platform. Turning to slide seven. I would like to take a step back and remind you why Fluidra is a strong business today and increasingly strongly positioned for the future. We are the global leader in an attractive industry, driven by structural long-term trends.
We are the number one player in pool and wellness worldwide, with around 65% of our sales coming from the aftermarket, which means the maintenance and repair of the existing installed base pools. This provides resilience, as our results this year demonstrate. We have a clear strategy to strengthen our global platform that is delivering results. On accelerating growth, we continue to invest in commercial excellence and to grow both organically and through acquisitions. Aiper continues to grow in line with our plan. We completed the acquisitions of Variopool in the Netherlands and Riaan Pool in South Africa, while the Hydrapro acquisition in France remains on track to complete in early 2027.
On our differentiated offering, we are investing in innovation, the connected pool bundle, and a digital offering to enhance the pool professional and pool owners' experiences. This sets us apart. I will come back in a moment to our focus on accelerating innovation. And on enhancing operational excellence, our efficiency plan is on track to deliver with approximately EUR 23 million of savings year-to-date. Our new facility in Tangiers started production in the third quarter, and we continue to optimize our manufacturing footprint. Lastly, we are achieving our results while currently operating at historical trough levels of new pool construction in our largest market, the U.S.
In 2026, we expect new pool construction could be around 55,000- 56,000 units, about 30% below the 2016 to 2025 average of 80,000. Even in this context, we continue to grow and gain share. When new construction returns to more normalized levels, we will benefit from the operating leverage of a solid, more efficient platform. We are a strong leading business today and well-positioned for the recovery. Moving to the next slide. What makes us the partner of choice across the pool ecosystem? Industry-leading innovation with differentiated solutions across automation, water treatment equipment designed to simplify pool ownership and professional service.
A connected digital ecosystem, integrating equipment, apps, and digital services that enables smarter pool management for both professional and pool owners. Our loyalty programs and rewards with trade exclusive products, progress and support, and tools that help professionals grow their business. And last but not least, our best-in-class service and capability building. We provide full technical support to improve our customers' productivity, and hands-on training through our Fluidra Pro Academy centers in the U.S., which we have opened since 2018. The result is reflected in the recognition we receive from our customers.
For the sixth consecutive year, we have been recognized by leading U.S. distributors, including receiving the 2026 Growth in Partnership Award by our largest customer, something we are very proud of. Innovation is one of the key levers to winning the market, and on slide nine, we want to put a spotlight on it. This slide introduces Infinity, our new intelligent pool operating system for the North American market. The ambition is to move beyond connected products and basic control towards a platform that uses data to make pool ownership and servicing smarter, simpler, and more personalized. This is ahead of any other solution in the market.
Infinity brings together our next generation products with trackr iO, Fluidra Pro, and Fluidra Pool. That means a better day-to-day experience for homeowners while helping pool professional install systems faster and troubleshoot more easily. The platform is coming to life through a range of product and system innovations launching at the end of 2026 into 2027, from automation and water sensing to pump control, lighting, sanitation, and heating. These solutions address both new build and aftermarket opportunities across different price points and can scale to match each pool owner's needs.
Ultimately, Infinity is designed to connect the products and digital tools around the pool in one ecosystem, improving the experience for both professionals and consumers while supporting growth across the market. These launches will support growth and share gains in the coming seasons. With that, I will turn it over to Juan to explain the financial results in more detail.
Thank you, Jaime, and good morning, everyone. As my first earnings call as Fluidra CFO, I would like to say that I am pleased to be here. I have already had the opportunity to meet some of you, and I look forward to getting to know the wider analyst and investor community. My priorities are straightforward: support profitable growth, translate operating performance into cash, and maintain discipline in how we allocate capital. In our conversations with you, my focus will be on explaining what is driving results, how we are responding to changing conditions, and eventually on how that translates into our outlook. With that, let me turn to the financial performance for the period.
I will walk you through the P&L on page 10. Unless I say otherwise, all variances are at constant currency and in year-to-date timeframe. There are three points I would highlight in our third quarter performance. First, resilient sales growth. Sales reached EUR 1,780,000,000, up 3.3% on a reported basis. Foreign exchange was a headwind of around 100 basis points, while acquisitions at around 90 basis points. At constant currency, sales grew by 4.3%, volume expanded 140 basis points, and price added 200 basis points year-over-year. Second, we protected our margins in a more demanding cost environment.
Gross margin held stable at 56% year-to-date. Higher inflation throughout the year and some negative mix effect has been offset by efficiencies driven by our operations team, complemented by effective price actions. We maintained strong cost discipline with year-to-date OpEx of EUR 569 million, up 3% below the rate of sales growth, reflecting the cost reduction measures implemented to date, delivering on previously communicated reductions. Operating expenses as a percentage of sales landed at 32% of sales, improving by 30 basis points.
We remain on track to keep full year OpEx growth within our expected range of 3.5%-4%. Adjusted EBITDA grew 6% to EUR 428 million year-to-date, with margin up 20 basis points to 24.1%, reflecting a good dynamic between growth and leverage year-to-date. After taking into account depreciation and purchase accounting amortization, adjusted EBITA rose 7% to EUR 348 million, a margin of 19.6%. Third, our bottom line reflects the investments we are making to transform the business. Restructuring and stock-based compensation amounted to EUR 45 million, compared to EUR 17 million last year.
The year-on-year change is primarily driven by our manufacturing footprint project, the closure of the French R&D center, and the restructuring measures executed this year, and they are in line with our plan. PPA amortization was EUR 39 million, and the financial result was EUR 50 million, up 5.5%. Our effective tax rate was roughly 27%. As a result, net profit was EUR 154 million, down 3%. Adjusted net profit, which excludes restructuring costs and purchase accounting amortization, grew 6% to EUR 221 million. We believe this is a better reflection of the underlying earnings power of the business.
Page 11 shows the free cash flow evolution as well as our net debt position. Free cash flow generated in the period was EUR 12 million, compared to EUR 6 million last year. Operating cash flow was EUR 223 million versus EUR 199 million last year, reflecting our continued focus on working capital management. As a result, on a percent to sales ratio, operating net working capital stood at 19.1% compared to 20% last year. On the investment front, we deployed EUR 68 million versus EUR 99 million a year ago, including the completion of the Variopool acquisition in March and Riaan Pools in the third quarter.
Financing cash flow was EUR 49 million higher year- on- year. This includes our recently completed EUR 40 million share buyback, EUR 5 million higher dividend paid, and EUR 4 million of higher lease payments. Finally, net debt reached EUR 1,145,000,000 . This includes cash flow movements I described earlier, in addition to the Tangiers lease formalization, and a negative foreign exchange impact, as the U.S. dollar was stronger at the end of September 2026 compared to the same time last year. Our leverage ratio remained broadly stable at 2.2x net debt to adjusted EBITDA. Now I will hand back to Jaime to talk about our outlook for the year.
Thank you, Juan. Turning to slide 12 and our outlook for the year. We remain confident to deliver within our existing full year 2026 guidance. Based on our performance to date and the macro environment we have described, we are narrowing our guidance range. Our full year 2026 guidance is now for sales to grow between 3.5%-5.5% at constant FX, adjusted EBITDA margin to be between 23.3% and 23.5%, and adjusted EPS to grow 5%-9%. On sales, the market environment remains mixed. New pools and remodel are flat to lower, while the aftermarket, maintenance and repair, remains strong, supported by our share gains and positive sell-through in the U.S. Commercial Pools should be flat to lower following a strong 2025, and M&A will make a positive contribution.
On profitability, the additional pricing actions we have implemented offset higher inflation in absolute terms, with some impact on the percentage margin. At the same time, our efficiency initiatives and disciplined cost control continue to support our profitability. We continue to do the hard work even while industry conditions are not at their peak, and we expect this to position us as strongly as the environment improves. Now back to Eloy to wrap up the presentation.
Thank you, Jaime. Thank you, Juan. Let me close with a brief summary. We delivered a strong performance in the first nine months despite macroeconomic headwinds. We continue to gain market share, and the growth of the aftermarket more than offset the weaknesses in new construction. We continue to execute our efficiency plan together with diligent cost control. We expect full-year sales growth and margin expansions year-on-year. We remain focused on executing what we can control while closely monitoring the external environment and responding with agility. Looking ahead, we are confident in our future. We are consistently executing our strategy, growing organically and inorganically, and delivering improving returns on capital over the medium term in an industry with attractive structural growth and b ow I hand it over to Clara for the Q&A.
Many thanks, Eloy, Jaime, and Juan, for your presentation. We now begin the Q&A session. 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 question. For those registered, if you would like to ask a question, please press star five on your telephone keypad. The first question comes from Chitrita Sinha at J.P. Morgan. Chit, please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. Good morning, guys. Thank you for taking my questions. I have three, please. First one, just maybe on the tariff refunds that you saw in the quarter, maybe both on gross impact and then net impact from maybe the increase in tariffs as well, and then maybe also what you're expecting into Q4. Thank you.
Hey, Chitrita. Thank you for the question. Look, I think as we have seen and as we have communicated throughout the year, in regards to tariff refunds, on a gross basis, we have roughly in this quarter around EUR 8 million in terms of the refunds, which is primarily offset by a few one-timer components as well as new tariffs that have been implemented. Right? So on the tariff front, if you see the $8 million, those in the quarter are offset roughly by $2 million, giving us a net tariff refund of around $6 million.
For the remainder of the year, we see another headwind of around $2 million in tariff refunds for a net of $4 for the remainder of the year. And a s I was mentioning initially, we also in the quarter experienced some one-time items, such as the CFO transition, as well as other items, which, if you normalize all these components, we see EBITDA roughly flat to where we landed at EUR 107 million. So that's particularly the walk-through there in the explanation of all these components.
Perfect. Thank you. My second question, just on price volume development, maybe if you could touch on that by region. I think you said that volumes grew in North America, but maybe just by other regions as well, that'd be helpful.
On price, Chitrita, thank you for the question, we're very pleased with the growth we're having. We're growing price, and we're growing volume, as you can see in our numbers. So in North America, we executed price increases during the year. We just launched a new price increase between 3.5%-5%, in line with the beginning of the season for 2027. Volume is up in North America as well. In Europe, our plan is to increase price. We're planning to increase price around 2%. But in general, we're very pleased with our performance between price and volume as we have to deal with the inflation and the targets that Juan just mentioned.
Thank you. And my final question, just on commercial. This is the second quarter of negative organic development now. You mentioned that there's some projects that you see in the pipeline, but I'm just thinking, are these being pushed to the right? What are you hearing from customers, and what kind of growth can we expect here now?
That's a very good question. Let's just start with the fact that last year was a great year for commercial. We grew commercial, I think, more than 10% in 2025. This is interesting because this is part of the things that I'm still learning in this business. It's a seasonal business, and it is very difficult to predict. So 2025 was a great year. This year, as we got into what happened in the Middle East, we started to see a lot of delay in some of the projects. So the phasing of the projects was not as expected because of the macro, and that's impacting the numbers.
We do believe it's a key strategic area for us. It's a key strategic pillar for growth. And what is very encouraging right now for us, because we can see that, is the pipeline. So w e're signing projects for the future that will give us that revenue growth. Again, the challenge with this is very connected to the macro situation, and I have to say that the Middle East dynamics didn't help us in that specific segment. We're very encouraged. We continue investing, and we see this as a strategic pillar for growth.
Great. Thank you so much.
Thank you. Thank you to Chitrita. The next question comes from Carlos Caburrasi at Kepler Cheuvreux. Carlos, please go ahead.
Thank you, Clara, and good morning, everyone. Thanks for the presentation and for taking my questions. Just two from my side. First, a follow-up on the tariff refunds, because I understand your revised EBITDA margin guidance includes the positive impact from the tariffs. Therefore, if we exclude this one-off, the underlying margin would fall below 23%. Then how confident are you in achieving the current consensus expectations for margin in 2027, which is around 24%? And what would be the key drivers of that margin expansion? And second, on Aiper. Could you provide some color on the Q3 performance in terms of top-line growth, profitability, on your expectations for the full year? Thank you.
Hey, Carlos. Good hearing you as well. This is Juan. Look, just let me clarify some of these components. I think as you mentioned for the remainder of the year, the tariff refunds, clearly, I highlighted some of the components that I just mentioned. That is why I also wanted to highlight the other one-timers that are important for us and for you guys to keep in mind, right? There is incremental tariff refunds that we have not had the chance as well to adjust pricing throughout the course of this year, since they came in the middle of the year. And certainly as we head into 2027, those will be part of the consideration as we think about our price algorithm going into the next year.
So that should be a piece there. The other one-time effect in which we consider as well the tariff refunds being a one-time effect, should also be netted out on a normalized basis as I just highlighted previously. So going into the end of the year, we should see that the offsetting components of the benefit of tariff refunds that are also one-timers should also be taken into consideration and net-net what we see in the EBITDA margin for the end of the year is basically a true performance of the operations of the business. So that's how I would see it.
I think in 2027, we still need to evolve into our guidance and so on and take a look at all the components. I'm not going to get into providing guidance into 2027. But certainly in 2027, we don't have tariff refunds. As we said, we have new tariffs as well as we have new pricing coming on board. So our algorithm should enable us to maintain our ambition to continue to grow in EBITDA within the organization as we move forward.
Yeah. Probably to add on that point as for 2027 also is kind of too early to tell. But as I said in the speech, we're very excited with the innovation, the new products, the materialization of our operational excellence projects with Tangiers now coming into action and also with all the initiatives we're working on, commercial excellence, revenue growth management. So those pieces for us are critical in terms of how we're going to protect and improve our gross margin. So that's part of what I was saying before about the strong position we're building and we have for 2027.
In regards to Aiper, we're very happy with the performance of Aiper. They continue growing. They grew to 20% in Q3. They are working really hard on all the innovation on new products as we start getting ready for the new season. They are getting orders from customers. We'll see a good performance for year-end and a very promising season in 2027.
Very clear. Thank you, Jaime, Juan.
Thank you, Carlos. The next question comes from Francisco Ruiz at BNP Paribas. Paco, please go ahead.
Good morning. I have two questions, if I may. The first one is if you could give us some detail on early buys, although probably it is too early in the U.S., and also some details or more specific details between the sell-through and the sell-in during Q3, and how do you think it will evolve into Q4. The second question is on the distribution situation in the U.S. Could you update what is the current relation between you and Pool Corp and Heritage, and what is your exposure to Leslie's, and what is the situation of Leslie's? Thank you.
Okay. Thank you very much. These are great questions. I have to say that the way we think about success in gaining market share in the market is based on sell-through and t hat, for us, is the real indicator of how good is the work we are doing in the market and w e are very pleased. And as we said in the speech, our sell-through is in the high-end single digits in North America. This is information we got from our distributors, and we can say for sure that we are outperforming our competitors from that perspective. And this is where also our selling numbers make total sense as you think about that we are not in the season, that we are getting out of the season, so the better the sell-through and a decent sell-in shows you that our inventory position is very healthy from that perspective.
With regards to distribution, let me start with Leslie's. All of us know it's public that they filed Chapter 11. I have to say that working with Leslie's before and now as we go through Chapter 11, has been great. They have been very open, and the relationship has been fantastic. We did a phenomenal job working with them to minimize risk, to try to support them as they were going into this process, to maintain sell-through, to have products, but minimizing risk. I can tell you that we don't have any significant risk in our P&L because of what happened. With the Chapter 11, we're in conversations to see how this is going to evolve. It's too soon to say, but we're very pleased.
And with regards to Pool Corp and Heritage, we have relationship with both distributors, and we continue growing with them. We continue developing strategic programs. We feel very encouraged about the future with them. This is a great opportunity also for me to share with all of you that we won the Growth Revenue Award from our number one distributor, which is a testament, and it's connected to what I just said about the sell-through performance of Fluidra in the North American market.
Thank you, Paco. The next question comes from Juan Cánovas at Bestinver. Juan, please go ahead.
Hi, good morning. I have a couple of follow-ups. The first one, I'm not sure you mentioned how the early buy is developing in the U.S. at Paco's question. If you could specify that, I would be very grateful. Also, on the sell-in, I think Pool Corp mentioned that they want to cut inventories next year, so h ow might that impact you? Remember that in the first two conference calls of the years, you were mentioning that you were seeing an increase in selling in the second half of 2026, which I guess will not happen.
And then I also wanted to touch base on gross margins. They have been falling across the entire industry. It seems that you have worn that better than most. But if you could give us an indication of would you expect, it seems now that price increases are not enough to cover the increase in expenses. If you can give some color there, it would be very good as well. I will stop here. Otherwise, I will run up the life cycle. Thank you.
On the early buy, Juan will cover the gross margin question. On the early buy, as you know, early buy helps us to manage our supply chain and prepare really well for the next season. The early buy campaign is going well. It is in line with our expectations. We are still finalizing that. So we feel good about the early buy and where we are for Q4 and for the beginning of 2027.
In regards to the Pool Corp comment that you mentioned, we have a great relationship with Pool Corp. We have a great program. Both companies are very pleased with the sell-out of our products, so w e will continue working strategically for 2027 on all the programs we have and i t is a great question because, with all the innovation and all the things that are coming, we have a lot of ammunition to have a great 2027. We believe in working with them, that the inventory levels are where they need to be, and we are just working to maintain them healthy. Juan, on the gross margin question.
Sure. Hi, Juan. Look, I think on the gross margin question that you highlight, coming into the company, in looking at our gross margin performance over the year, I think it looks like certainly we are doing all the right things in an inflationary environment. I think there is a couple of themes there in order for us to continue on our path to maintain or increase as well our gross margins. Certainly, I think the inflation environment is not helping, with what we think is roughly around 4% inflation year-over-year as well as some mix impacting us unfavorably.
But on the other side, I think as Jaime alluded, we are not just doing the year-to-year efficiencies that we look at, but also we are doing structural changes through our operational excellence pillar in our core strategy that is also giving us additional levers for us to combat the increase in cost and so on. That in addition to the commercial component of doing price increases is helping us really, quite frankly, weather the storm really, really well. And basically, I believe that we have a great performance in this environment, which is, as we all know, very challenging, but I think structurally and executionally, the business and the team are doing really well in order to deliver on our targets.
Okay. Thank you.
You can go ahead if you have a follow-up.
Yeah. Juan, I have a follow-up. In terms of market shares, every quarter you mentioned you are gaining market share. Could you give some sort of color to that? Quantify perhaps, how much is the market growing versus your performance, especially North America?
Well, let's just start with the fact that the market is not really growing, based on what we're seeing on new pool construction. So we're in a market, and you know the numbers. New pools are between 55,000- 58,000 pools, which number is either flat or down. So the market is not growing, is really the market share gain that we can have in aftermarket. there is not an official number that we can take, and we can make a comparison.
The key indicator for us is the sell-through, and how that continues to be in the high single digits for us, specifically in North America, because that's information that we get from our distributors. So from a global perspective, we have a platform, we have statistics and number that we're tracking, and they show that we continue to outperform in all the markets. Our presence in Europe is fantastic. When you think about the penetration of Fluidra across all the markets, France, Spain, all the big markets, we're number one in all those markets.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you, Juan. The next question comes from Rajesh Patki at Barclays. Rajesh, please go ahead.
Yes. Good morning, everyone. I have got two as well. First one, I think you mentioned a price increase plan for 2% in Europe for next year. What are your thoughts for the U.S. market, and particularly in light of the competitive environment after the volatility or dislocation that we saw during the second quarter?
Yeah. The plan we already implemented in North America, a 3.5%-5% price increase, which is in line with what is going on in the market. Again, I go back to the same comment I made before. We feel very good about our market share, and we continue very focused on how we serve our customers, how we bring new products to the market. So the correlation between the sell-out and the sell-in for us is very healthy. And the growth and the number we had in Q3 is in line with our full year expectations that we have communicated in the guidance.
Thank you. And after the conclusion of the EUR 40 million buyback during the third quarter, what are your thoughts for the current quarter and next year?
Hey, Rajesh. This is Juan. Look, I think as you highlight, over the course of the third quarter, as we communicated during our Q2 release, we executed on our EUR 40 million share buyback, as we mentioned during that time, and as our capital allocation policy states that we would be in the market if we saw special opportunities to remunerate our shareholders, and we executed based on that premise. Nothing has changed from that perspective. We will continue to evaluate as we move forward. We clearly want to make sure that we have a balanced capital allocation framework, which we discuss often and i f anything were to be executed, going forward, we will certainly communicate it at that time.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, Rajesh. The next question comes from Manuel Lorente at Santander.
Yes. Hello. Good morning. So my first question probably is on the pricing algorithm for next year. What are your thoughts of a lower price hike in Europe versus the U.S.? My understanding of current circumstances is that input cost shocks are greater in Europe than in the U.S., so that might imply, let's say, a higher competitive backdrop. I was wondering why prices should be lower in Europe than in the U.S. I do not know if part of the answer is that the savings are also greater in Europe than in the U.S., but any comment will be helpful.
First of all, we manage pricing not across the market. When we work on pricing, we see the competitive landscape, the market situation, and with the teams, this is where we see we can go for next year. It is part of also our cost infrastructure, cost basis. But this is related to the market dynamics, and that is how we see. There is not a single difference in terms of the analysis. You got to be aware of the landscape, you got to be aware of the competitors. All of you know that the mix also we have is different. We have chemicals in Europe.
We do not have chemicals in North America. Those things make a difference. So from that perspective, we feel those are the right price ranges. Let us also be very open on the fact that Europe is a more open market. We have a lot of Chinese competitors, other brands, other companies that we do not have in the U.S. So it is based on the market competitive landscape and the opportunity we can have.
Okay. And my second question probably is on the Infinity ecosystem. Do you believe that might be a growth accelerator for next year, that it will require any additional capital allocation, investments or—
I love that question. So I have to say that the team in Fluidra, our engineers, our product people, have done a phenomenal job bringing this product into life. By the way, it has been developed for years. It did not happen from one day to another. We already invested the capital. We accelerated investments. If you remember last year, and also at the beginning of the year, when we were talking about SG&A investments, we said we are investing in innovation. Those were the investments we were doing on these kind of products, bringing engineers and bringing people. So it is in the numbers. We do believe this is a product that is going to bring a great solution.
It is part of our innovation and the new products launch that we have for 2027. It has already been presented to the market. What is great about that solution, as I said in the speech, it is a scale-up solution. So you are going to have a solution that could be for a $70,000 pool, and it could be also for a $300,000 pool. So we have that flexibility with the ecosystem. So very encouraged, very happy with that coming. The team is excited. By the way, the market, the dealers, and distributors are also very excited with that coming into 2027.
This will be only available in 2027 in North America, right?
This is North America. As we started to work on this, we focused first on the North American market, and then it will come to Europe.
Okay, great. And just probably my final question on North American trends as well. Okay. New build segment, it is muted, it is volatile, it is complex. From your point of view, are you experiencing also some consumer downtrading? So any mix regarding consumers' preference on indications of early buys or any other metric? So do you expect any potential mix effect as we move towards 2027, 2028?
Let me see if I understand your question. From the mix, we do not see. We are dealing with mix dynamics today as we speak, in an inflationary environment, in an environment where we have been increasing pricing. I do not see any significant difference going forward of us having to deal with mix management, with pricing. What I see different, and I am sorry to go back to the same point, is everything we are doing from innovation, new products, and differentiation to really protect our growth and our profitability. That is one piece, and the other one is everything we are doing from the productivity perspective.
Okay, great. Thank you.
Thank you, Manuel. The next question comes from Christoph Greulich at Berenberg. Christoph, please go ahead.
Hi. Sorry. Hi, good morning, and thanks a lot for taking my questions. It is two from my side, please. Can you share any kind of early view on the general sector backdrop that you anticipate for 2027? And then secondly, a follow-up on Aiper. Do you have any additional visibility on the timeline for the Phase 2? And what would be the potential impact on Fluidra's EPS stemming from that transaction?
Christoph, can you repeat the first question, please? I did not get exactly the question.
Market growth across.
Yeah. Just wondering, with regard to the general sector backdrop that you anticipate for 2027, if you could share any early views on that.
It is tough to talk about 2027 right now with a high level of certainty, to be honest with you. But what we are seeing is that we do not see a significant change in the new pool dynamics. It is going to be more about how we continue our focus on market share conversion in the aftermarket. That is where we do believe there is a huge opportunity and t hat is why again, we are very focused on how we can generate fresh revenue through new products and innovation. The reality is that if you think about our growth this year, the growth is coming from gaining market share. It is not from any tailwind we are getting from the market. We do believe that is more or less the same situation for 2027.
Then the second question is on Aiper Phase 2. Well, I think, generally on Aiper, I do not think we expect anything in the short term here, Christoph. So nothing to anticipate for 2027. We will continue, obviously, working. We believe that we have a great growth platform here and great investment in Aiper. They continue to grow very attractively, b ut nothing in the horizon at this point in terms of Phase 2.
Yep. That is very clear. Thank you.
Thank you, Christoph. Paco, I believe you have a follow-up, because I see you here on the queue. Please go ahead. That might be wrong. Okay. Thank you everyone for participating in the call today. And I would like to also thank our speakers. As always, feel free to reach out to the Investor Relations team if you have any further questions a nd before I close the call, I hand it over to Jaime for some closing remarks.
Thank you, Clara. So I really want to close with a big thank you to our employees, our customers, our investors, our dealers around the globe. Fluidra continues to demonstrate that it is the global leader in the pool industry. We are committed to do our best possible job to elevate our customer centricity and customer and consumer experience, to bring the best and most innovative products to the market as we presented today. We are very excited about the future and the opportunity to be growing and winning together. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Jaime. Thank you, everyone. Goodbye.