Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Maytronics Ltd. Third Quarter 2022 Results Conference Call. All participants are present in listen-only mode. Following management's formal presentation, instructions will be given for the question and answer session. For operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded November 29th, 2022. With us on the line today are Mr. Sharon Goldenberg, CEO, Mr. Meni Maymon, CFO, and Mr. Amiram Bracha, Head of Investor Relations. Before I turn the call over to Mr. Sharon Goldenberg, I would like to remind everyone that forward-looking statements for the respected company's business, financial condition, and results of its operations are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated.
Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, product demand pricing, market acceptance, changing economic conditions, risks in product and technology development, and the effect of the company's accounting policies, as well as certain other risk factors, which are detailed from time to time in the company's filings with the various securities authorities. Mr. Goldenberg, would you like to begin?
Sure. Thank you very much. Good morning, and thank you all for joining us. I'll start with a summary of the third quarter and first nine months of 2022. Manny will continue with the review of the financial results. Afterwards, I'll go into more details regarding the regions. The company is wrapping up nine months and a third quarter of strong, encouraging revenue growth, despite many exogenous challenges. The third quarter reflects the end of the pool season in the Northern Hemisphere, which this year was especially challenging. Cold, wet weather in Europe and the U.S. until the end of May pushed back the beginning of the pool season, which started late and was relatively short.
After strong early buy sales into 2022, leading to strong growth in the first quarter, we had to cope with weather challenges combined with dramatic changes in the macro environment, like shortages of part of our raw materials, especially electronic components, the war in Ukraine and its implications for Europe, and soaring inflation and interest rates, all of which led to an evolving and changes in the stocking up pattern in the distribution chain, which in turn led to high volatility and instability from one month to the other over the past six months. Despite all this, when we exclude Forex effect and one-time expense, which reflects our true performance in the market, we closed the nine-month period with ILS 1.583 billion in revenue, reflecting 29% growth and EBIT of ILS 351 million, which reflects 16% growth.
To cope with rising raw material and shipping costs, this year, we raised prices in all regions, which contributed 8.5% to the top line in the third quarter, and of course, also helped us to cope with currency erosion. The install base of more than 20 million pools without robotic cleaners is the foundation for the resilience of the robotic cleaners market and serves as a platform for further growth. Maytronics, as market leader, has succeeded in converting consumers from other cleaning technologies to robotic technology, and we expect this trend to continue also because of the current macro conditions of rising energy prices and labor costs, which boost the value proposition of robots compared to other cleaning solutions.
As a result, Maytronics growth is strongly based on volume growth and reflects the continuing penetration of robotic technology and market share gains at the expense of other cleaning solutions. The public pool market continues to recover in terms of demand, but it is mainly our ability in the past few months to successfully cope with challenges in the availability of segment-specific electronic components that has enabled us to grow strongly, more than 90% in sales in the third quarter and 26% in the first nine months. The price increases introduced in 2022 and those plans for 2023, which will be more fully reflected next year, combined with a trend of modernization of logistic challenges in the supply chain, should help us to improve margins.
Also, after two years of focusing on accelerating the build of the infrastructure that is required to meet the strong demand, the company will be able to focus more on projects that will enhance operational efficiency based on the infrastructure we have built in general and automation in particular. We ended the third quarter with a strong order backlog of ILS 138 million. Although the backlog is moderated compared to last year, to understand the trend, it's important to highlight two points. The first point is that the order backlog today reflects, in a more balanced way, the return of the pool market to the demand pattern that were typical before COVID.
In this regard, one should look at the backlog two years ago, where today it is more than four times as high. The second point is that the growth in the company's production capacity has moderated the need to secure a lot of finished good inventory ahead of time. In the more distant past, Maytronics' backlog was in a way meaningless because the time frame for order to delivery was a few weeks. Today, we are a long way from returning to that situation because the volumes are significantly larger and also because of the challenges as far as shipping times are concerned. To wrap up this section, there are two important subjects I want to mention. The first subject is related to the completion of the acquisition of AXI, or according to its better-known trade name, Backyard.
At the end of July, we completed the acquisition, which strengthened our U.S. e-commerce business and enables us to leverage our investment in digital transformation to elevate our interactions with the end users. The timing of AXI's consolidation with Maytronics reflect the start of the relatively moderated period in the company's business. Therefore, it does not reflect the yearly volume of the activity or our plans for this strategic arm in 2023 and beyond. Meni will talk more about this later. AXI is an e-commerce leader in the important U.S. swimming pool market with a significant growth potential. There are about 12 million pools in North America, robotic technology's penetration rate is relatively low, which creates an opportunity for meaningful ongoing growth in this market. The second subject is the launch of a new product line, we are very excited about.
Few weeks ago, Piscine Global, the biggest and most important trade fair in the swimming pool industry, was held in Lyon. At the show, we introduced the Liberty product family, a line of cordless battery-powered robots that represent a step change in technology. Being able to offer customers a cordless robotic cleaner with a top-line class filtration, scanning, and brushing capability offered by Maytronics existing robotic pool cleaners enabled us to provide an enhanced user experience, greater efficiency, and ease of use of the cleaner. It was very evident at the exhibition that the whole industry is on a trend of adding cordless robots to the traditional robot offering, which is great news for us because we believe that the Liberty line we displayed creates future potential and also boosts the adoption of robotic technology as the number one choice of pool owners.
The Liberty line, which will be launched gradually in 2023 and 2024 season, generated strong interest among the distributors and dealers we met at the trade show, and combined with the Poolside Connect solution and the 2024 line of Liberty products, which will include a solar charger, Maytronics is retaining its technological advantage and offering customers convenient solutions that deliver an upgraded user experience. I will now pass the mic to Meni, who will review our financial results in detail. Thereafter, I will talk about the regions and what lies ahead. Meni, please go ahead.
Sharon, thank you. Hello, everyone. I will review the main items in the statements and balance sheet and the relevant highlights. In addition, the consolidation of AXI is slightly complex subject, and I will talk about to give you the full picture. Revenue in the third quarter of 2022 was ILS 412 million, up 32%. Excluding AXI acquisition, the company's sales in the quarter grew 15%. AXI's sales in August and September 2022 amounted to $20 million, and following a consolidation adjustment, the sales that were consolidated amounted to ILS 54.5 million. As Sharon said, in those months, business is typically lower volume.
In the first nine months of 2022, AXI's sales totaled $130 million, while in the whole 2021 sales, which amounted to $102 million at 2021. There were no material Forex effects on revenue in the quarter, changes in exchange rates did affect the profit line, and I will refer to this later. The effect of price increases to the market in the third quarter was 8.5%. If we exclude the price effects and the acquisition, the company's sales still reflect solid volume growth, which was delivered mainly in the US and Oceania. North America sales grew 112% in shekel and 102% in US dollar terms. Excluding the acquisition, growth was 56% in US dollar.
These results reflect remarkable double-digit volume growth, and Mr. Sharon Goldenberg will talk about performance in this region later. Europe sales dropped 28% in shekels and 20% in local currency. After 32% growth in local currency in the first half of the year, the very challenging market conditions were expressed in a drop sales in the third quarter, which is consistent with the overall industry trend. Also, sales in this region are more strongly affected by trends in the New Pool Building segment. Now I will talk about Oceania. Sales grew 26%, 29% in local currency. Rest of the world sales grew 15% and mostly reflect strong early buy sales in the southern hemisphere, mainly Australia and Argentina. In the nine-month period, the company delivered revenue of ILS 1.55 billion, an increase of 26%.
Excluding the acquisition, sales growth in the first nine months was 22%. The effect of changes in foreign exchange rates on sales amounted to a decline of ILS 35.7 million in the nine months, mostly due to the weakening of the euro against the shekel by an average of 7.8%. Revenue growth, excluding Forex effect, was 29% in the nine-month period. The gross profitability in the quarter slightly fell and amounted to 40.4% without the consolidation of AXI, and fell 150 basis points to 39.5% of sales with AXI consolidation. The gross margin was positively affected by price increases in most of the major territories, an improvement in operational efficiency, and higher sales volumes over the above the increase in fixed costs.
The main negative effects are changes in the Forex rates, which lowered gross profit by ILS 5.2 million in the third quarter, 130 basis points. Rising product component costs and the consolidation of AXI, whose gross margin in the months that were consolidated, contributed 34% gross margin, which is lower than the company's average, and the effect is 120 basis points for this item. Regarding OpEx, I will start with the bottom line. Operating expenses in the quarter were ILS 118 million, up 56% and rising to 28.8% of sales compared to 24.5% in the same quarter last year.
The increase in shipping and transportation costs contributed 200 basis points to the increase in the OpEx to sales ratio, and the selling and marketing expenses following the consolidation of AXI contributed 450 basis points. These negative effects were offset by a drop in the R&D expenses and G&A expenses to sales ratio. As we mentioned in the past quarters, shipping costs have increased dramatically. This item, which until 18 months ago was a minor component of the company's cost structure, has become significant, mainly in shipments to the U.S. and as well as inland. In the third quarter, the container shipping rate from Israel to the U.S. rose 100%, and the number of containers to the U.S. increased as well.
In the nine months, the cost of the container from Israel to the US increased by 1,315%, and the number of containers tripled. As we have said in the past, in addition to the drop in shipping rates that we see in the fourth quarter, we are working to more significantly lower our shipping and transportation costs and expect these moves to be meaningfully reflected in 2023. The second point, AXI's selling and marketing expenses in the two months that were consolidated were ILS 18 million. This amount does not reflect two normal months of business. It includes fees for business operations and are especially high due to greater use of the selling mechanism, which included payment for shipping and full handling of the sale.
In tandem, with the integration of AXI, we expect an improvement in its profitability next year and moving forward. Another two points regarding the effects of the acquisition. Acquisition intangible will be amortized over 5-9 years with amortizations of around ILS 7 million a year. In the third quarter, expenses of ILS 1.2 million were recorded. One-time acquisition cost of ILS 2.8 million attribute to the acquisition were expensed and included in G&A in the nine months. Of this sum, around ILS 400,000 were recorded in the third quarter. These are the significant elements in operating expenses. R&D expenses were ILS 39 million, up 20% compared to the corresponding period. The increase is mostly due to the addition of workforce necessary for further development of the Robot segment.
Development costs in the Water Monitoring Control segment were ILS 13.2 million in the nine-month period. G&A expenses amounted to ILS 99 million, up 22%. Most of the increase is attributed to the IT due to rapid growth of the company's business, the addition of employees in management departments, fees involved in the AXI deal, and general expenses affected by business growth, such as local taxes and the depreciation. Operating profit in the third quarter was ILS 44.1 million, down 14% compared to the corresponding period last year. Excluding the Forex effects, EBIT was down around 4%.
The effective tax rate in the first nine months dropped to 15.9% compared to 18.3% in the corresponding period, mainly due to the recognition of Israel's industrial park as Development Zone A and the change in the profit mix in the group. Maytronics' net profit in the third quarter amounted to ILS 39.1 million, a decrease of 8.7%. Net profit in the first nine months was ILS 263.8 million, reflecting 8.8% growth. Cash flows from operating activities consumed by the company were ILS 97 million compared to ILS 221 million generated in the corresponding period last year.
The increase in cash consumed in the period is mostly due to an increase of ILS 485 million in inventory balance. The main effects of the inventory are, one is the first time consolidation of AXI, whose inventory on the reporting date was ILS 82 million. The second is the supply chain challenges last year led to the decision to make earlier and bigger purchases of components and raw materials to ensure a response to demand and maintain continuity in a production as much as possible. This decision helped us greatly in delivering a better response to the demand. At the same time, as a result, there was a significant increase in the value of raw material inventory, which also impacted by the increase in raw material costs over the past year.
In view of the trend of improvement in the supply chain and in availability of some raw materials and the return of demand in the pool industry to typical pre-COVID pattern, we are working on reducing raw material inventory levels. Continuing sales growth requires increased production in the second half of the year of products intended for sales in the next sales season in the Northern Hemisphere. This trend is reflected in higher finished good inventory due to products that were shipped to the subsidiaries and finished good inventory that was in transit to customers on September 30. Days in inventory increased to an average of 185 days in the period, compared to 123 days in the corresponding period.
Just to mention that last period, we were with very low quantities in raw material, because we couldn't supply and deliver all the, all the products and all demand. The balance of trade receivables increased by ILS 122 million, mostly the result of sales growth, the mix of dates on which they were created, and of course, the first time consolidation of AXI with around ILS 19 million . Average customer days rose to 71 days compared to 61 days last year. Average supplier days rose to 73 compared to 61 days in the corresponding period last year.
Last point, regarding the cash flows used in investing activities, they amounted to ILS 81.2 million compared to ILS 61.3 million last year due to an increase in the acquisition and capitalization of intangible assets and, of course, the AXI acquisition. That's it for me. I will hand the mic back to Sharon.
Thank you, Meni. Before I refer to the main regions, I want to talk about the New Pool Construction segment, which has been an important indicator in the industry over the years, but much more so in the past two years. This is relevant to all markets. The estimates for 2022 are for a drop of 10%-15% in quantities and a certain further softening in 2023. The drop is expected in the construction of new pools and in the number of above-ground pools that will be added to the market. As we have often said, Maytronics is less affected by the New Pool Construction segment since most of the company's sales are aftermarket sales for existing pools.
Trends in the New Pool segment, positive and negative, are relevant to Maytronics in sales of pool covers, which are affected by the construction of new pools, mainly in France, and in sales of the other products by our subsidiary in Germany, which specializes in sales to pool builders. The impact of this segment on the demand for robots is minor and is usually relevant to the higher-end, more expensive new pool category, and reassuringly, this is a category where demand has not softened. Consequently, we believe that as far as Maytronics is concerned, the exposure here in relations to total sales is single digit, especially compared to other manufacturers in the industry whose exposure to this segment is around 20%-40%. Regarding the territories. North America.
The pool season in North America was challenging, mainly because of cold, wet weather that persisted in May and led to a late start to the season in the Snowbelt and Canadian markets, whereas the Sunbelt markets continued to be significant growth driver. In the third quarter, we delivered strong sales growth of 102% in dollar terms, and excluding the AXI acquisition, growth was high at 56%. As we mentioned in the last quarter, sales of several tens of millions of shekels spilled over from the second to third quarter because of logistic delivery delays. Even if we exclude the sales spillover and the AXI acquisition, growth in the current quarter was more than 35%. In the nine-month period, growth in dollar terms was 43%, and excluding the acquisition, 35%.
These results reflect high double-digit volume growth, which is based on ongoing end-user demand in stores and online, along with an increase in prices in the region. The growth in North America reflects a continuing strong demand for Maytronics products, the result of excellent work by the team in the region, continuing successful penetration to the Sunbelt, also through the addition of dealers, investments in digital marketing, and the addition of salespeople. All of which have succeeded in increasing consumer awareness of robotic cleaners. Growth also reflects the company's significant improvement in supply versus demand. The core for the demand for robots and Maytronics growth is the healthy market potential in view of the number of pools that still haven't adopted robotic cleaning technology, and consequently, sustained successful sales and marketing activities to increase pool owners' awareness of this solution and its advantages are what create growth.
We are benefiting from the other key trends in the industry: automation, product connectivity, green energy saving trends, all of which continue to support growth of the robot market. The public pool market in the U.S. is generating very strong demand for robots, and although we didn't succeed in meeting all of the demand due to constraints in the availability of segment-specific electronic components, still, we grew by around 90% in the third quarter and by 26% this in the nine months. The acquisition of AXI contributed ILS 54.5 million in the quarter, reflecting its business in August and September. AXI sales are made to the end consumer, meaning that a substantial part of its sales is made in April to August. The timing of the consolidation reflects the start of the relative softened period for AXI.
We're focusing on upgrading our e-commerce capabilities to allow us to better capitalize on the high growth potential, as well as the integration of AXI, which may allow us to improve our margins. Regarding Europe. In Europe, 2022 is turning out to be more complex year, with cold, wet weather that led to a late start to the season, growing uncertainty on the continent following the war in Ukraine, and an economic slowdown accompanied by soaring inflation and energy and food prices. Europe was marked by a variance in high-end in end-user demand from one country to the other. In Northern European markets, which were more strongly affected by the war in Ukraine and rising energy and food prices, demand was softer. The markets in Southern Europe experienced stronger demand, also following the return of tourism and warmer weather.
After 32% growth in the first half of 2022 in local currency, the very challenging market conditions were reflected in a drop in sales in the third quarter, in line with the overall trend in the industry. As mentioned, in Europe, we are also more strongly affected by trends in the New Pool Construction segment. In the third quarter, the negative trend in this segment impacted us in the form of a drop in sales of pool covers in France and sales of the other products by our German subsidiary. Yet, in the first nine months, we achieved 18% growth in local currency in the overall European market, and we believe that these are exceptional results in the industry. Regarding the pool, the Public Pool segment, it is experiencing a recovery in Europe as well, with strong demand that contributed to the segment's growth.
In the Southern Hemisphere, the third quarter reflects solid early buy sales with 29% growth in local currency in Oceania and 28% growth in Argentina. That's it for the regions. I'll now talk about the products and the competition. In terms of products, private pool robots, such as the high runners in the S-Line, continue to enjoy from strong demand and experienced encouraging growth. With premium products, including the M 700 and the S 400 we launched last year, growing at even higher rates. This is an ongoing positive trend. As I mentioned, we introduced the Dolphin Liberty product family at the Lyon Show. Liberty is a meaningful addition to Maytronics' mid to premium lines, since these robots deliver a cordless battery-powered version of the core filtration, brushing, and pool coverage capabilities offered by the company's traditional robots.
Thanks to the combination of Poolside Connect, which is an integrated aesthetic solution for the Pool Builder segment that delivers powerful, always ready, cleaner performance through an induction socket in the pool wall. The Liberty family for 2024 season that will have solar charger and unique solution for cleaning the pool steps. Maytronics is retaining its technological advantage and offering customers convenient solutions that enhance the user experience. For the Public segment, we presented the Wave 90i, a robot with IoT connectivity. Maytronics offers the broadest spectrum of solutions for public pools, the Wave 90i broadens it even further, preserving our technological advantage in the segment. On the same subject, as I mentioned, with a recovery of tourism, the Public segment is experiencing strong demand. After the U.S., which took the lead with the hotel market, the public market in Europe is also recovering.
In 2022, as you know, we couldn't meet the entire demand, mainly because of constraints in the availability of segment-specific electronic components. During the year, we improved and succeeded in delivering 90% growth in the quarter and 26% in the nine-month period. Even with these numbers, I cannot say that these components are fully available and that we were able to meet the entire demand. The situation is much better than it was in the beginning of the year. In the other products, covers are biased towards the construction of new pools, they experience a drop in the quarter. The same is true of our German subsidiary other products category.
Our German subsidiary, Bünger & Frese, are specialized in working with the Builder segment, selling, besides robots, the entire range of products for the Builder segment, where demand in Germany softened this year. In Australia, along with strong growth in robots, we're benefiting from good growth in our water purification products. In terms of the competition, it has remained significant, mainly by Fluidra, which spare no efforts to compete with us, mostly in Europe, but also in the US. Fluidra has also launched a battery-powered robot, something we expected in the past two years leading up to the Lyon Show. We believe that our Liberty line is positioned well to cope with Fluidra in that respect. As for the Chinese competition, we are handling the situation much better online, also because of our supply capabilities, which have improved significantly in relation to demand.
In the third quarter, we continue to do better versus the Chinese competition compared to the corresponding period last year. To sum up, a few words looking ahead. Despite significant challenges, 2022 is evolving as another high-growth year. We expect to be within the projected revenue range for the year, not reflecting the additional revenue from AXI. We will refer to the growth forecast for 2023 once we have completed the work plans and budget. At this point in time, I can say that our plans are expected to reflect growth in 2023 as well. In terms of the overall industry, the next six months will be complex, but at the same time, we can safely say that the industry is strong. The install base has grown considerably in the past three years, with the addition of around 2.5 million-3 million pools.
As far as Maytronics is concerned, we believe that a fair part of these pools don't have robots. Furthermore, even after growing 100% in three years, we estimate that the market potential in terms of number of pools without robots remains the same as it was three years ago, namely about 15 million pools. Going back to the overall market, we're at an interesting time when there is a combination of high inventory in the distribution chain compared to traditional inventory level, levels at this time of the year, with high interest, which increases inventory financing cost, with manufacturers, Maytronics included, that have increased their production capacity and can deliver more and faster compared to pre-COVID, with uncertainty regarding consumer confidence and the scope of consumption, and also with a drop in the construction of new pools.
All of these creates a situation where the distribution chain is on a trend of comprehensively reducing inventory levels. There are quite a few product categories that experience significant softening of demand, like above ground pools and pool heaters. Quite a few distributors hold products that will take them a while to sell. As a result, due to cash flow and inventory financing considerations, they are ordering less also in healthier categories like robots, which continue to benefit from continuous end user demand. We can therefore expect adjustment to inventory in the distribution chain in the fourth quarter and probably into the first quarter of 2023. Again, this refers to the industry overall. From Maytronics aspect, there is a difference between Europe and the U.S.
This is due to the macroeconomics effect on consumers, which at this point in time have a greater effect on the European consumer. There is a big difference between the regions in the number, size, and financial strength of the distributors, because in Europe we work with a number of distributors in each country, and some of them are relatively small businesses for which inventory financing is high cost and bigger risk. The situation in the U.S. is substantially different. Here, a meaningful part of distribution is done by pool. We are more comfortable with the demand and our ability to keep growing in the U.S. market in view of this high potential and the relatively low penetration rate of robots.
Digital tools and building the systems for their operation, our presence and capabilities in the online channel in general, and particularly after the AXI acquisition, all of which support our ability to continue to convert pool owners who use other cleaning solutions to robotic cleaners. On the other hand, Europe is likely to be more softened compared to the high growth we experienced in the recent years and this year as well. The reasons are mainly macroeconomics, and when taken together with certain countries where robot penetration rates are higher, could generate growth on a more moderate scale next year. What is encouraging is the supply capabilities we have built over the past year, which will allow for better responsiveness to market demands during the season.
Additionally, the strong interest among the distributors and dealers we met at the Lyon Show for the new Liberty line is encouraging as well. Additionally, looking beyond 2023, we believe that Europe still has huge potential. In most countries, robot penetration is medium to low. For example, Germany, a market with around 1 million pools, is presently suffering because of energy prices, the cultural characteristics of the German consumer and his willingness to buy. This will change, and Germany will revert to growth. Another example is e-commerce, which is not as developed in Europe as we are, and we are in the process of leveraging our capabilities and knowledge to enhance our online infrastructure in Europe as well. It will take some time, like Maytronics builds infrastructure.
As we said consistently during the pandemic, this time will end, and taking a long-term view, we believe that we will return to the growth levels that were typical for Maytronics in the past, which are 15% on average year-over-year. We continue to believe in this. That's it for me. We'll be happy to take questions.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, at this time, we will begin the question and answer session. If you have a question, please press star one. If you wish to decline from the polling process, please press star two. If you are using speaker equipment, kindly lift the handset before pressing the numbers. Your questions will be polled in the order they are received. Please stand by while we poll for your questions. I repeat, if you have a question, please press star one. There are no questions at this time. Mr. Goldenberg, would you like to make your concluding statement?
Yes. Just to say, thank you all for your participation. If you'll have further questions down the road, we will be happy to answer, and enjoy the rest of the day.
Thank you. This concludes the Maytronics Ltd. Third Quarter 2022 Results Call.