Eloi Planes: "In the United States, we can grow because the market is at a minimum."

Eloi Planes was born in 1969, the same year that the Planes, Serra, Corbera, and Garrigós families founded the company Astral Construcciones Metálicas, the seed of today's Fluidra, to manufacture swimming pool components. In 2006, he was appointed CEO of the company, now renamed Fluidra, and in 2007, he led its IPO. Is this happening?

— No. The idea we gave to the Capital Markets Day It's a medium-term scenario, and therefore, beyond short-term turbulence, when you look back a little, the dynamics are very similar. In the American market, new pool construction is at figures very close to historical lows. This means it's a slow period for new construction. Therefore, when you look ahead, you should also expect this American new construction market to accelerate.

Does the trade war affect this?

— The US represents 47% of our sales. It's our largest market in the world, and any impact it would have on this economy would obviously impact us. Now, how are we handling the tariffs? We've been working on a plan to mitigate the impact for several months because, like most American companies, a significant portion of our business isn't manufactured in the United States but instead comes from abroad. And today, with the plans we've already implemented and what we have in place, we believe we'll be able to avoid the impact of the tariffs.

Fluidra has significant growth forecasts. So far, there has been significant growth, both organically and inorganically. Will this purchasing policy continue?

— In terms of the company's organic growth, we believe we could add approximately 1% to 2% annual inorganic growth. Our sector is still very fragmented; there are many opportunities to accelerate the strategy through acquisitions. The vast majority of our expected growth is organic, but we have some inorganic growth.

And where would the opportunities lie? In Europe? In Australia?

— The truth is that this fragmented situation is everywhere in the world, and we have our own research system. We have operations today in the pipeline from all regions.

Within the business, does the private pool or the hotel pool, sports facilities... weigh more?

— In the global pool market, 80 percent is residential, and only 20 percent is communal pools. And in our case, communal pools account for slightly less than that 20 percent; it must be around 12 percent. The main market is the residential pool market.

What is a smart pool?

— In the pool sector, there are two major trends. One is linked to the issue of sustainability, creating pools that consume less and less energy and water. And another major trend is the connected pool, through the Internet of Things. This monitored or connected pool can be a pool with a low or very high level of automation. The closest thing to this concept is a connected pool with a high level of automation, allowing it to operate practically autonomously while also improving energy and water consumption efficiencies, because it's capable of self-regulating variable-speed pumps, closing the cover to reduce water loss, or performing backwashing. Through connectivity and sensors, this allows for much more efficient pool operation. It also allows companies that perform pool maintenance to have a remote view of what's happening in the pool. Until now, if you didn't have a connected pool, you had to go and physically observe what was happening. Now, with connectivity, you can understand 70% or 80% of what's happening without being there. As manufacturers, they also give us a wealth of information about how the pool is used, its wear and tear, etc. This way, we can make recommendations to the user and tell them if they are misusing it.

It would be a pool that analyzes the water, cleanliness, controls the number of people in it, the temperature...

— The more automated your pool is, the more you can do. Obviously, water treatment is an important part. Measuring the water and ensuring all the systems are working to ensure optimal water quality is one of the most important aspects of a connected pool.

Can the lifeguard help keep watch?

— Yes, I remember that during Covid, when pool access was limited, we set up systems that allowed us to know how many people were there and calculate the capacity.

This would be more for collective pools and not so much for private ones.

— Not long ago, through our venture capital We bought a monitoring company. It's a service for public swimming pools. Devices are installed to measure consumption and make a series of improvement proposals to reduce energy consumption. In a facility like this, consumption is usually significant. All of these issues, including sustainability, are closely linked to data and information.

Do you invest a lot in technology?

— We invest approximately 2% of our sales in technology. We also acquire some companies that can help us with certain technological issues. Fluidra must have twice as many patents as our three main competitors combined. As a company, innovation has been a historical part of our development and differentiation.

How do you run a company with so many employees spread across the world?

— Well, obviously with a talented and international team, because that's the only way to do it. We have the world divided into three large regions, with highly focused structures and processes and systems that help us ensure control of the company. But I would say the most important thing is the people, the human structure. We like to say we are Australians in Australia, South Africans in South Africa, Americans in North America, and Catalans in Catalonia.

Fluidra is one of the most international Catalan companies.

— Yes, but ultimately, we have a very powerful structure in the United States. It's our main market, and then there are other areas of the world where we also have quite a few people. South Africa is one of those places, Australia another. In Europe, we have a lot of very fragmented people; we have a significant industrial component here in Catalonia. We're a company that has had a global mindset since its inception. It took us many years to become global leaders, and we achieved it in 2017, but we have that human structure, processes, and systems mentality to achieve it.

Are you the global leader in a market that still has a lot of room for consolidation?

— We are the global leader in a market with significant potential for consolidation. We are number one, and the two competitors that follow us combined are slightly larger than us. Then, the other five competitors that follow are not as big as us.

Where do they manufacture?

— We manufacture on all continents. Our philosophy has always been close to the region. Catalonia, where we were born, is one of the important industrial hubs, and it primarily supplies the European and international markets with some short-run products that perhaps aren't manufactured elsewhere. But we also have production in the United States, Mexico, Brazil, South Africa, Australia, Malaysia... And we have a fairly significant structure in China.

Was the merger with Zodiac the big boost to this rapid growth?

— No, I think Fluidra had a very strong growth story, with a desire to consolidate the global market. We tried several times since 2009. In 2017, all the stars aligned to allow us to complete a transaction with Zodiac, which made us this global leader. In the United States, over the years, we've continued investing and have acquired several more companies, which has allowed us to now be number two in the American market. Perhaps what Zodiac gave us was that we doubled our size in a single transaction and were able to enter a market that is the world's leading market.

Has it been fully digested yet?

— Now we're already working on other things, to continue growing by gaining penetration in many markets, looking at how we can also enter the commercial pool more strongly, in the whole issue of digitalization and sustainability. These are the main lines of action now.

When you look at the evolution of the value from the IPO to the time of the Zodiac acquisition, there is growth, but the revaluation has been very significant since then.

— I think the Zodiac transaction itself has many advantages from a shareholder value perspective. The first is its size. We're a company twice our size, and in a stock market with so many companies on offer, this can provide greater visibility and help enhance the company's value. But there were other synergies linked to the transaction that were very high, as high as the results of practically one of the two companies. Therefore, if we were able to execute this, we should also see this in the share value. And then it gives us a very powerful international platform, completely global, with advantages for gaining efficiencies, on the one hand, and for accelerating growth, on the other. I think this transaction is very transformative and changes many things, and the company's value reflects this.

Does this come with being a family-owned company?

— I think we have the best of both worlds. We have the best of a listed international company, where people can grow and evolve, in a modern and fresh environment; and the best of a family business, where values are important and not everything is short-term, but rather there is a medium- and long-term vision, where people count. I think this combination is very good, and in the end, the stock market also likes to know that there are some people in this company who are risking their money just like the rest of the shareholders.

How much do the founding families have?

— Now, approximately 30%.

Is this enough to avoid falling into the hands of funds or an operation of this type?

— Well, enough to have significant influence. I don't know if this isn't going to end up as a fund operation; that's a long way off. I think the families once had 50% and dared to carry out a transaction that diluted them because it generated value for the company. The mentality is to do the right thing for the company.

In 2017, large companies moved their headquarters there, but you didn't. Was the move ever considered?

— It was a moment of great tension and instability. It really seemed like whoever didn't make the decision had to give an explanation. Obviously, we also had our arguments. It was felt that it wasn't the right time or circumstances to do so, so we moved forward and didn't change venues at that time.

And now that Sabadell and the La Caixa Foundation have returned, will there be a comeback movement?

— Well, it looks like it's already started.