Income from this period was €395.5 million, up 1.3% from last year

Fluidra, the group which that develops applications for sustainable water use, has had a turnover of €395.5 million in the first half of the year, 1.3% more than in the same period of 2007, despite the impact of various detrimental factorsa pesar de la confluencia de varios factores perjudiciales. The second quarter was beleaguered by En el segundo trimestre han coincidido a fall in sales in Spain and a certain degree of stagnation in Europe, ; the unfavourable trends in exchange rates of the UK pound and US dollar against theto eEuro exchange rate trends,; and weather conditions, as the rain affecting that affected a large proportion of Europe in May and June has delayed the beginning of the swimming pool season.

International sales, especially in Eastern Europe and in emerging markets such as Asia and Australia are still in double figures. The WATER division underwent a growth rate of close to 10%ha experimentado un crecimiento cercano al 10%.. These two upward trends  evolution of both hasve partly alleviated this year’s recession in Spain. "Our geographical diversification strategy (our internationalization) and product diversification strategy (our firm stake in the WATER division) were well-foundedestrategia de diversificación geográfica (our internacionalización) y de diversificación de producto (nuestra apuesta por al división WATER) es acertada”, declared the Fluidra group Group’s managing director, Eloi Planes explains.

The POOL division achieved sales of €312.2 million, 1% less than in the first half of 2007, and an EBITDA of 49.9 million (-9.8%). International sales, especially in Eastern Europe and the emerging markets of Asia and Australia, have experienced double double-figure growth.

The WATER division, which includes the water treatment, fluid piping and irrigation companies, achieved sales of €120.5 million, maintaining displaying a growth figure rate of 9.7% and an EBITDA of 16.4 million (-2.0%). The greatest growth achieved by this division was in the its agricultural irrigation and industrial applications areasdepartments. In terms of overall world tradeFrom a geographical point of view, its sales grew by double figures both in Southern Europe and in the Australasia area.

Fluidra achieved an EBITDA of €65.9 million, an 8.2% reduction. Its net profit for the first half of the year was €29.0 million, a 14.0% reduction in relation to the same period of 2007.

Fluidra’s managing director, Eloi Planes, stated that “From we are going to mitigate the decreases in the Spanish residential area sector by rereinforcing our activitiesdoubling our efforts in other areas such as wellness, agricultural irrigation and industrial wastewater treatment,” Fluidra’s managing director Eloi Planes explains. In addition, Fluidra intends to continue with its internationalisation internationalization programme to grow expand in emerging markets.