Pool Corporation (POOL) 2026 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Pool Corporation third-quarter 2026 conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please also note today's event is being recorded.

各位好，歡迎參加 Pool Corporation 2026 年第三季財報電話會議。（接線員指示）另請注意，今天的活動將被錄音。

At this time, I'd like to turn the floor over to Kristin Byars, Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

此刻，我想把時間交給投資人關係總監 Kristin Byars。請開始。

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our third-quarter 2026 earnings conference call.

各位早安，歡迎參加我們 2026 年第三季財報電話會議。

During today's call, our discussion, comments, and responses to questions may include forward-looking statements, including management's outlook for 2026 and future periods. Actual results may differ materially from those discussed today. Information regarding the factors and variables that could cause actual results to differ materially from projected results are discussed in our 10-K. In addition, we have provided a presentation on our Investor Relations website that summarizes key points from our press release in today's call.

在今天的電話會議中，我們的討論、評論以及對提問的回應可能包含前瞻性陳述，包括管理層對 2026 年及未來期間的展望。實際結果可能與今日討論內容存在重大差異。有關可能導致實際結果與預測結果出現重大差異之因素與變數的資訊，已於我們的 10-K 中討論。此外，我們也在投資人關係網站提供了一份簡報，彙整今日電話會議新聞稿中的重點。

We may make references to non-GAAP financial measures in our discussions today. A description and reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures are included in our press release or on our Investor Relations website.

我們在今日的討論中可能會提及非 GAAP 財務衡量指標。非 GAAP 財務衡量指標的說明與調節表已包含於我們的新聞稿中，或可於投資人關係網站查閱。

I will now turn the call over to John Watwood, our President and CEO.

現在我將把電話會議交給我們的總裁兼執行長 John Watwood。

Thank you, Kristin, and good morning, everyone. I want to start by recognizing the people who support our industry. Earlier this month, I had the chance to spend time with about 1,500 employees, suppliers, and industry partners at our international sales conference, and it was one of the most energizing experiences of my first year at POOLCORP. Standing in a room with that many people who care about this industry, our customers, and each other reinforce what makes this company different, scale built on local relationships. It was a powerful reminder that it truly runs deep here, and I want to thank our employees for everything they do for our customers and for each other every day.

謝謝你，Kristin，各位早安。我想先向支持我們產業的所有人致意。本月稍早，我有機會在我們的國際銷售大會上與約 1,500 名員工、供應商與產業夥伴共度時光，這是我在 POOLCORP 第一年的經歷中最令人振奮的體驗之一。站在一個有這麼多人關心這個產業、我們的客戶以及彼此的房間裡，更加強化了這家公司與眾不同之處：以在地關係為基礎所建立的規模。這強而有力地提醒我，這種精神在這裡確實根深蒂固；我也要感謝我們的員工每天為客戶、也為彼此所做的一切。

I left our conference more convinced that our direction is the right one. Our strategy is an evolution, not a reinvention of what has made POOLCORP successful for more than 45 years. During my first pool season as CEO, I deeply engaged with our employees, customers, and suppliers to understand where we win and where we can improve. Our leadership team also spent time in the field and with customers where we identified specific points of friction we are working to remove. The next step is to translate that feedback into an enhanced customer experience, stronger share capture, and even better operational performance next season and for years to come.

我離開大會時，更加確信我們的方向是正確的。我們的策略是演進，而非推倒重來；這些成功要素已讓 POOLCORP 在過去 45 年以上持續成功。在我擔任執行長的第一個泳池旺季期間，我深入與員工、客戶與供應商互動，以了解我們在哪些地方勝出、以及哪些地方可以改善。我們的領導團隊也花時間到第一線與客戶現場，並找出我們正在努力消除的具體摩擦點。下一步是把這些回饋轉化為更佳的客戶體驗、更強的市占取得能力，以及在下一個旺季與未來多年更優異的營運表現。

On that note, after I briefly touch on our third-quarter results, I will discuss our key strategic initiatives and the actions underway, and Melanie will take you through the financials in more detail during her prepared remarks.

基於此，在我簡要說明第三季業績後，我將討論我們的關鍵策略性計畫與正在推進的行動；Melanie 則會在其事先準備的發言中，帶各位更深入檢視財務細節。

Net sales grew 4% in the third quarter, reflecting price realization, volume growth in maintenance and building materials, and share gains. Building materials delivered its fifth consecutive quarter of growth despite a muted discretionary environment and that growth was driven by our differentiated national pool trends, resources, and new product introductions. Chemicals grew 4% primarily on volume. In both areas of the business, our focus on branding, private label, and customer support through education and lead generation is showing up in our results.

第三季淨銷售額成長 4%，反映價格落實、維護與建材的銷量成長，以及市占提升。儘管非必需性消費環境偏弱，建材仍連續第五季成長；此成長由我們具差異化的全國性泳池趨勢洞察、資源，以及新產品導入所帶動。化學品成長 4%，主要來自銷量。在這兩個業務領域中，我們對品牌、私有品牌（自有品牌）以及透過教育與商機開發來支援客戶的投入，正反映在我們的業績之中。

Equipment grew 5%, reflecting price and healthy volumes in replacement activity as seen in products, including pumps and filters. Pool360 accounted for just over 17% of sales, up from the same quarter last year. Usage is seasonal and typically peaks in Q2. So we measure progress against the same quarter in the prior year rather than sequentially.

設備成長 5%，反映價格因素以及替換需求帶動的健康銷量，這可從包含幫浦與濾器等產品看出。Pool360 的銷售占比略高於 17%，高於去年同期。使用量具季節性，通常在第二季達到高峰。因此，我們以與前一年同季相比來衡量進展，而非採用逐季比較。

By geography, results improved from last quarter. Florida, Arizona, and Texas were each up low to mid-single digits. In those markets, our pool business continued to outperform permit data and irrigation and landscape, which is more closely tied to the housing market. California performed similarly to last quarter, while Horizon in California also had growth this quarter. Europe continued its positive trends with 8% sales growth in local currency. Sales to retail customers moved from a 1% decline last quarter to growth of 3% in the third quarter.

就地理區域而言，表現較上季改善。佛羅里達、亞利桑那與德州各自呈現低至中個位數成長。在這些市場中，我們的泳池業務持續優於許可證數據，以及與房市連動更緊密的灌溉與景觀業務。加州表現與上季相近，而我們在加州的 Horizon 本季也實現成長。歐洲延續正向趨勢，以當地貨幣計算的銷售成長 8%。對零售客戶的銷售由上季下滑 1% 轉為第三季成長 3%。

Pinch A Penny franchise sales to end users went from flat last quarter to up 3%. These results reflect resilient end-market demands, our expanded retail support team and customer offerings, and provide clear proof points of our investments translating into growth. Although our sales activity is running ahead of permit data, new pool construction across the industry remains below last year's levels. The irrigation and landscape business remains tied to housing, which is a challenging end market at the moment. We're operating in a market that isn't giving us much for free.

Pinch A Penny 加盟體系對終端消費者的銷售由上季持平轉為成長 3%。這些結果反映終端市場需求具韌性、我們擴大的零售支援團隊與客戶產品/服務組合，並清楚證明我們的投資正轉化為成長。儘管我們的銷售活動領先許可證數據，但全產業的新泳池建造仍低於去年水準。灌溉與景觀業務仍與房市連動，而目前房市終端市場具挑戰性。我們所處的市場環境並不會讓我們輕易受惠。

Housing turnover and discretionary spending remains cautious and larger projects are still being delayed. However, our plan doesn't depend on relief from macro pressures. We're focused on controlling what we can control. Gross margin declined year-over-year with higher inbound freight and customer mix remaining the primary pressures as they were in the second quarter, along with the third quarter's comparison against last year's mid-season price increases. We have increased prices on freight-intensive products, including building materials in August to offset rising costs. Those increases are holding and have begun to recover some of the higher freight costs.

房屋換手率與非必需性支出仍偏謹慎，較大型的專案仍在延後。然而，我們的計畫並不依賴宏觀壓力的緩解。我們專注於掌控我們能掌控的事項。毛利率年減，主要壓力仍如第二季一樣來自較高的進口運費與客戶組合，另加上第三季與去年旺季中段調價的比較基期影響。我們已於 8 月調高運費占比較高的產品價格（包含建材），以抵銷成本上升。這些調價已站穩，並已開始回收部分較高的運費成本。

We expect to recover more as those increases work their way through the channel and our pricing actions on vendor cost changes take effect at the beginning of next year. On expenses, SG&A grew ahead of sales. We chose to protect those investments because they support next season's performance. At the same time, we are actively managing the cost base.

我們預期，隨著這些調價逐步在通路中傳導，以及我們針對供應商成本變動所採取的定價措施於明年初生效，將可回收更多成本。在費用方面，SG&A（銷售、一般及行政費用）增幅高於銷售增幅。我們選擇保護這些投資，因為它們支撐下一季的表現。同時，我們也在積極管理成本基礎。

We are also taking a disciplined approach to our network. During the quarter, we opened one location in Florida and consolidated two locations into existing sales centers, using the density of our network to continue serving local demand at a lower cost to serve. Our goal is to invest where additional presence strengthens our position and to use our existing footprint more efficiently where we can. Based on our steady performance to date and our visibility for the rest of the year, we are reaffirming our 2026 adjusted diluted EPS guidance. Melanie will cover the fourth-quarter outlook, which reflects a smaller pricing benefit and a challenging gross margin comparison.

我們也以嚴謹的方式管理我們的據點網路。本季我們在佛羅里達新開設一個據點，並將兩個據點整併至既有的銷售中心，運用我們網路的密度，以更低的服務成本持續滿足在地需求。我們的目標是在新增據點能強化我們地位之處進行投資，並在可行之處更有效率地運用既有版圖。基於目前為止穩健的表現以及我們對今年剩餘期間的能見度，我們重申 2026 年調整後稀釋 EPS 指引。Melanie 將說明第四季展望，其中反映較小的定價效益以及具挑戰性的毛利率比較基期。

We believe the combination of price discipline, private label expansion, and productivity gains gives us a clear path to restoring operating leverage even in a flat volume environment with additional upside as volumes recover. As we exit the peak season and look toward 2027, we are focused on executing against our four priorities: sales excellence, pricing and supply chain discipline, operational execution, programmatic M&A. Our maintenance-driven recurring revenue base provides resilience, and we see opportunities to grow share with our customers, build density in our network, and execute more consistently across every market we serve. These are areas where we can take action regardless of the broader market environment, and they are supporting our performance today while positioning us for what's next. I will provide a brief update on each.

我們相信，價格紀律、私有品牌（自有品牌）擴張與生產力提升的組合，使我們即使在銷量持平的環境下也有清晰路徑恢復營運槓桿；而隨著銷量回升，仍有額外上行空間。在我們走出旺季並展望 2027 年之際，我們專注於落實四大優先事項：銷售卓越、定價與供應鏈紀律、營運執行、以及系統化的併購（M&A）。我們以維護需求驅動的經常性收入基礎提供韌性；我們也看到機會與客戶共同提升市占、在我們的網路中建立更高密度，並在我們服務的每個市場更一致地執行。這些都是不論整體市場環境如何我們都能採取行動的領域；它們既支撐我們當前的表現，也讓我們為下一步做好定位。我將就每一項提供簡要更新。

Our first priority is sales excellence. We are introducing new processes, training, and tools because in our industry, business is won locally. We are implementing centers of excellence to put more POOLCORP scale behind our sales centers, providing better information, better tools, and more authority for the people closest to the customer. That is how scale wins in local markets. Over time, we expect these efforts to support top-line growth, share gains, and gross margin improvement.

我們的首要優先事項是銷售卓越。我們正在導入新的流程、訓練與工具，因為在我們的產業中，業務是在各地市場就地贏得的。我們正在建立卓越中心（Centers of Excellence），以在我們的銷售中心背後投入更多 POOLCORP 的規模優勢，為最貼近客戶的人員提供更好的資訊、更好的工具，以及更大的授權。這就是規模如何在在地市場取勝。隨著時間推進，我們預期這些努力將支持營收成長、市占提升，以及毛利率改善。

During the quarter, we also moved ownership of our business development initiatives under field leadership and hired a new leader of national accounts and commercial. We are connecting our sales and marketing programs more closely through better targeting tools and more proactive reporting. Over time, we expect these actions to support market share growth and improve national accounts profitability.

本季期間，我們也將業務開發計畫的主導權移至前線領導之下，並聘任一位新的全國性客戶（National Accounts）與商用（Commercial）業務負責人。我們透過更好的目標鎖定工具與更主動的報告機制，讓銷售與行銷方案更緊密連結。隨著時間推進，我們預期這些行動將支持市占成長，並提升全國性客戶業務的獲利能力。

Within sales excellence, we are seeing early signs of progress in looking at our sales trends versus permit data, larger customer sales growth, and growth in new customer accounts. Additionally, the 7% growth in sales to commercial customers reflects the customer-centered focus of our team and the resources we have put behind the commercial growth opportunity.

在銷售卓越方面，我們已看到一些早期進展的跡象，包括將銷售趨勢與許可證（permit）數據對照分析、較大型客戶的銷售成長，以及新客戶帳戶的成長。此外，對商用客戶的銷售成長 7%，反映出團隊以客戶為中心的聚焦，以及我們投入在商用成長機會上的資源。

Our second priority is pricing and supply chain discipline. We are continuing to sharpen our pricing approach with decisions informed by detailed analysis across our product lines and regions, not a one-size-fits-all approach. During the quarter, we tied pricing decisions within our organization more directly to cost and vendor inputs, aligning the cost side of the business with the sales side and creating data-driven decisions.

我們的第二項優先事項是定價與供應鏈紀律。我們持續精進定價方法，決策依據是跨產品線與區域的細緻分析，而非一體適用的做法。本季期間，我們將組織內的定價決策更直接地與成本與供應商投入因素連結，使業務的成本端與銷售端對齊，並形成以數據驅動的決策。

We are also concentrating our focus on private label expansion in chemicals and building materials. Where differentiated products offer opportunities for greater growth and margin benefit over time. Through the strategic efforts of our supply chain team and coordination with the field, we generated a healthy operating cash flow benefit from disciplined inventory management with inventory down 3% from last year on 4% sales growth.

我們也將重點放在化學品與建材的自有品牌（private label）擴張。在差異化產品方面，隨著時間推進可帶來更高成長與毛利效益的機會。透過供應鏈團隊的策略性努力以及與前線的協同，我們藉由嚴謹的庫存管理帶來健康的營運現金流效益：在銷售成長 4% 的情況下，庫存較去年下降 3%。

Our third priority is operational execution. We are driving higher standards of service per employee across all of our sales centers. Our teams are dedicated to increasing revenues at our recently opened greenfield sites to deliver performance in line with our broader network while also increasing productivity as these operations mature. We continue to invest in Pool360 WaterTest, e-commerce and integrations with our customers, and we prioritize partnering over building where that's the better path. Above all, we are managing to the customer experience, not simply a metric. Our goal is to be the easiest distributor in the industry to do business with. That means addressing the identified points of friction to further improve the service and product reliability our customers count on.

我們的第三項優先事項是營運執行。我們正在推動所有銷售中心的每位員工服務標準提升。我們的團隊致力於提高近期新設立的綠地（greenfield）據點營收，使其表現與我們更廣泛的網路一致，同時也在這些營運逐步成熟之際提升生產力。我們持續投資於 Pool360 WaterTest、電子商務，以及與客戶的系統整合；並在更合適的情況下，優先選擇合作而非自行建置。最重要的是，我們管理的是客戶體驗，而不僅僅是一項指標。我們的目標是成為業界最容易合作的經銷商。這意味著要解決已識別的摩擦點，進一步提升客戶所倚賴的服務與產品可靠性。

Our fourth priority is programmatic M&A, we remain selective, we look for operational and financial fits, strong culture and talent, and opportunities to strengthen our existing markets or add capabilities that extend our value proposition. M&A is a lever that accelerates our organic growth, it is not a substitute for it. We have the balance sheet and operating experience to be the acquirer of choice in our industry. Our capital allocation priorities remain unchanged. We invest in the business to drive profitable growth, pursue disciplined, targeted M&A that aligns with our strategy, support the dividend, and use excess cash for share repurchases, all while maintaining a conservative leverage ratio.

我們的第四項優先事項是系統化的併購（programmatic M&A）。我們仍保持審慎選擇，尋找在營運與財務上契合、具備強健文化與人才，並能強化既有市場或新增能力以延伸我們價值主張的機會。併購是一個能加速我們有機成長的槓桿，而不是其替代品。我們具備資產負債表實力與營運經驗，能成為本產業的首選收購方。我們的資本配置優先順序維持不變。我們投資於業務以推動獲利性成長，執行符合策略且具紀律、具針對性的併購，支持股利，並在維持保守槓桿比率的同時，以多餘現金進行庫藏股回購。

Looking ahead, we are focused on finishing 2026 on course and positioning the business for an even stronger future performance. We believe in our ability to win in our markets and generate above-market growth. We will continue refining our network and operations to improve efficiency and strengthen the customer experience. This is how we extend our competitive advantage and create long-term value for our shareholders.

展望未來，我們專注於確保 2026 年能按計畫收官，並讓公司為更強勁的未來表現做好定位。我們相信自己有能力在市場中取勝，並創造高於市場的成長。我們將持續精進我們的網路與營運，以提升效率並強化客戶體驗。這就是我們延伸競爭優勢並為股東創造長期價值的方式。

As always, I want to thank all of our industry partners for your commitment to growing the outdoor living industry as one and trusting POOLCORP as your partner.

一如既往，我要感謝所有產業夥伴致力於共同推動戶外生活產業成長，並信任 POOLCORP 作為你們的合作夥伴。

I'll now turn the call over to Melanie Hart, our Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, to review our third quarter results in more detail.

接下來我將把電話會議交給我們的資深副總裁兼財務長 Melanie Hart，請她更詳細地回顧第三季業績。

Thanks, John, and good morning, everyone. We delivered solid sales growth in the quarter while focusing on our people and our long-term priorities. Sales of $1.5 billion were up 4% compared to prior year, an acceleration from the 2% increase we saw in the second quarter, resulting in a 4% year-to-date improvement. Pricing contributed 3% of the 4% growth, while volumes added the additional 1%, supported by growth in maintenance, stable renovation activity, and new construction outperforming the permit trends. Gross profit dollars grew $7 million on higher sales.

謝謝你，John，各位早安。本季我們在聚焦人才與長期優先事項的同時，交出穩健的銷售成長。銷售額 15 億美元，較去年同期成長 4%，相較第二季 2% 的增幅有所加速，使年初至今提升 4%。在 4% 的成長中，定價貢獻 3%，銷量貢獻另外 1%；此表現受維護需求成長、翻修活動穩定，以及新建案表現優於許可證趨勢所支撐。在銷售增加帶動下，毛利金額增加 700 萬美元。

Gross margin of 29% was down 60 basis points from prior year, reflecting higher inbound freight costs, customer mix, and the comparison against last year's mid-season price increases, partially offset by continued supply chain benefits. On mix, our larger customers are growing faster than the rest of the customer base, which adds gross profit dollars but compresses margin percentage. Our August price increase on building materials, about 11% of third-quarter sales, made headway in recovering some of the higher freight costs. Consistent with our pricing and supply chain discipline, we continue to work toward additional actions both during the fourth quarter and as we plan for next season.

毛利率為 29%，較去年同期下降 60 個基點，反映進口運費成本上升、客戶組合影響，以及與去年季中調價的比較基期；部分由持續的供應鏈效益所抵銷。就組合而言，我們較大型客戶的成長速度快於其他客群，這會增加毛利金額，但會壓縮毛利率百分比。我們於 8 月對建材調價，該品類約占第三季銷售的 11%，在回收部分較高運費成本方面已取得進展。秉持我們的定價與供應鏈紀律，我們將持續推動更多行動，無論是在第四季期間，或在規劃下一季時。

Operating expenses grew 5% or $13 million. The increase includes higher incentive compensation from higher sales, including special incentives for our sales team, increased employee insurance costs, and outside fees related to our focus on programmatic M&A and other strategic initiatives. Headcount is lower than last year. And so this is not a structural step-up in our cost basis.

營業費用成長 5%，或增加 1,300 萬美元。增加項目包括：因銷售提高而增加的激勵性薪酬（含對銷售團隊的特別激勵）、員工保險成本上升，以及與我們聚焦系統化併購與其他策略性計畫相關的外部費用。員工人數低於去年。因此，這並非我們成本基礎的結構性上移。

As a result, operating income decreased 3% to $172 million and operating margin was 11.4%. Interest and other expenses decreased $2.5 million from the second quarter as we moved into our seasonally stronger cash flow generation period and reduced debt outstanding. Interest expense for the third quarter was $11.8 million. A year-over-year decrease of over $200,000. Share repurchases, which reduced diluted earnings per share about 3.5% year-over-year, offset lower operating income and lifted adjusted diluted earnings per share to $3.40 compared to $3.39 in the third quarter of last year.

因此，營業利益下降 3% 至 1.72 億美元，營業利益率為 11.4%。隨著我們進入季節性較強的現金流生成期間並降低未償債務，利息及其他費用較第二季減少 250 萬美元。第三季利息費用為 1,180 萬美元。較去年同期減少超過 20 萬美元。股票回購使稀釋後每股盈餘年減約 3.5%，抵銷較低的營業利益，並使調整後稀釋後每股盈餘提升至 3.40 美元，去年第三季為 3.39 美元。

Moving into our discussion of our balance sheet and capital allocation. Inventory of $1.2 billion was down $39 million or 3% from the prior year compared to a 4% year-over-year sales increase. Inventory decreased $194 million sequentially as we sold through our peak season stocking levels and early buy and opportunistic purchases we discussed last quarter. Net cash from operations was $420 million year-to-date, up 47% from $286 million last year and equal to 115% of net income. We expect full-year cash flow from operations to exceed net income.

接著進入資產負債表與資本配置的討論。庫存為 12 億美元，較去年同期減少 3,900 萬美元或 3%，而同期銷售年增 4%。庫存較前一季減少 1.94 億美元，因我們在旺季備貨水位銷售消化，並消化我們在上季提到的提前採購與機會性採購。年初至今營運活動淨現金流為 4.20 億美元，較去年 2.86 億美元增加 47%，相當於淨利的 115%。我們預期全年營運現金流將高於淨利。

We have $468 million remaining under our share repurchase authorization and significant capacity available under our current debt agreement. Total debt of $1.2 billion was down from second quarter and carries an average interest rate of 4.2%. Our interest rate swaps are on track to reduce interest expense by approximately $9 million in 2026. They expire in February of 2027. Following their expiration, our debt will still carry favorable market rates priced at SOFR plus 1.25% or approximately 5.2% based on current rates. We intend to offset a portion of interest rate headwinds with lower inventory carrying costs. We remain within our target leverage ratio of 1.5 to 2 times, finishing the quarter at 1.8.

我們在股份回購授權項下仍有4.68億美元的剩餘額度，且在現行債務協議下仍有相當可用的融資空間。總債務為12億美元，較第二季下降，平均利率為4.2%。我們的利率交換合約進展順利，預計在2026年可將利息費用降低約900萬美元。該等合約將於2027年2月到期。到期後，我們的債務仍將以有利的市場利率計價，即SOFR加1.25%，按目前利率約為5.2%。我們計劃以較低的庫存持有成本來抵銷部分利率逆風。我們仍維持在目標槓桿比率1.5至2倍之內，本季末為1.8倍。

As we wrap up the third quarter, we are confirming our adjusted earnings guidance as we move into our seasonally slowest fourth quarter. We now expect slightly better top-line growth for the full year between 3% and 4% with a 3% contribution from pricing. October sales to date were up around 2%, in line with our fourth-quarter outlook. That outlook reflects a smaller pricing benefit and is more heavily weighted to discretionary versus maintenance spend.

在第三季結束之際，隨著我們進入季節性最淡的第四季，我們確認維持調整後盈餘指引不變。我們目前預期全年營收成長略優，介於3%至4%，其中定價貢獻為3%。截至目前10月銷售約成長2%，與我們對第四季的展望一致。該展望反映較小的定價效益，且支出結構更偏向可選性支出而非維護性支出。

Full-year new pool builds are expected to be slightly below prior year, consistent with current activity and permit trends. Year-to-date gross margin was 29.3%, reflecting freight pressure, customer mix and the price increase comparison. Last year's fourth quarter margin benefited from pricing and supply chain improvements, so the comparison will remain difficult in the fourth quarter. Year-to-date adjusted operating expenses grew 3.7% in line with sales. For the full year, we expect adjusted operating expenses to grow less than sales growth with fourth-quarter expense growth below the third as we lapped last year's incremental IT costs.

預期全年新泳池建造量將略低於去年，與目前活動與許可趨勢一致。年初至今毛利率為29.3%，反映運費壓力、客戶組合以及與漲價的比較因素。去年第四季毛利率受惠於定價與供應鏈改善，因此第四季的比較仍將具挑戰。年初至今調整後營業費用成長3.7%，與銷售成長一致。就全年而言，我們預期調整後營業費用成長將低於銷售成長，且第四季費用成長將低於第三季，因為我們已度過去年額外IT成本的比較基期。

We expect full-year interest expense of about $50 million and a full-year adjusted tax rate near 25% with no additional benefit from ASU for the remainder of the year. Weighted average shares outstanding should be about 36 million for the fourth quarter and 36.2 million for the full year. Our adjusted earnings guidance is unchanged at $10.87 to $11.17, which at the midpoint implies growth of almost 3% over prior year. Including the $0.21 of one-time CEO transition expenses reported in the second quarter, our GAAP diluted EPS range remains $10.66. To $10.96. Looking ahead to 2027, we will have one less selling day for the full year, which will impact the fourth quarter.

我們預期全年利息費用約為5,000萬美元，全年調整後有效稅率接近25%，且今年剩餘期間不再有ASU帶來的額外效益。第四季加權平均流通在外股數約為3,600萬股，全年約為3,620萬股。我們的調整後盈餘指引維持不變，為每股10.87至11.17美元，中位數意味著較去年成長接近3%。若包含第二季認列的一次性CEO交接費用0.21美元，我們的GAAP稀釋後EPS區間仍為每股10.66至10.96美元。展望2027年，全年將少一個銷售日，這將影響第四季。

In summary, our team delivered 4% sales growth and added gross profit dollars while we continued to strengthen our processes. The actions we are taking and the targeted investments we are making are to support the four priorities John outlined. We continued to generate strong cash flow, returned significant capital to shareholders and invest in our network for the long-term.

總結來說，我們的團隊實現了4%的銷售成長並增加了毛利金額，同時持續強化我們的流程。我們正在採取的行動與進行的重點投資，是為了支持John所概述的四項優先事項。我們持續產生強勁的現金流，向股東回饋可觀資本，並為長期在我們的網路上投資。

We are now ready to take your questions.

我們現在準備好回答各位的提問。

(Operator Instructions)

（接線員指示）

Susan Maklari, Goldman Sachs.

Susan Maklari，高盛。

Good morning, everyone. My first question is thinking about how you want to position the business as you look to '27. It feels as if you've had some really nice initial success on the initiatives that you outlined for us last quarter. As you think about coming into the fourth quarter and the off-season, what are the areas that you're most focused on, how you want to position the business as we think about the spring of '27, and what could that mean for the future in terms of growth relative to margin.

各位早安。我的第一個問題是，當你們展望到2027年時，想要如何定位這項業務。感覺你們在上季向我們概述的各項舉措上，已取得相當不錯的初步成果。當你們思考進入第四季與淡季時，最聚焦的領域是哪些？你們希望如何定位業務，以迎接2027年春季？以及這對未來在成長相對於毛利率方面可能意味著什麼？

Yeah, good morning, Susan. Great question. So the things that we've been working on, I would say in season, I've been pretty open and honest on the record about you don't disrupt the business. We'll continue to double down in the areas where we're starting to see improvement on, so with the restructure we have with sales excellence, with our new VP of national accounts and commercial.

是的，早安，Susan。問得很好。我們一直在做的事情，我會說在旺季期間，我一直很坦率地在公開場合表示，不要去擾動業務。我們會持續加碼在已開始看到改善的領域，例如我們在銷售卓越方面的重整，以及新任全國客戶與商用業務副總裁。

Those things need to take a little time to work in, I would say. So we're excited about what we've built. We'll continue on our pricing journey and some of the investments there to set us up for a good 2027 season. I'd say overall, the things that we've put in place in season, we can move a little faster on in some areas as we get out of season.

我會說，這些事情需要一些時間才能發揮效果。所以我們對已建立的基礎感到振奮。我們也會持續推進定價旅程，以及在相關方面的一些投資，為2027年旺季做好準備。整體而言，我們在旺季期間已到位的措施，當我們進入淡季後，在某些領域可以加快推進速度。

The freight piece is still a little bit of a concern right now as far as what's happening in the macro that's outside of our control, but there's a lot we can control. I've been on record too, saying that as we go into 2027, we're going to simplify our incentive plans, so that's well underway. And then we've brought in some help to look at certain parts of the business to help us benchmark where we can improve. So we'll continue to work in those areas.

就運費而言，目前仍有些令人擔憂，因為宏觀環境中有些事情不在我們控制之內，但我們也有很多可以掌控的部分。我也曾公開表示，隨著我們邁向2027年，我們將簡化激勵方案，這項工作已在積極推進中。此外，我們也引進一些外部協助，檢視業務的某些部分，幫助我們進行標竿比較，找出可改善之處。因此我們會持續在這些領域努力。

As we look in 2027, I don't think 2027 materially from a macro level is going to be much different than 2026. So it's really going to be about what you can do internally to continue to improve, continue to execute. We've got a lot of energy in the company right now. We've got some wins coming through. We're excited about that. We're not taking a victory lap by any means, but I think the foundation is there, and as we again move into 2027, I'm pretty excited about what we can achieve.

展望2027年，我不認為從宏觀層面來看，2027年會與2026年有實質差異。因此，關鍵將在於你們內部能做什麼來持續改善、持續執行。公司目前充滿動能。我們也看到一些成果正在浮現。我們對此感到興奮。我們絕不會因此自滿，但我認為基礎已經到位，當我們再次邁向2027年時，我對我們能達成的成果感到相當期待。

Okay. That's great to hear. And maybe building on that, can you talk a bit about just the competitive landscape that you're seeing out there? Has anything changed as the macro further weakened during the quarter? And what does that imply as you think about '27?

好的。很高興聽到。另外延伸這點，你能談談你們目前看到的競爭態勢嗎？在本季宏觀環境進一步走弱的情況下，有任何變化嗎？而這對你們思考2027年意味著什麼？

Yeah, I haven't seen much change in it. I mean, it's always been a competitive industry and I realize some of the narratives around that have changed over the past couple of years, but as I've said, we respect our competitors.

是的，我沒有看到太多變化。我的意思是，這一直都是一個競爭激烈的產業，我也理解過去幾年圍繞這點的一些敘事有所改變，但如我所說，我們尊重競爭對手。

We know that we have to take care of our own business and when we do that, we'll win more times than we don't. So our focus remains the same about how we view our business, but no material change in competition. I don't expect to see a material change next year in competition. I think it's always going to be around, and it makes us better, and we embrace it.

我們知道必須把自己的業務做好，而當我們做到這點時，我們贏的次數會多於不贏。因此，我們看待自身業務的重點仍然相同，競爭方面沒有實質變化。我也不預期明年競爭會出現實質變化。我認為競爭永遠都會存在，它讓我們變得更好，我們也樂於擁抱它。

Yeah, okay. Thank you for the color. Good luck with the quarter.

好的，了解。謝謝你提供的補充說明。祝你們本季順利。

David Manthey, Baird.

David Manthey，Baird。

Good morning, everyone. Thanks for the information on slide 9. I'm wondering, will you be giving us any quantitative framework about how you're thinking about those items, sales, price, operations, M&A?

各位早安。感謝你們提供第 9 頁投影片的資訊。我想請教，你們是否會提供任何量化框架，說明你們如何看待這些項目：銷售、價格、營運、併購（M&A）？

Like, I think the market has become accustomed to sort of a secular growth algorithm and there's questions around that. Any kind of specific quantifiable margin levers, M&A target ranges? Any quantitative information forthcoming here between now and next May?

例如，我認為市場已經習慣某種長期結構性成長的演算法，而目前對此有一些疑問。是否會有任何具體、可量化的毛利率驅動因素（margin levers）、或併購目標區間？從現在到明年 5 月之間，是否會提供任何量化資訊？

Yeah, I mean, between now and next May, yes. We're working through our budgeting and our plans now. We again put a lot of work in. We're excited about what we're seeing. But we're building our bottoms up approach as we work through the remainder of the year.

是的，我的意思是，從現在到明年 5 月之間，會的。我們目前正在進行預算編列與規劃。我們確實投入了很多工作。我們對目前看到的狀況感到振奮。但在今年剩餘時間的推進過程中，我們正以自下而上的方式建立我們的方法。

So as we come into next year and we announce our fourth quarter, then we'll break this down a little more granularly about where we see the, as you said, the elements of the entire plan. So short answer is yes.

因此，當我們進入明年並公布第四季業績時，我們會更細緻地拆解，說明如你所說的整體計畫各個要素我們的看法。所以簡短回答是：會。

Okay, so maybe with fourth-quarter reporting, we'll have some numbers around these.

了解，所以也許在第四季財報發布時，我們就能看到這些相關數字。

Yes, sir, yeah, that's the plan. We're going to -- We've worked hard to have the best season possible, and I think we've achieved that. And again, as we work through these strategic initiatives and set ourselves up and we get -- I don't think there's going to be much change in how we view 2027 from a macro right now. That's what we'll put in the confidence around each one of our actions here and display that in our plan.

是的，先生，沒錯，這就是計畫。我們會——我們一直努力要讓這一季做到最好，我認為我們已經達成了。同樣地，當我們推進這些策略性倡議、做好布局並且——就宏觀面而言，我不認為我們目前對 2027 年的看法會有太大改變。我們會把對每一項行動的信心納入其中，並在我們的計畫中呈現出來。

That's great. Okay. And then next question is on sort of the bonus compensation levels. And Melanie, I think you referenced this quarter incentive comp, sales, special incentives. And I know this has sort of been out there for a while, but is the low single-digit growth you're seeing this year enough to sort of trip those gates and reset us to normal levels? Or if we see additional, even moderate growth next year, should we expect another maybe outsized step up in SG&A?

很好。好的。接下來一個問題是關於獎金薪酬水準。Melanie，我想你提到本季的激勵薪酬、銷售、特別激勵。我知道這個議題已經討論一段時間了，但你們今年看到的低個位數成長，是否足以觸發那些門檻並讓我們回到正常水準？或者如果明年再看到額外、即便是溫和的成長，我們是否應預期 SG&A 會再出現一次可能偏大的跳升？

We still have some investment to make as we continue our growth path. So as we talked about in this quarter, we did have some incremental sales incentives that we put forth. So when you think about our traditional plans, they are based on primarily operating income, but we did implement some incremental incentives as part of our sales excellence culture this quarter, which did add some expense. And certainly, we saw the positive topline first that created that expense.

在我們持續走在成長軌道上時，仍有一些投資需要進行。因此，如同我們在本季所談到的，我們確實推出了一些額外的銷售激勵。所以當你思考我們傳統的方案時，它們主要是以營業利益為基礎，但本季我們也在銷售卓越文化的一部分之下，實施了一些額外激勵，這確實增加了一些費用。而且可以確定的是，我們先看到營收端（topline）的正向表現，才產生了這些費用。

But as we continue to work towards simplifying those plans, they will be aligned with our overall results and shareholder expectations. But as we continue to grow into next year, we will have some more investments that we'll need to make that will align with the growth that we see.

但隨著我們持續努力簡化這些方案，它們將會與我們的整體成果以及股東期待一致。不過，當我們持續成長進入明年，我們仍會有一些需要投入的投資，並且會與我們所看到的成長相匹配。

Okay. Do you think even at moderate topline, you'd be able to sort of get back to that 60% to 80% of top-line growth or because these investments will be a little above that maybe on the high end?

了解。你認為即便營收端只是溫和成長，你們也能回到「營收成長的 60% 到 80%」那樣的水準嗎？還是因為這些投資會略高於那個區間、可能偏向高端？

So the initial, we still have some rebuilding to do on that, so we will have to absorb that as we kind of grow through some of the capacity in the network as well. So I think what you'll see there is you'll see higher incentive compensation, more leverage in the capacity in the network.

所以一開始，我們在那方面仍有一些重建工作要做，因此當我們在網路（network）的產能中逐步成長時，也必須吸收這些成本。所以我認為你會看到的是：較高的激勵薪酬，以及在網路產能上的更高槓桿效益（leverage）。

Okay. All right.

好的。了解。

Ryan Merkel, William Blair.

Ryan Merkel，William Blair。

Hey, everyone. I was hoping to start with gross margin. Melanie, can you put a finer point on gross margin expectations in the fourth quarter? It sounds like it might be down 60 basis points year over year just given the mix and the freight headwinds.

各位好。我想先從毛利率開始。Melanie，你能否更精準地說明第四季的毛利率展望？聽起來考量產品組合以及運費逆風，年對年可能會下降 60 個基點。

Yeah. So we put a little bit wider range on the full-year expectation for gross margin, coming out of what we saw in the third quarter. So freight rates did continue to climb. We put some actions in place that accounted for some of those increases overall. But as we look at the fourth quarter, our expectations for freight rates as a percentage of sales would be consistent with what we saw in third quarter.

是的。基於我們在第三季看到的情況，我們把全年毛利率的預期區間放得稍微更寬一些。運費率確實持續上升。我們也採取了一些措施，整體上已反映部分上升幅度。但就第四季而言，我們預期運費占銷售額的比例會與第三季所見一致。

And so we also saw when you think about when you looked at fourth quarter last year, we had a really healthy fourth-quarter margin rate and so the comp gets more difficult. But that being said, what we are looking at kind of in our forecast would be that you'll see over the last couple of years, we saw a step-up in our gross margin from third quarter to fourth quarter and so we would expect a similar higher rate in the fourth quarter than what we finished the third quarter, but it will still be lower than what we reported last year.

另外，回想去年第四季，我們的第四季毛利率水準非常健康，因此比較基期會更具挑戰。不過即便如此，從我們的預測來看，過去幾年我們的毛利率通常會從第三季到第四季出現一個上台階（step-up），因此我們預期第四季也會比第三季結束時更高，但仍會低於去年我們所報告的水準。

Got it. Okay. Thanks for that. And then a question on inventory. It looks like you took it down a little bit here in the quarter. What are your plans for inventory heading into '27? And are there any targets on inventory days that you can share with us?

了解。好的，謝謝說明。接著想問庫存。看起來你們本季把庫存稍微降了一些。你們對於進入 2027 年的庫存規劃是什麼？是否有任何庫存天數（inventory days）的目標可以分享？

So at this point in time, we're still working with our vendors to get the full picture on early buy activity and orders and opportunities there. So we did -- when we looked at our balances in March of this year, we did have a higher inventory that we brought into the season and that was with good reason as we stated at that point in time. So it certainly will depend on our discussions with our vendors and what opportunities lie as part of those early buys.

就目前而言，我們仍在與供應商合作，以掌握提前採購（early buy）活動、訂單以及相關機會的完整全貌。因此我們確實——當我們回頭看今年 3 月的庫存水位時，我們在進入旺季時帶入了較高的庫存，而正如當時所說，這是有充分理由的。所以這確實會取決於我們與供應商的討論，以及這些提前採購所帶來的機會有哪些。

Understood. Alright, thanks. Have fun.

了解。好的，謝謝。祝你們玩得開心。

Scott Schneeberger, Oppenheimer.

Scott Schneeberger，Oppenheimer。

Hey, good morning. It's Daniel on for Scott. I just want to follow up on the gross margin question. It sounds like you're pricing well to offset those freight costs. How should we think about the cadence for that to be fully offset? And just broader picture, the gross margin headwinds you have this year, including the large customer mix, to what degree should we think about those as we head into next year and what can you do internally to offset it?

嗨，早安。我是 Daniel，代 Scott 發問。我想追問一下毛利率的問題。聽起來你們透過定價做得不錯，足以抵銷那些運費成本。我們應該如何看待完全抵銷的節奏（cadence）？另外從更宏觀的角度，今年你們面臨的毛利率逆風（包括大客戶組合），在進入明年時我們應該在多大程度上把這些因素納入考量？你們內部可以做些什麼來抵銷？

So for the pricing timing, so generally what happens is that we're setting pricing at the beginning of the season. So that's early in the year. And that's most prevalent when you think about our equipment purchases. We were able to do a mid-season price increase for our building materials. And those particular items are generally priced by the job.

就定價的時點而言，一般來說，我們會在旺季開始時設定價格。也就是在年初。當你想到我們的設備採購時，這點最為明顯。至於建材，我們能在旺季中途進行一次調價。而這些特定品項通常是以專案（job）為單位來定價。

So we were able to pass through some of that to offset those higher inbound freight costs there in the third quarter into the fourth quarter. As we look ahead for pricing, the majority of kind of the remainder of our pricing actions, we would expect to take place at the beginning of next season.

因此，我們得以將其中一部分轉嫁出去，以抵銷第三季延續到第四季較高的進口運費成本。展望未來的定價，我們預期剩餘大部分的定價措施，會在下一個旺季開始時採取。

And on discretionary sales, it was flat this quarter, continued strength in building materials has been declining previously. Could you please address expectations for the fourth quarter when it comes to discretionary sales and also discuss the sustainability into next year?

至於非必需性（discretionary）銷售，本季持平，而建材業務先前持續走強的態勢已有所回落。請問第四季在非必需性銷售方面的預期如何？也請談談延續到明年的可持續性。

So we've actually had five quarters of increases in building materials overall, so the trend there has been really very good. When you look at the percentage of fourth-quarter sales, so in second and third quarter, we typically will have more sales generated from our maintenance business. And then first and fourth quarter will generate more of those discretionary sales. And so anything that's happening in those quarters typically are not a trend overall.

其實我們建材整體已經連續五個季度成長，所以那邊的趨勢一直非常好。如果看第四季銷售占比，第二季和第三季通常會有較多銷售來自我們的維護業務。而第一季和第四季則會帶來較多的非必需性銷售。因此，這些季度發生的任何變化，通常不代表整體趨勢。

And so when you also look at the permit data, we have been outperforming the permit data. Our sales have come in ahead of that. So we see no change in that. We would continue to expect that for fourth quarter.

另外，從許可證（permit）數據來看，我們一直表現優於許可證數據。我們的銷售表現一直領先於該數據。所以我們沒有看到這方面有任何改變。我們預期第四季仍會如此。

But based on kind of the preliminary data, we are -- year-to-date, the permit data is lower than last year. And so we don't have any reason to expect that that wouldn't continue into the fourth quarter. So overall, we would expect permit data down, our sales to come in better than the permit data.

但根據初步數據，今年截至目前，許可證數據低於去年。因此我們沒有理由預期這種情況不會延續到第四季。整體而言，我們預期許可證數據會下滑，而我們的銷售表現會優於許可證數據。

Got it.

了解。

Steve Volkmann, Jefferies.

Steve Volkmann，Jefferies。

Hi. Good morning, everybody. I think both of you guys called out mix as a little bit of a headwind this quarter, and I guess you're doing more business with larger customers. That's probably good for growth, but I'm curious, I don't know, just order of magnitude, how much of your business is actually with those large customers these days and that seems likely to just kind of continue in perpetuity as that part of the market consolidates, so how do you think about that playing out going forward?

嗨，大家早安。我想你們兩位都提到本季產品組合（mix）對業績有些逆風，我猜是因為你們與較大型客戶的業務比重提高。這對成長可能是好事，但我好奇的是，大概量級上，你們目前有多少業務其實是來自這些大型客戶？而且隨著市場這一端持續整併，這種情況似乎可能會長期延續；你們如何看待未來的發展？

Yeah. So there's a lot of different classifications for large customers, I'll say in the context of what we're discussing here. We're still about mid-single-digits overall, I would say, in what we've classified as a large customer, and they are growing and that's a good thing where we focused on that and we've had the ELT in front of these large customers. We do believe over time there's profitability to be had there, so that's on us to find ways to be, I would say, more efficient in how we operate with certain customer, and they're looking for that as well.

是的。大型客戶其實有很多不同的分類，我就以我們這裡討論的脈絡來說。我們目前整體來看，所歸類為大型客戶的比重大約仍在中個位數百分比（mid-single-digits）；而且他們正在成長，這是好事。我們也把重點放在這上面，並讓高階領導團隊（ELT）直接面對這些大型客戶。我們確實相信，隨著時間推進，那裡是有獲利空間的；因此我們需要想辦法在與特定客戶合作的營運方式上更有效率，我會這麼說，而客戶也在尋求同樣的效率。

Now I would say, as you look to the future, we saw good growth in the medium and small accounts as well, and we've got a couple of things we're working on between now and the end of the year so that we understand that segment and service that segment better. So I wouldn't necessarily try to trend this out over the next 12 to 18 months. It's just a construct of what we have right now.

另外我會說，展望未來，我們在中型與小型客戶也看到不錯的成長；而且從現在到年底，我們有幾件事情正在推進，以便更了解並更好地服務那個客群。所以我不會一定要把這個趨勢外推到未來12到18個月。這只是我們目前現況的一種結構性結果。

As far as consolidations and things like that, haven't seen much noise or news on that. In the past quarter, can't really predict what's going to happen there, but I think one thing we've done throughout the season is we've really set the foundation to understand how we deal with each customer segment and we definitely don't look at growth at any level as a bad thing, but we've also got our eyes on kind of that medium and small account and how do we make that a little more sticky.

至於整併之類的事情，目前沒有看到太多雜音或消息。過去一季也沒有太多，確實也很難預測那邊會發生什麼。

Okay, good. That's helpful. And then maybe the follow up. I'm curious, I guess, this feels like a difficult operating environment for some of your smaller competitors, and I'm curious if you think you're starting to see any type of real stress in that sort of smaller group of competitors, which might add to some shutdowns or maybe they'd even sell the business or just how do you think those guys are faring here?

好的，很好。這很有幫助。接著可能追問一下。我好奇，這對你們一些較小的競爭對手來說似乎是個艱難的營運環境；你是否開始看到那一小群競爭對手出現任何實質壓力，可能導致一些停業，或甚至出售業務？你怎麼看他們目前的狀況？

Yeah, I always try to stay away from speculating on things like that. It's a tough operating environment, but you got some smart people running those businesses as well. I get to be the one and only, by that being Pool, that gets to display --

是的，我一向盡量避免對這類事情做臆測。這確實是艱難的營運環境，但那些企業也有很聰明的人在經營。我能做的、而且唯一能做的（就 Pool 而言），是展現——

I know that we've done a really good job in some markets where we've got some good regional competitors and that's probably as deep as I could go with it. We've not heard any rumors or any chatter in the market, nor would we share that if we did about certain shutdowns or anything like that right now outside of what's been out there in the market about Leslie. So short answer is, I don't really have any insight into it.

我知道我們在某些市場做得非常好，那些市場也有不錯的區域型競爭對手；我大概只能說到這個程度。我們沒有聽到市場上有任何傳聞或風聲；即便有，我們也不會分享目前關於特定停業或類似情況的消息，除了市場上已經公開流傳、與 Leslie 相關的內容之外。所以簡短回答是：我對此沒有什麼洞見。

Okay, fair enough. I'll pass it on.

好的，可以理解。我把時間交給下一位。

Trey Grooms, Stephens.

Trey Grooms，Stephens。

Hey, good morning, everyone. I guess for me, just kind of thinking about the pricing. You guys had mentioned mid-season price increases in building materials, and you guys usually increase at the beginning of the season. And taking that and then maybe what you're hearing from your suppliers, et cetera, as we kind of look into next year and what's needed to recoup freight on your end, any high-level thoughts on how we should be thinking about kind of overall inflation and its impact on the top-line for next year for you guys?

嗨，各位早安。我這邊主要想談定價。你們提到在旺季中段對建材做了漲價，而你們通常是在旺季開始時調價。綜合這點，以及你們從供應商那邊聽到的情況等，當我們展望明年、以及你們端需要回收運費成本的需求時，你們對於我們應如何從高層次看待整體通膨、以及它對你們明年營收端（top-line）的影響，有沒有一些想法？

Yeah, I would like to tell you, we have the complete picture on that right now. We don't -- We do have some of our suppliers' price increases in their expectations of next year, but we don't have enough to really put a pin on the map quite yet. So again, short answer there is to be determined probably over the next 30 to 45 days.

是的，我希望我現在就能告訴你我們已經掌握完整全貌。我們確實掌握部分供應商的漲價資訊以及他們對明年的預期，但目前資訊還不足以讓我們做出明確判斷。所以同樣地，簡短回答是：可能還需要再觀察，預計接下來30到45天會更明朗。

The freight situation we found ourselves in, and I think I touched on this maybe in some conferences and things, we really haven't seen freight increases quite like what we've experienced the past year since COVID, but the thing about COVID was obviously had a whole lot of top-line coming in, so it kind of absorbed it. As we move into the rest of the season and we prepare for next year, obviously, we want to work very hard to mitigate as much of that as we can, what we at least can control, and we're certainly focused on that. The price increases that we put through very targeted and very specific product groups were really just to kind of recoup some of those expenses.

我們所面臨的運費情況——我想我可能在一些會議等場合也提過——自 COVID 以來，過去一年我們經歷的運費上漲幅度，確實是前所未見；但 COVID 的情況是，當時營收端（top-line）進來很多，所以某種程度上把它吸收掉了。隨著我們進入本季剩餘時間並為明年做準備，我們當然會非常努力去降低這些影響，至少是我們能控制的部分，我們也確實聚焦在這上面。我們針對非常特定、非常明確的產品群所推動的漲價，主要就是為了回收其中一部分費用。

And we also chose deliberately to absorb some of those expenses, which shows up in the margin and a little bit in the SG&A. Look, it's a high-cost environment. We want to be the best partner to our customers. And we know a lot of those jobs were already bid and already costed. So we took some hits on that as well because it's the right thing to do. Now, as we move into next year, as we get the clearer picture, then we can talk more about what that inflationary environment will look like.

同時，我們也刻意選擇吸收其中一部分費用，這會反映在毛利率以及部分 SG&A（銷售、一般及行政費用）上。坦白說，這是一個高成本環境。我們希望成為客戶最好的合作夥伴。而我們也知道，很多案子早就已經投標、也已經把成本算進去了。因此我們在這方面也承受了一些衝擊，因為這是正確的做法。接下來進入明年，當我們看得更清楚之後，我們就能更進一步談通膨環境會是什麼樣子。

Yeah. Okay. Understood. Fair enough. And then I've got one for Melanie, just to make sure that I'm understanding some of the comments around gross margin and SG&A in the 4Q.

是的。好。了解。合理。接著我有一題想問 Melanie，主要是想確認我對第四季（4Q）毛利率與 SG&A 相關評論的理解是否正確。

So it sounded like just on the gross margin side of things, you should be less bad, I guess, versus 3Q's down 58 bps or down less maybe than what we saw in 3Q. Just make sure I heard that right.

聽起來就毛利率這一塊而言，相較於第三季（3Q）下滑 58 個基點（bps），第四季應該會「沒那麼差」，也就是下滑幅度可能會比第三季小一些。只是想確認我有沒有聽對。

Yeah, I don't know that we're ready to say that it'll be down less because we're carrying some of that price pressure.

是的，我不確定我們是否已準備好說它會下滑得比較少，因為我們仍承受部分價格壓力。

Will it be below the 3Q? Any more color or granularity around that would be super helpful.

那會比第三季更低嗎？如果能提供更多說明或更細的資訊會非常有幫助。

Oh, yeah, I'm sorry. I think we both had a glitch because I missed part of your question. So I was starting to answer, but then I think you kept going.

喔，是的，不好意思。我想我們兩邊都出現了訊號問題，因為我漏聽了你問題的一部分。所以我開始回答了，但我想你那邊又繼續講下去。

Yeah, I'm so sorry about that. Yeah, do I need to repeat or are you good?

對，真的很抱歉。你需要我重複一次嗎？還是你已經可以了？

Well, I'll answer the first part and then you can tell me if I miss anything. So from a trend standpoint, the freight, the increase in the freight expense as a percentage of sales will be we're projecting that to be consistent with where we are in third quarter. So that will continue to be a drag into the fourth quarter. And we also had a good fourth quarter. So we could expect that if you're looking at the year-over-year, the comparison could get worse, but the margin reported for fourth quarter will be slightly better than the third quarter.

我先回答第一部分，然後你再告訴我是否有漏掉什麼。就趨勢而言，運費占銷售額比重的上升，我們預估會與第三季的水準一致。因此這會在第四季持續拖累表現。另外，我們第四季的基期也不錯。所以如果看年對年（YoY）比較，對比可能會變得更差，但第四季所呈報的毛利率會比第三季略為好一些。

Got it. Thanks for that clarity. And then the second part to my question was just around the 4Q SG&A. You had mentioned that the rate of growth will be below 3Q. So just any more color you could give us around that as we're thinking about kind of tying up our model here?

了解。謝謝你釐清。那我問題的第二部分是關於第四季 SG&A。你提到成長率會低於第三季。當我們在把模型收尾時，你能否再多提供一些說明？

Yeah, so we came in at 5% expense growth in 3Q. We would expect to do better than that in 4Q. If we ultimately do see some incremental incentive compensation that will be tied directly to sales overall from that standpoint.

好的，第三季我們的費用成長是 5%。我們預期第四季會比這個更好。

And then the other thing that we do expect to see in fourth quarter is some continued investment on some of our strategic initiatives that we're working forward to prepare us ahead of next year. So we will still expect to see expense growth in the fourth quarter. But when you look at the overall, the full-year adjusted backing out the incremental cost, CEO transition costs in the second quarter, we would expect that expense growth for the full year will come in less than sales growth.

另外，我們預期第四季也會在一些策略性計畫上持續投入，這些是我們正在推進、用來為明年提前做準備的。因此第四季仍會看到費用成長。但若看整體、以全年調整後口徑（adjusted）並剔除第二季的增量成本（例如 CEO 交接成本），我們預期全年費用成長會低於銷售成長。

Got it. Okay. That's very helpful.

了解。好，這非常有幫助。

David MacGregor, Longbow Research.

David MacGregor，Longbow Research。

Good morning, everyone. I wanted to ask you, I guess you talked about Pinch being up 3%, so I just wanted to ask you if you're seeing any indications of shift by pool owners from do it for me to DIY?

各位早安。我想問一下，你們提到 Pinch 成長 3%，所以我想確認你們是否看到任何跡象顯示泳池屋主從「請人代做」（do it for me）轉向 DIY（自己動手做）？

No, I wouldn't say anything material yet. We kind of dug into that a little bit once we saw the numbers. but I think that's more the Pinch performance, just like we've seen with the independent retailers as well, is really more of an outcome of just providing a good customer experience. And I think it's not any more complicated than that because our service business has remained very strong as well.

沒有，我不會說目前看到任何重大的變化。我們在看到數字後也稍微深入研究了一下。但我認為那更像是 Pinch 的表現——就像我們在獨立零售商那邊看到的一樣——主要是因為提供了良好的客戶體驗所帶來的結果。而且我覺得事情沒有更複雜，因為我們的服務業務也仍然非常強勁。

So if we would have seen a degradation maybe on the maintenance and service side and then maybe a significant increase on that side, maybe you can correlate the two, but we're surely not. We're just not seeing that shift right now.

如果我們在維護與服務端看到惡化，然後在那一端又看到顯著增加，也許你可以把兩者連結起來，但我們確實沒有。我們目前就是沒有看到那種轉移。

Okay. Good to hear. And the second question, just with respect to the high-impact actions and investments that you outlined in slide 9 was very helpful, so thanks for that. But can you just talk about the progress you may be making or intend to make at least on the leveraging of the technology investments in the past few years? I realize this focus is just getting underway here, so it's still fairly new, but how impactful do you think that could be to '27 margins and how do you focus on how do you build that leverage?

好的，很高興聽到。第二個問題，關於你們在第 9 張投影片列出的高影響力行動與投資非常有幫助，謝謝。但你能否談談你們在運用過去幾年的科技投資方面，目前可能取得的進展，或至少打算如何推進？我知道這個重點才剛開始推動，還算新，但你認為這對 2027 年的利潤率（margins）可能有多大影響？以及你們會如何聚焦、如何建立這種槓桿效益（leverage）？

Yeah, so the technology path that we're on right now is really kind of evaluating where we're at. We've been doing that for the past couple of months. We haven't we're not just starting that by any means. And it's really looking at our internal technology and our customer-facing technology, where we need to play, where we don't need to play. I've talked about this before in certain conferences where we brought in some third parties to really help evaluate kind of where we're at and where we need to go, and we're getting the outputs of those now. We're putting the plans together.

好的，我們目前走的科技路徑，主要是在評估我們現在所處的位置。過去幾個月我們一直在做這件事。我們並不是現在才開始。這包含檢視我們的內部技術與面向客戶的技術：哪些領域需要投入、哪些領域不需要投入。我之前在一些會議上也提過，我們引入了第三方來協助評估我們目前的位置以及需要前往的方向，而我們現在正在取得那些評估結果。我們也正在把計畫整理出來。

Look, I'll talk more about that as we kind of build the elements. As a previous question asked, we build the elements into what our strategic actions are going to get us. But certainly, it is a big piece of what we're focused on right now and how we prioritize, how we invest, how we expect the returns of those.

你看，等我們把各個要素逐步建立起來，我會再多談一些。就像前面有問題提到的，我們會把這些要素納入我們的策略行動能帶來的成果之中。但可以確定的是，這是我們目前聚焦的重點之一：如何排序優先順序、如何投資、以及我們如何期待這些投資的回報。

Look, we've got some third-party integrations we're working through right now that we've announced. We're super excited about those. We think they drive not just efficiencies, but they drive top-line, they drive Pool360 adoption in some areas as well. So it's not something we're just sitting and waiting on, but more to come.

另外，我們目前也在推進一些已公告的第三方整合。我們對此非常興奮。我們認為這不只帶來效率提升，也能帶動營收端，並在某些領域推動 Pool360 的採用。所以這不是我們坐等不動的事情，後續還會有更多進展。

Good luck.

祝你好運。

Appreciate it.

謝謝。

Collin Verron, Deutsche Bank.

Collin Verron，德意志銀行（Deutsche Bank）。

I just want to dive into the SG&A a little bit further and those higher employee insurance and outside fees. I guess, any color as to how much of a headwind or how much of an impact those incremental costs had in the third quarter and how we should think about those going forward and how long it should linger? And then if you could just give any more color as sort of the outside fees related to strategic initiatives. Is it more on the sales initiatives and pricing initiatives, or are you looking at acquisitions or divestitures? Just any color you could put around that would be helpful.

我想再更深入探討一下 SG&A，以及較高的員工保險費用與外部費用。想請問能否提供一些說明：這些增量成本在第三季造成了多大的逆風或影響？未來我們應該如何看待、會持續多久？另外，也想請你再多說明一下與策略性計畫相關的外部費用。這些費用主要是與銷售計畫與定價計畫相關，還是你們也在評估併購或處分？任何補充說明都會很有幫助。

Yeah, I would say that our focus in the quarter has been on really all of the priorities. So we have workstreams that are occurring in each of those areas that we're making really strong progress for to set us up for next season.

好的，我會說我們本季的重點其實是放在所有優先事項上。因此在每一個領域我們都有工作流（workstreams）在進行，且我們正在取得非常扎實的進展，以便為下一個旺季做好準備。

Okay, understood. And I guess just on overall margin and how you guys are thinking about this going forward, I mean, if the backdrop continues to play out as it is into 2027, are your self-help levers large enough to drive margin expansion, either gross margin or EBIT margin, or do you really need a sales growth to accelerate to start seeing margin expansion? Any color would be helpful.

好的，了解。那再就整體利潤率以及你們未來的思考方向來看：如果大環境一路延續到 2027 年都像現在這樣，你們的自助式改善手段（self-help levers）是否足夠推動利潤率擴張——不論是毛利率或 EBIT 利潤率？還是你們真的需要銷售成長加速，才會開始看到利潤率擴張？任何說明都會很有幫助。

As I said earlier and as you've heard from others, not just in this industry but in the consumer discretionary space, no matter what it is, I don't think anybody is looking at 2027 right now and saying it's going to be materially different than 2026. So I think we're all focused internally on what we need to do. We think we've got a lot of self-help initiatives that will put us in a good spot next year. We think we're seeing some of the green shoots of that right now.

如我先前所說、各位也從其他人那裡聽到的，不僅在本產業，在非必需消費品領域也是如此，不管是什麼，我不認為現在有人在看 2027 年並說它會與 2026 年有實質性的不同。所以我認為我們內部都專注在我們需要做的事情上。我們認為我們有很多自助式（內部改善）措施，能讓我們在明年處於有利位置。我們認為我們現在已經看到其中一些初步的正向跡象。

Obviously, it's one quarter, we're not taking a victory lap, we still have a lot of work to do, and things can change between now and the first of the year. So short answer is, we're expecting it to be kill everything you can and that's all you're going to get. The market's not going to give you anything for free next year, and we're positioning the company to go take what we can get.

顯然，這只是一個季度，我們不會因此就自滿，我們仍有很多工作要做，而且從現在到明年年初之間，情況也可能改變。所以簡短的答案是，我們預期就是能爭取的都要爭取，市場也就只會給你這些。明年市場不會白白給你任何東西，而我們正在讓公司做好準備，去拿到我們能拿到的。

Great. I appreciate the color.

很好。感謝你提供的補充說明。

Sam Reid, Wells Fargo.

Sam Reid，富國銀行。

Awesome. Thanks so much. I was hoping if we could just quickly unpack the 2% sales growth in October. It sounds like pricing moderated, but does it also imply that volumes perhaps inflected negative? I just want to maybe understand that 2% a little bit more.

太好了。非常感謝。我想請教一下，能否快速拆解 10 月 2% 的銷售成長。聽起來定價趨於溫和，但這是否也意味著銷量可能轉為負成長？我只是想更了解這個 2% 的構成。

Yeah, from a pricing standpoint, we would expect the comparison to be more difficult in the fourth quarter because we did have better pricing in the fourth quarter of last year, so no negative trends on the volume side.

是的，從定價角度來看，我們預期第四季的比較基期會更具挑戰，因為去年第四季我們的定價表現較好，所以在銷量端沒有出現負面趨勢。

That's helpful. And then maybe a bigger picture question. Just thinking to next year, perhaps Analyst Day, perhaps the fourth quarter earnings call, are we going to get any updates on your algorithm? I just want to make sure I understand kind of what we could potentially look out for there. I know you're going to get some more quantification on that slide 9, which is very helpful, but would that also include perhaps some tweaks to the algo?

這很有幫助。接著可能是一個更宏觀的問題。在思考明年，也許是分析師日、也許是第四季財報電話會議，我們會不會得到你們對「演算法」（algorithm）的任何更新？我想確認我理解我們可能需要留意哪些內容。我知道你們會在第 9 頁投影片上提供更多量化資訊，這非常有幫助，但那是否也可能包含對該 algo 的一些調整？

Yeah, I mean, we've talked about this a good bit about what the long-term algorithm is and what the market gives us now and what the market should normalize and we would hope to normalize in the future, so short answer there is yes. We'll have a deeper discussion in that, and I've been very clear and on the record. If we could get back to a normalized environment, 80,000 -- roughly 80,000 new pools and some other things. I think the long-term algorithm, as it's been in the past, is fine. It's really what we're all challenged with, I would say, is trying to figure out when that's going to happen.

是的，我的意思是，我們已經談過不少關於長期「演算法」是什麼、目前市場給我們什麼、以及市場應該回歸常態、我們也希望未來能回歸常態，所以簡短答案是會的。我們會更深入討論這部分，而且我也一直很清楚、並且有公開紀錄。如果我們能回到常態化環境，大約 80,000——約 80,000 座新泳池，以及其他一些因素。我認為長期演算法就像過去那樣是沒問題的。真正讓我們大家都感到挑戰的，我會說，是要判斷那會在什麼時候發生。

Super helpful. I'll pass it on.

非常有幫助。我把問題交給下一位。

Shaun Calnan, Bank of America.

Shaun Calnan，美國銀行。

Just a couple of follow ups on the pricing to start. Can you quantify how much the benefit was from the building materials price increase? And then have you been able to pass along any of the surcharges you're seeing on the remainder of products? Or should we think that creates easier comps as those flow through next year?

先就定價再追問幾點。你能量化一下建材價格上調帶來的效益有多少嗎？另外，你們是否已能把其餘產品上看到的附加費（surcharges）轉嫁出去？或者我們是否應該認為，隨著這些在明年反映，將使比較基期變得更容易？

So for the related to the building materials, so a couple of fine points, I did call out that it's about 11% of sales for the quarter, so it's just a portion of the sales. And then that price increase also did start kind of mid-quarter. So we did get some incremental benefit. We did report a slightly higher pricing benefit for the quarter than what we had talked about and included in our forecast discussion last quarter, so that helps to quantify the scoping on the building materials overall.

就建材相關而言，有幾個細節：我確實提到過，建材約占本季銷售額的 11%，所以它只是銷售的一部分。而且那次漲價大概是在季度中段才開始。因此我們確實獲得了一些增量效益。我們本季所揭露的定價效益略高於我們上季在展望討論中所提及並納入預測的水準，這有助於量化建材整體的影響範圍。

And then as it relates to the pricing on the rest of it, again, we would look toward those pricing actions in early season for 2027. And then we also do -- we did talk about earlier in second quarter that we did put a freight surcharge in for the products that we deliver, which again is just relates to a portion of our business overall.

至於其餘部分的定價，同樣地，我們會把重點放在 2027 年旺季初期的那些定價行動。另外我們也——我們先前在第二季也提過，我們對由我們配送的產品加收了運費附加費（freight surcharge），而這同樣只涉及我們整體業務的一部分。

Okay, great. And then the other one I had was the higher incentive comp. Is this a permanent shift to have the sales team focus more on top-line growth or are these kind of like one-time specialized incentives for that team?

好的，很好。另外一個問題是較高的激勵性薪酬。這是否代表永久性的轉變，讓銷售團隊更聚焦在營收成長（top-line growth）？還是這些比較像是一次性的、針對該團隊的特別激勵？

Yeah, some of it was one-time specialized for the team. Obviously, as we go into next year, something else we've talked about a good bit is making sure the incentive plans are aligned correctly and really kind of pay for themselves as we grow. So I wouldn't look at it as any sort of structural change or any sort of long-term negative impact.

是的，其中一部分是針對團隊的一次性特別激勵。顯然，進入明年後，我們也談過不少，確保激勵方案的設計方向正確，並且在我們成長時，這些激勵基本上能「自我支付」（pay for themselves）。所以我不會把它視為任何結構性的改變，或任何長期的負面影響。

Garik Shmois, D.A. Davidson.

Garik Shmois，D.A. Davidson。

Great. I wonder if you can go into a little more detail as to what drove the recovery in sales across your main geographies in 3Q, certainly compared to the second quarter and also how did some of the more seasonal markets perform?

很好。我想請你更詳細說明一下，第三季在你們主要地理區域的銷售復甦是由哪些因素驅動的，尤其是相較第二季；另外，一些季節性較強的市場表現如何？

Yeah, I think, overall, we were pleased with all markets, all things considered. So to get in a little bit more detail there, we had some structural changes in the beginning of the year that put us in a position to be a little more customer-focused, a little more emphasis on the customer. I mean, obviously, we've been out talking to our employees, talking to customers, removing friction points, that's really going a long way.

是的，我認為整體而言，在各項因素綜合考量下，我們對所有市場都感到滿意。更細一點來說，我們在年初做了一些結構性調整，讓我們能更以客戶為中心、更強調客戶。我的意思是，顯然我們一直在與員工溝通、與客戶溝通、移除摩擦點，這確實帶來很大的幫助。

Also, a little bit of connectivity throughout the organization, right? We've got a lot of scale that we can utilize as we talk about to win locally. And I think we're seeing some benefits of that. We just had our international sales conference I discussed in my opening remarks. Part of that was we got to celebrate some really nice wins where we talked about how we understood the specific needs of the individual customer and kind of rallied the troops around how we offer the differentiated, I would say, program process to help them grow their business. And that varies. I mean, there's just no one answer to all that.

另外，整個組織內部的連結性也有所提升，對吧？我們具備很大的規模優勢，可以用來支援我們所說的「在地取勝」。我認為我們正在看到其中一些效益。我們剛舉辦了我在開場致詞中提到的國際銷售會議。其中一部分是我們得以慶祝一些非常不錯的勝利案例：我們談到如何理解單一客戶的特定需求，並凝聚團隊，圍繞著我們如何提供差異化的——我會說——方案流程（program process）來協助他們成長業務。而這會因情況而異。我的意思是，這些事情沒有單一標準答案。

The key is being able to operate and execute locally on whatever your market requires, a piece of that product mix, a piece of that service related. I think we're very good in some of those areas. I think there were some things we just needed to adjust as we go, and we certainly have. But I just can't -- just don't underestimate the impact of getting back to basics, and it all starts with listening: listening to the customers, listening to the employees.

關鍵在於能夠依據各地市場需求，在地營運並落實執行，其中一部分與產品組合有關，一部分與服務相關。我認為我們在其中一些領域做得非常好。我認為也有一些事情是我們在推進過程中需要調整的，而我們確實也做了調整。但我只是想說——不要低估回歸基本功的影響，而一切都從傾聽開始：傾聽客戶、傾聽員工。

And I wanted to call this out, too. We worked very closely with our strategic suppliers throughout this quarter on programs, and these programs are usually in place year-over-year, but I felt like we did a little bit better job this year, really trying to executing on the programs as they came in the various parts of the season, particularly in Q3, and I think that really drove a top-line benefit for us, so as we move forward, it needs to be more of the same.

我也想特別指出這一點。本季我們與策略性供應商在各項方案上密切合作；這些方案通常是逐年延續的，但我覺得今年我們做得更好，確實更努力在季節不同階段、特別是第三季，隨著方案推出就把執行落地。

Last thing I'll touch on is national accounts, obviously we've brought in a new leader there, we've got some new talent within that organization, we've seen some really good benefit there, had some really good growth. Again, it starts with listening, and I think the difference there is you're talking about kind of bigger organizations, so we really work to connect our organization with their organization and that's all the departments.

我最後要談的是全國性客戶（national accounts），很明顯我們在那邊引進了一位新的領導者，也在該組織內加入了一些新的人才；我們已經看到非常好的效益，也有相當不錯的成長。同樣地，一切都從傾聽開始。我認為差異在於，你談的是規模更大的組織，所以我們確實致力於把我們的組織與他們的組織連結起來，而且涵蓋所有部門。

And I will tell you just a few conversations we've had with some of these large customers, many more to come, have uncovered some pain points and some opportunities, and we're executing on those. So very early innings, really happy about the quarter, very positive. We got a long way to go here, but excited to see kind of the foundation get put in place.

我可以告訴你，我們與其中一些大型客戶進行的幾次對話——後面還會有更多——已經挖掘出一些痛點與機會，而我們正在針對這些執行。所以現在還在非常早期的階段，但我對本季非常滿意，整體非常正向。我們還有很長的路要走，但很高興看到基礎正在逐步建立起來。

Understood. I wanted to follow up on just sales center capacity. You consolidated four locations, but added two this year, so you're down net two. I was hoping you could speak to just how you're thinking, balancing maintaining density versus additional consolidation as you head into '27?

了解。我想追問一下銷售中心的產能。你們整併了四個據點，但今年又新增了兩個，所以淨減兩個。我想請你談談，當你們邁向 2027 年時，如何在維持密度與進一步整併之間取得平衡？

Yeah, I mean for us, it's pretty simple, you go where the market goes, and sometimes the market moves, and sometimes we have opportunities to be more efficient in some areas. We've got a big network, and we can do lots of that network in a lot of different ways. So if a market is moving in a certain area and we understand the needs of the customer there and proximity is key here, proximity, product, amount of drive times you have with service and things like that, then we'll grow accordingly there. And that's really where our focus remains.

是的，我的意思是，對我們來說其實很簡單：市場往哪裡走，我們就往哪裡走；有時市場會移動，有時我們也會在某些區域看到提升效率的機會。我們有很大的網路布局，而這個網路可以用很多不同方式來運作。所以如果市場往某個區域移動，而我們也理解當地客戶的需求，且「就近」是關鍵——就近、產品、服務所需的車程時間等——那我們就會在那裡相應擴張。這也正是我們持續聚焦的方向。

Because our network is really big too, especially in these larger markets, we can do some things differently than some of our competition. We can stage some products in some areas that can be shipped and then, of course, we can be more service focused in others, so that's really kind of the basis of the way we look at it.

因為我們的網路也非常大，尤其在這些大型市場，我們能做一些與競爭對手不同的事。我們可以在某些區域預先配置一些可出貨的產品，當然也可以在其他區域更聚焦於服務，因此這就是我們看待這件事的基本出發點。

As we look to the future, we'll also be open to different ways of serving our customers, right, it doesn't always have to be a 30,000- or 40,000-square-foot building. So I think, again, the key here is that we have the agility and the flexibility to do what we need to do. And in some cases, the market moves away from a particular area or we see benefit for consolidation and efficiencies. There's no reason not to take advantage of that as well.

展望未來，我們也會對不同的客戶服務方式保持開放，對吧？不一定總是需要一棟 3 萬或 4 萬平方英尺的建物。所以我認為，關鍵仍在於我們具備敏捷性與彈性，能做我們需要做的事。而在某些情況下，市場會遠離特定區域，或我們看到整併與效率提升的效益。那也沒有理由不去善用這些機會。

(Operator Instructions)

（接線員指示）

Steven Forbes, Guggenheim.

Steven Forbes，Guggenheim。

Good morning, John, Melanie. John, maybe just a clarification around the special incentive payment. It sort of sounds like that might have been more retention focused, so maybe curious of your thoughts there. And then more importantly, as we think about sort of reinstilling a sales culture, sales excellence culture back into the team, any thoughts on like how much increased flexibility they're sort of needed at the local level to make sure you're driving on your growth initiatives within those small and medium customers? Like what's the higher-level sort of need here as we think out to 2027 to get the business sort of performing at a higher level, noting obviously the third-quarter performance was solid?

早安，John、Melanie。John，我想先釐清一下關於一次性特別激勵金（special incentive payment）。聽起來那可能更偏向留才（retention），所以想聽聽你的看法。更重要的是，當我們思考如何把銷售文化、銷售卓越文化重新注入團隊時，你對於在地方層級需要多少更高的彈性有何看法，以確保你們能推動小型與中型客戶的成長計畫？從更高層次來看，若放眼到 2027 年，要讓業務表現提升到更高水準，你認為主要需要什麼？同時也注意到第三季表現確實不錯。

Yeah, so on the first one, no, it wasn't retention-based. It was more about those that are in the field executing day in and day out, working 10, 12 hours a day. We wanted to incentivize their hard work, and they definitely came through, and we appreciate that and we appreciate the efforts of all of our employees, but it wasn't retention-based at all.

好的，先回答第一點：不，那不是以留才為目的。它更多是針對那些在第一線日復一日執行、每天工作 10 到 12 小時的人。我們想激勵他們的辛勞，而他們確實做到了；我們很感謝，也感謝所有員工的努力，但那完全不是留才導向。

Now as we move forward to more about the sales excellence, the medium and small customers, what we do in a local market, there's a balance and I've said this from my time in my previous role as well, distribution works best when it's balanced, when you're utilizing your scale to win locally. And I know that's not just a tagline, but it's really listening to those individual service center managers, regional managers, and the GMs about what they need locally to win. And that's a different conversation by the branch.

接著談銷售卓越、小型與中型客戶，以及我們在地方市場怎麼做：這裡需要取得平衡。我在之前的職務期間也說過，通路／配銷（distribution）在「平衡」時運作得最好——也就是運用你的規模優勢，在地方市場取勝。我知道這不只是口號，而是真正去聽每一位服務中心經理、區域經理與總經理（GM）說：他們在當地要贏需要什麼。而且這會因分點（branch）而有不同的對話。

Obviously, it starts with having the right product mix, the right depth, all that. We're pretty good at that. The technology even that we utilize branch-to-branch can change a little bit depending on what the customer segmentation is, right, is it more service, is it more builder, whatever it is. So therefore, the service, I'd say component of that changes as well.

很明顯，起點是要有正確的產品組合、正確的深度配置等等。我們在這方面做得相當不錯。甚至我們在分點與分點之間使用的科技工具，也可能會因客戶分群不同而略有差異，對吧？是更偏服務型、還是更偏建商（builder）型，或其他類型。因此，我會說服務的組成也會隨之改變。

So it's never just a one-size-fits-all and I'm not sitting here saying we were using a one-size-fits-all. I just -- when I came into the organization very early on, I felt like we could be a little more flexible in the field to empower our people to go win. We could listen to the customer and figure out kind of what those friction points are and address accordingly. So as I said earlier, there's no one-size-fits-all approach to this. You listen to your people that are closest to the customer, you certainly listen to the customer, you certainly partner up with your strategic suppliers, and out of that comes some pretty good ideas because we've got some pretty smart people in all those areas, and then you execute on it. It's, again, distribution 101, and that's why we really harp on getting back to basics.

所以它從來不是一體適用（one-size-fits-all）。我也不是在這裡說我們以前就是用一體適用。只是——我剛加入組織的很早期就覺得，我們可以在第一線更有彈性，去賦能我們的人去贏得市場。我們可以傾聽客戶，找出那些摩擦點（friction points）是什麼，並據此加以解決。所以如我先前所說，這沒有一體適用的方法。你要聽離客戶最近的人，也要聽客戶本身，並且與策略性供應商合作；從中會產生一些很好的想法，因為這些領域都有很聰明的人，然後你就去執行。這再次是「配銷 101」，也因此我們一直強調要回到基本功。

And then maybe a follow up on that with the new VP of national commercial accounts. Like how should we sort of think about the evolution of the potential initiatives, right, you have that individual leaning into, like should we expect field whether it's reduced span of control, right, additional field sort of support, like where is your mindset on sort of like what the needs are for the national account business as it pertains to sort of expense-oriented pressures or investments?

另外再追問一下，關於新的全國商業客戶副總裁（VP of national commercial accounts）。我們應該如何看待潛在計畫的演進？也就是說，有這位主管投入之後——我們是否應該預期第一線會有變化，例如縮小管理幅度（reduced span of control），或增加更多第一線支援？

Yeah, I wouldn't view national accounts as just expense-oriented pressures. It just operates a different way. Now, the good news is, in my previous company, we were very big at this. But make no doubt about it, happens at the local level. So what this individual has is, one, a lot of experience working with national accounts. And as I touched on in an earlier question, it's really about the connectivity throughout the organization. You're connecting with their supply chain, you're connecting with their IT, you're connecting with their marketing, you're figuring out how you integrate better.

是的，我不會把全國性客戶只看成費用導向的壓力。它只是以不同的方式運作。好消息是，在我之前的公司，我們在這方面規模很大。但毫無疑問，實際發生仍是在地方層級。所以這位主管具備的是：第一，他在全國性客戶合作上有很多經驗。而且如我在前面一題提到的，關鍵在於整個組織內的連結性（connectivity）。你要與他們的供應鏈連結、與他們的 IT 連結、與他們的行銷連結，並找出如何更好地整合。

And also, a big piece of this is consistency across the organization. I mean, these are multi-site, multistate organizations. They want to operate -- sometimes they want to consolidate around a particular product or product group. Hey, sometimes they want to get into new product groups. How can we help them with that? So you need a central point of contact to have that consistency and to help the field execute, not execute on behalf of the field, and I think that's the biggest piece here is this is to support the field efforts in a consolidated manner.

此外，這裡很大的一部分是全組織的一致性（consistency）。我的意思是，這些都是多據點、跨州的組織。他們希望運作——有時他們想圍繞某個特定產品或產品群進行整合。嘿，有時他們想切入新的產品群。我們要如何協助他們做到？因此你需要一個中央的單一窗口（central point of contact）來維持一致性，並協助第一線執行——不是代替第一線執行。我認為這是最重要的一點：這個角色是以整合的方式支援第一線的努力。

Many of these customers, like I said, they're looking at their spend, they want certain chemical programs, they want certain equipment programs, they want certain deliveries, they want certain connectivity, you just can't do that trying to get 7 or 8 or 9 leaders or maybe 10 or 15 in a room and figure it out. That's really where these national accounts team does an excellent job.

這些客戶中有許多，如我所說，他們會檢視自己的支出，他們想要特定的化學品方案、想要特定的設備方案、想要特定的交付方式、想要特定的連線能力；你不可能把 7、8、9 位領導者，甚至可能 10 或 15 位，聚在一個房間裡就把這些事情理清楚。這正是這些全國性客戶團隊表現非常出色的地方。

Jeffrey Hammond, KeyBanc.

KeyBanc 的 Jeffrey Hammond。

Hey, morning, everyone. This is David Tarantino on for Jeff. John, I know you highlighted selective M&A when it comes to capital allocation, but would you consider leaning more into buybacks, particularly with the stronger free cash flow beginning to show through here and the recent pullback in the stock?

各位早安。我是 David Tarantino，代替 Jeff 發言。John，我知道你在資本配置方面強調選擇性的併購（M&A），但你是否會考慮更偏向股票回購，特別是在更強勁的自由現金流開始顯現，以及近期股價回落的情況下？

Yeah, I would say we have. I know that this is more Melanie's realm, so I'm going to ask her to tie in here in a minute. Look, there's some opportunities out there on M&A. We've got a much more healthy pipeline now than we did just a few months ago, so I'm excited about our prospects, obviously nothing to announce today.

是的，我會說我們確實有。我知道這比較屬於 Melanie 的範疇，所以我等一下會請她補充。你看，併購方面確實有一些機會。我們現在的案源管線比幾個月前健康得多，所以我對我們的前景感到振奮，當然今天沒有任何事項可以宣布。

As we talked about in our capital allocation strategy, not much has changed, buybacks are a part of that and there is certainly plenty of authorization left to buy back shares at the lower valuation that we've seen.

正如我們在資本配置策略中所談到的，整體並沒有太大改變；回購是其中一部分，而且在我們看到的較低估值水準下，我們仍有相當充足的授權額度可用來回購股份。

So Melanie, anything you want to add?

所以 Melanie，你還有什麼想補充的嗎？

Yeah, you'll see that we did do a nice step up in our buybacks during the quarter. A lot of that has to do with the cycle of the way that our cash flow comes in. So typically in the beginning of the year, we are using cash because we're investing in inventory. In first quarter, we are paying our early buys in second quarter. And so third and fourth quarter is when we generate the bulk of the cash flow for the year. And so our share buyback process really just kind of follows that excess cash flow timing.

有的，你會看到我們在本季確實把回購規模明顯提高。這很大一部分與我們現金流入的週期節奏有關。通常在年初，我們會動用現金，因為我們在投資庫存。第一季我們會支付第二季的提前採購款項。因此第三季和第四季是我們一年中產生大部分現金流的時段。所以我們的股票回購流程基本上就是跟著這個超額現金流的時間點走。

Great. And then just a quick follow up, just on chemicals, could you kind of level set us on what you're seeing there from a pricing perspective? It seems like it's leveling out just at the bankruptcy of one of your competitors there, just any color there would be helpful.

很好。接著快速追問一下，關於化學品，你能否幫我們校準一下你們從定價角度看到的情況？看起來在你們某位競爭對手破產之際，價格似乎正在趨於平穩；如果能提供一些補充說明會很有幫助。

I would just say overall in the chemical space, this has been a really good bright spot for us. There has been some price deflation year-to-date. I would say it's moderating a little bit. So our growth there has been volume and a lot of volume.

我只能說，整體而言在化學品領域，這一直是我們非常亮眼的亮點。年初至今確實出現了一些價格通縮。我會說這種情況正在稍微趨緩。因此我們在那裡的成長主要來自銷量，而且是大量的銷量。

But we put some investments in that as well going into last year that I think it paid off as we've worked through 2026 and should continue in '27 and '28. So look, overall, we're very bullish. Chemicals is what gets a lot of people in the doors, so I'm really excited about where we're at. and what we're seeing in that product group now and in the future. I wouldn't say any sort of bankruptcy has impacted that one way or the other. That's a little too early to tell.

不過我們在去年也對此做了一些投資，我認為在我們走過 2026 年的過程中已經見到成效，並且應該會在 2027 年與 2028 年持續。所以你看，整體而言我們非常看多。化學品是讓很多人走進門的產品，所以我對我們目前所處的位置感到非常興奮，以及我們現在與未來在這個產品組別所看到的趨勢。我不會說任何破產事件對此有正面或負面的影響。現在判斷還太早。

And with that, ladies and gentlemen, we'll be concluding today's question-and-answer session. I'd like to turn the floor back over to John Watwood for closing remarks.

各位女士、先生，今天的問答環節到此結束。我想把時間交回給 John Watwood 作結語。

As I close, I want to share what drives my confidence about where POOLCORP is headed. We operate in an industry with a durable foundation and customers who rely on us season after season. On top of that foundation, we have something no one else in our industry can easily replicate, a network of local sales centers backed by the scale of the largest distributor in the industry. When we put more of that scale behind our people, closest to the customer, we win in local markets. This is the heart of our strategy.

在結束之前，我想分享是什麼驅動我對 POOLCORP 未來走向的信心。我們所處的產業有著持久穩固的基礎，而客戶一季又一季地依賴我們。在這個基礎之上，我們擁有一項本產業中其他人不容易複製的優勢：由在地銷售中心所構成的網絡，並由本產業最大分銷商的規模作為後盾。當我們把更多規模優勢賦能給最貼近客戶的同仁時，我們就能在在地市場勝出。這就是我們策略的核心。

We're building stronger sales capabilities, sharper pricing and supply chain discipline, and a more connected network. We're investing in the tools to ensure we're the easiest distributor in the industry to do business with, and we're doing it from a position of financial strength with the flexibility to invest in our business, pursue strategic M&A that expands our network and return capital to shareholders. We look forward to sharing more about these opportunities at our Investor Day in the first half of next year and when we report full-year and fourth-quarter results on February 18, 2027.

我們正在打造更強的銷售能力、更精準的定價與供應鏈紀律，以及更緊密連結的網絡。我們正在投資各項工具，以確保我們是本產業最容易合作的分銷商；同時我們也在財務實力雄厚的基礎上推進，保有投資本業的彈性、推動擴展網絡的策略性併購（M&A），並將資本回饋給股東。我們期待在明年上半年舉行的投資人日，以及 2027 年 2 月 18 日公布全年與第四季業績時，與各位分享更多這些機會。

Thank you for your time today and your interest in POOLCORP.

感謝各位今天撥冗，以及對 POOLCORP 的關注。

And with that, we'll be concluding today's conference call and presentation. We do thank you for joining. You may now disconnect your lines.

至此，我們將結束今天的電話會議與簡報。感謝各位參與。您現在可以掛斷電話。