Latham Group, Inc. (SWIM) Business

Item 1. Business

Overview

We are the largest designer, manufacturer, and marketer of in-ground residential swimming pools in North America, Australia, and New Zealand. We hold the leading position in North America in every product category in which we compete. It is our view that we are the most sought-after brand in the pool industry. We are Latham, The Pool CompanyTM.

With an operating history that spans over 70 years, we offer the industry’s broadest portfolio of pools and related products, including in-ground swimming pools, pool covers, and pool liners.

We have a heritage of innovation. In an industry that has traditionally marketed on a business-to-business basis (pool manufacturer to dealer), we pioneered the first “direct-to-homeowner” digital and social marketing strategy that has transformed the homeowner’s purchase journey. Through this marketing strategy, we are able to create demand for our pools and to provide high quality, purchase-ready consumer leads to our dealer partners.

Partnership with our dealers is integral to our collective success, and we have enjoyed long-tenured relationships averaging over 15 years. We support our dealer network with business development tools, co-branded marketing programs, and in-house training.

The full resources of our Company are dedicated to designing and manufacturing high-quality pool products, with the homeowner in mind, and positioning ourselves as a value-added partner to our dealers.

Our operations consist of approximately 1,850 employees on average across approximately 30 locations. The broad geographic reach of our national manufacturing and distribution network allows us to service our customers on short lead times and to deliver our products in a cost-effective manner. Our mission is to design and manufacture high-quality pool products, with the homeowner in mind, and to be a value-added partner to our dealers.

We conduct our business as one operating and reportable segment that designs, manufactures, and markets in-ground swimming pools, pool covers, and pool liners.

Industry

Over the last decade, macroeconomic trends have driven an increase in reinvestment in the home, and we expect that consumers will continue to focus a portion of their rest-and-relaxation spending on exterior living spaces as they look for more ways to spend time outdoors.

Demand for our products has also been affected by the level of interest rates and the availability of credit, consumer confidence and ability and willingness to spend, housing affordability, demographic trends, employment levels, tariffs and other macroeconomic factors that may influence the extent to which consumers engage in renovations to their backyard, including pool installation projects to enhance the outdoor living spaces of their homes.

Fiberglass pools are underpenetrated in the United States residential in-ground swimming pool market relative to other geographic markets, such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Western Europe. A conversion to fiberglass pools from legacy pool construction materials is being driven by greater homeowner awareness of the benefits of fiberglass products. As a result of material conversion away from legacy pool construction materials such as concrete, market growth of fiberglass pool starts in the United States is meaningfully outpacing that of the broader in-ground swimming pool market. Despite this growth, fiberglass pools still have significant runway for growth in the United States relative to comparable international markets.

The benefits of fiberglass products include:

•Lower up-front and lifecycle costs. Fiberglass pools cost less and have lower operating and repair expenses compared to concrete pools.

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•Faster and easier installation. Fiberglass pools can be installed in as little as two to three days, compared to three or more months for concrete pools of comparable size.

•Premium quality and aesthetics. We believe our fiberglass pool offering is the most attractive on the market. Our special finishing process allows a smooth and lustrous finish for traction where you need it, such as steps.

•Less chemicals. The smooth non-porous finish of fiberglass significantly reduces the need for harsh chemicals to treat the pool. It also allows homeowners to opt for an eye- and skin-friendly saltwater pool, without concern for corrosion.

•Lifetime warranty. Our fiberglass pools are guaranteed to the original purchaser for a lifetime and do not need to be resurfaced or repainted every eight to ten years like legacy materials such as concrete.

Pool manufacturers have traditionally marketed to dealers rather than to homeowners. As a result, both manufacturers and homeowners have depended on dealers to educate homeowners and guide them through their pool buying journey. The dealership market is highly-fragmented, consisting primarily of small, family-owned businesses. In addition, concrete pool installers face a number of challenges, particularly the trend towards skilled tradesmen leaving the industry. Each of these factors contribute to the supply constraint in the pool market.

Growth Strategy

Accelerate Fiberglass Material Conversion through Unique Market Positioning

As the leader in the fiberglass pool product category, we are driving the material conversion, especially from concrete pools to fiberglass, by educating both homeowners and dealer partners about the superior benefits of fiberglass. The benefits include lower up-front and lifecycle costs, faster and easier installation, better quality and fewer chemicals. Additionally, the connectivity we have built with our homeowners has provided us with the insights needed to stay ahead of homeowner demand trends that shape our market.

Drive Fiberglass and Automatic Safety Cover Adoption in the Sand States

In 2025, the Sand States (which we define as Florida, Texas, Arizona and California) accounted for approximately two-thirds of the pool starts in the United States where fiberglass pools are underrepresented. This provides a clear opportunity for our market share expansion and our goals in executing this strategy are to expand our pool dealer base, target master planned communities, align our product offerings with market demand, and address our marketing campaigns specifically to consumers and builders in these regions. Our primary focus in the Sand States is driving the conversion to fiberglass pools from concrete but we also see this as an opportunity to increase awareness and adoption of automatic safety covers.

Utilize Leading Brand and Digital Assets to Generate Greater Volumes and Quality of Homeowner Leads

We have increased our investments in our digital strategies and consumer marketing. Our marketing campaigns and digital platform, including our easy to use interactive website and mobile app, inform homeowners on the benefits of fiberglass. Our content-rich digital platform provides homeowners with education and engagement tools that help them to navigate their pool buying journey, including an unrivaled pool visualization experience, informational videos and resources, budget calculators, and a pool expert community consisting of a blog and direct homeowner outreach. For example, the Latham Augmented Reality Pool Visualizer app allows homeowners to browse fiberglass models and to select from a variety of options from their mobile device. Our digital strategy has resulted in superior search engine optimization performance. We have boosted not only the number of leads, but the overall quality of our leads for our dealers, further strengthening Latham’s relationship with our dealer base.

Secure Additional Strategic Partnerships with Priority Dealers to Gain Share

Our approach as a true business partner with our dealers positions us to gain share in our industry. With our differentiated portfolio of products, manufacturing capabilities, customer service, and homeowner connectivity, we have developed a reputation as an innovative and dependable partner to our dealers and distributors. Through our “Latham University” training program, our dealer partners discover firsthand the benefits of fiberglass pools, including the ease and

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speed of installation. Dealers also learn both basic and advanced fiberglass pool installation techniques. We have exclusive supply arrangements with many of our top dealer partners. As the only participant with national distribution in the fiberglass pool product category, we intend to continue pursuing strategic partnerships with priority dealers in underpenetrated geographical markets that can help us accelerate our growth.

Grow Industry Capacity by Onboarding and Training New Dealer Partners

We believe that there is a tremendous opportunity to expand the capacity of skilled dealer partners to support future industry growth and our continued market penetration. As such, we intend to continue to use our leadership position in the industry to educate small business owners currently installing concrete pools, as well as those in related trades, about the economic opportunities available in the fiberglass product category of the pool market. We further intend to onboard, train, and support dealers with the same emphasis we have placed on our existing dealer partnerships, including our co-branding programs, “Latham University” and our “Business Excellence” coaching, designed to help them manage their growth. Leveraging our investments and management expertise positions us to play a key role in growing the industry’s pool building capacity.

Expand Margins through Mix Shift Towards Fiberglass and Productivity Initiatives

We have made significant manufacturing capacity investments to support the long-term growth of fiberglass pools and we have an opportunity to increase our margins as we grow into our capacity investments and our product mix. Additionally, we expect that our investments in people, processes, and equipment aimed at enhancing our manufacturing efficiency will expand our margins. In particular, we have structurally changed our cost base in the last two years through value engineering, lean manufacturing and other cost reduction initiatives as well as enhanced procurement programs.

Strategic Acquisitions that Enhance the Latham Platform

The pool industry offers attractive opportunities for strategic acquisitions to drive consolidation and expand our product offering. We have historically undertaken strategic acquisitions to expand our geographic reach within the United States and internationally, enhance our product portfolio, and drive operational efficiencies. For example, in August 2024, we acquired Coverstar Central, LLC (“Coverstar Central”), our exclusive dealer of automatic safety covers in 29 states and, in February 2025 followed with the acquisition of two smaller Coverstar dealers in New York and Tennessee. With key integration activities complete, our revenue synergy initiatives are underway through an integrated marketing and sales strategy to effectively reach the builder and consumer markets. We will continue to focus on acquiring high-quality, market-leading businesses with teams, capabilities, and technologies that are complementary to our existing offerings and that enable us to better serve homeowners and dealer partners.

Products

Our residential pool product portfolio is highly complementary and allows us to provide a wide-range of solutions to our homeowners. Our products are recognized by homeowners, dealers, and distributors for their quality, durability, performance, compelling value proposition, ease of installation and diverse style and design options. Our broad and compelling product offering and our connectivity with homeowners have been critical in achieving the leading position in North America in every pool product category in which we compete. Below is a summary of our products.

In-ground Swimming Pools

Fiberglass Pools

We are the largest fiberglass pool manufacturer in North America, Australia and New Zealand. Demand for our fiberglass pools is driven by both material conversion from legacy pool construction materials, especially concrete, and the long-term value that our pools deliver to our homeowners through lower up-front and lifecycle costs, faster and easier installation, better quality and fewer chemicals. Our fiberglass pools can be installed in as little as two to three days, compared to three months or more for comparable concrete pools. We offer an extensive portfolio of fiberglass pools with customizable features that include unique colors, elaborate finishes, floor mosaics, lighting options, water features, in-floor cleaning, tanning ledges, and spillover spas. Our pools come in a variety of different shapes and sizes and are known by homeowners for their premium quality and aesthetics. Our innovative product portfolio is made up of a fiberglass, carbon fiber and Kevlar build and is backed by a lifetime warranty to the original purchaser, providing our homeowners with peace of mind and security.

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While we believe that our fiberglass pools are the future of the industry and meet the majority of the market of pools sold, fiberglass pools do have some limitations. Because of shipping considerations, they are subject to certain size limits. Although we offer a broad portfolio of design choices, fiberglass pools can be less customizable than concrete and vinyl pools. The vinyl packaged pools that Latham sells offer unlimited customization in terms of size and shape, providing the same flexibility as concrete pools.

Investments in innovation and product development have led to historical growth of our fiberglass pool sales, with increased potential for further growth and margin expansion.

Packaged Pools

We are the largest manufacturer of custom vinyl pools in the North American residential in-ground swimming pool market. Our leadership has been driven by our high-quality product offering, which is fully customizable and allows homeowners to choose from a wide range of colors and features (built-in sun ledges, benches, entry systems, and spillover spas), as well as our best-in-class national distribution network. Our custom vinyl pools are high-quality, and we believe that they are the most aesthetically pleasing on the market. Custom vinyl pools offer the most attractive homeowner economics when compared to any other material, and they can be installed faster and withstand weather better than concrete pools. The wall system for our custom vinyl pools is built of either non-corrosive steel or composite polymer, which provides our dealers with ease of installation.

Covers

There are two types of covers in the pool market, automatic safety covers and all-season pool covers. Automatic safety covers are used in the pool season to cover and secure the pool after a refreshing swim. All-season pool covers are generally used after the swimming season. They protect the pool and its immediate surroundings from debris and weather, and they also provide safety for homeowners and their guests.

Automatic Safety Covers

Our automatic safety covers provide increased safety, especially for children, and convenience for our homeowners while also driving savings by reducing energy, chemical and cleaning costs, and lowering water evaporation. Additionally, more and more pool owners are buying covers as local building codes push for safer pools. We also offer the most complete automatic safety cover portfolio when compared to our competitors, since our products range from affordable luxury options to premium covers. Additionally, our automatic safety covers are compatible with fiberglass, vinyl, and concrete pools of almost any shape, size and brand, driving homeowner preference for our CoverStarTM brand.

All-Season Pool Covers

Our winterizing mesh and solid pool covers are used during the off-season, reducing maintenance requirements for our homeowners. While these covers extend the lives of our homeowners’ pools, they typically need to be replaced every eight to ten years, providing us with replacement revenue. Since our covers can be used for any pool, regardless of materials, shape, or size, we are able to replace covers for both our legacy homeowners and homeowners previously served by smaller, regional manufacturers.

Liners

We are the largest pool liner manufacturer in the North American residential in-ground swimming pool market, serving a market with large, non-discretionary replacement demand. Vinyl liners are a required component for the interior surface of a vinyl pool and our liners are highly customizable in shape, size, color, and pattern. Vinyl liners typically need to be replaced every eight to ten years. Replacement vinyl liners provide us with a significant source of stable recurring revenue.

Brands

In North America, we operate under one banner, Latham, The Pool CompanyTM. Our literature for dealers, marketing materials, our website, social media, advertising and promotion and our co-branding of dealer premises each reflect the Latham branding. Our sub-brands, which sit under the Latham master brand, include NarellanTM, CoverStarTM, Radiant, and GLI, among others.

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Distribution

Our products are sold through both one-step and two-step business-to-business distribution channels. In our one-step distribution channel, which we exclusively use to sell our fiberglass pools, we sell our products directly to dealers who, in turn, sell our products to homeowners. Latham provides the delivery service for our dealers, shipping direct from our factories to the consumers’ backyard. In our two-step distribution channel, we sell our products to distributors who warehouse our products and sell them to dealers, who ultimately sell our products to homeowners.

In order to strengthen our relationship with our most loyal dealer partners, we have implemented our “Latham Grand” dealer program, whereby we have secured exclusivity with over 375 of our largest dealers in North America. We also have a strong distribution network with over 475 distributor branch locations that represent our products. Through our significant investment in partnerships with dealers and distributors and our consumer-oriented marketing efforts, we have created a “push and pull” dynamic for our products in the marketplace.

Our agreements with our Latham Grand dealers provide for various benefits to the dealers, such as early access to customer leads, access to in-store advertising and exterior branding, basic and advanced installation training sessions, a dedicated and customized website landing page, technical support, early access to new models, and other sales support. Latham Grand dealers agree to feature us as their exclusive provider of fiberglass pools. Latham Grand dealers also, among other things, receive fiberglass training and provide the highest level of customer satisfaction for installation. Each Latham Grand dealer operates in specified territories, and our agreements with our Latham Grand dealers are generally perpetual and terminable at will by both parties.

Our exclusive supply agreement with Premier Holdco, LLC (“Premier Pools & Spas”), certain of its subsidiaries and its franchisees, which provided for certain volume and growth rebates based on the sales of certain of our products to Premier Pools & Spas franchisees, terminated effective January 16, 2025 and was replaced with a non-exclusive, preferred supplier agreement. For additional information, see Note 4 to our Consolidated Financial Statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report.

We have long-term relationships with both our dealers and distributors. Our largest distributor, which provides valuable local market support with a network of over 300 locations, accounted for 22.6% of our net sales in 2025, 21.0% of our net sales in 2024, and 20.3% of our net sales in 2023. We have maintained a strong relationship with our largest distributor for over 25 years, as well as with the distributor’s nationwide network of operators, who are responsible for daily operations and purchasing decisions. Our top ten dealer and distributor relationships accounted for 49.0% of our net sales in 2025, 42.8% of our net sales in 2024, and 40.4% of our net sales in 2023.

Manufacturing

We are a global manufacturer with manufacturing sites in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, delivering quality products with a competitive cost position. Our manufacturing processes require significant capital investment and expertise. We have continuously invested to expand our manufacturing capacity and to improve our manufacturing processes for efficiency and consistency. In particular, we have implemented significant value engineering and lean manufacturing initiatives in the last two years. We have sufficient capacity and capability to support our growth targets over the next several years. We are in the middle of our digital transformation effort to upgrade our enterprise technology and resource planning systems. We use our own fleet of trucks and drivers, as well as third-party common carriers to ship our finished products.

In-ground Swimming Pools

The manufacture of fiberglass pools requires highly specialized equipment and a technically skilled workforce. We manufacture fiberglass pools by applying various layers of materials onto a mold, ending with the fiberglass finish that gives these pools their name. We have the largest mold portfolio in the industry, designed to meet customer needs.

Our fiberglass pools are engineered through a seven‑layer composite construction process designed to maximize structural integrity, durability, and long‑term performance. Using advanced Finite Element Analysis, we model real‑world forces such as hydrostatic pressure, soil loads, thermal effects, and vibration to identify and eliminate potential stress points before manufacturing begins. This engineering‑driven validation is paired with our Technology for Manufacturing system, which provides real‑time monitoring of resin and fiberglass usage to ensure each layer is applied with precise thickness and

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optimal material ratios. Together, these methods create a highly controlled, data‑driven manufacturing process that delivers consistent strength, dimensional stability, and superior overall quality.

Our coast-to-coast network of facilities allows us to be within a close proximity to our customers with industry leading lead times and lower transportation costs. This is a key competitive advantage as transportation costs of fiberglass pools become increasingly expensive with longer shipping distances. We have our own fleet of delivery vehicles and drivers, who complement our third-party distributor partners and ensure timely delivery during the peak building season. Once our fiberglass pools are delivered to their destination, our dealers provide quality installation and support to homeowners.

The manufacture of our custom vinyl pools requires different techniques based on the product type. For our polymer wall vinyl pools, we have a facility that produces all of our polymer panels on structural foam equipment, which requires unique and specialized molds for each panel, as well as a system to inject the resin into the molds. Our highly-engineered plastic molding machines provide us the leading-edge capability to mold high-quality structural panels in customized, proprietary shapes. For our steel panel vinyl pools, we have various processes and highly-engineered and automated metal processing machines that have the capability to convert flat coil steel through various steps into panels that have been punched, bent, seamed, welded, and stacked. The use of a multi-head “soft” tooling cartridge allows simple and fast change-over times and high tolerance performance. We also have customized jigs and equipment to produce special sized panels as needed.

We manufacture our steps for pools based on the steel and fiberglass processes described above. We also have a thermoforming machine that produces all of our thermoformed one piece drop-in steps utilizing a wide variety of specialized molds of various shapes and sizes.

Covers

Our automatic safety cover manufacturing facilities cut, sew, and assemble highly engineered motorized safety covers in a build-to-order model at or better than the industry standard delivery window, from design to shipment. Our automatic safety cover business leverages our capabilities around machining, cut/sew, sonic welding, and assembly operations to provide a recessed/concealed covering application for in-ground swimming pool cover products. Our traveling heat welding machine provides an industry-leading seam for durability and finish. Our processing equipment offers tight tolerance and flexible manufacturing with compressed lead times across the various laser cutters, bending, assembly, and test equipment.

Our all-season pool cover manufacturing facilities cut, sew, and build precisely designed and engineered all-season pool covers that are made to order and shipped at industry leading service levels. Our manufacturing facilities employ specialized techniques to include precision cutting and reinforced stitching. Our manufacturing capabilities and experience allow us to build highly customized all-season pool covers in any size, shape and configuration of a swimming pool.

Liners

We manufacture a complete line of both sonically and heat welded vinyl pool liners for both above and in-ground swimming pool applications, with what we believe is the most technologically advanced processing of vinyl sonic welding in the industry. Our Ultra-SeamTM technology provides an industry-leading capability to reduce seam tear or separation. We have production capacity to support custom liners with a three-day delivery promise from design to shipment, better than the industry standard delivery window.

Raw Materials and Suppliers

We utilize a centralized sourcing model that includes a dedicated team of procurement professionals so that we can coordinate and leverage our purchases across a diverse supplier base. Our centralized sourcing model focuses on ensuring best in class product quality, achieving competitive costs and ensuring supply availability. The manufacturing facilities coordinate all material deliveries with respect to volume and timing to ensure proper alignment between consumption and working capital programs. In particular, we have implemented enhanced procurement programs to further diversify our supplier base in the last two years. In 2025, we purchased supplies from 233 suppliers, with 60% of supplies being purchased from our top ten suppliers and 12% of supplies being purchased from our largest supplier.

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The primary raw materials used in our products are PVC, galvanized steel, fiberglass, aluminum, various resins, high impact polystyrene, gelcoat and polypropylene fabric. Our supply agreements with key suppliers are typically negotiated on an annual basis. The cost of the raw materials used in our manufacturing processes has historically varied and has been affected by changes in supply and demand. We have minimal fixed-price contracts with our major vendors. Prices for spot market purchases are negotiated on a continuous basis. Other than opportunistic strategic purchases of larger quantities of certain raw materials, we generally buy materials on an as-needed basis. Changes in prices of our raw materials have a direct impact on our cost of sales.

We strive to maintain strong and collaborative relationships with our suppliers and believe that the sources for these inputs are well-established, generally available on world markets, and in sufficient quantity. We generally do not undertake defined purchase agreements requiring fixed commitments or “take or pay” requirements with our suppliers. If one or more suppliers were unable to satisfy our requirements for particular raw materials, we believe alternative sources of supply would be available, although we could experience a disruption to our operations as alternative suppliers are identified and qualified and new supply arrangements are entered into. See “Risk Factors — Risks Related to Our Operations and Industry — We depend on a global network of third-party suppliers to provide components and raw materials essential to the manufacturing of our pools and price increases or deviations in the quantity or quality of the raw materials used to manufacture our products could adversely affect our net sales and operating results” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Key Factors Affecting Our Performance— Cost and Availability of Materials.”

Sales and Marketing

We focus on a “direct-to-homeowner” digital and social marketing strategy that puts the consumer at the center of our marketing efforts. Latham’s unique “direct-to-homeowner” marketing strategy is driving a greater understanding of the benefits of owning a pool, specifically a fiberglass pool, and generating significant consumer demand. We have made meaningful, ongoing investments to position Latham as the brand of choice for the homeowner.

Our continued investment in consumer engagement has been a key driver of our historical sales growth. We are generating our own leads, including via our online platform, mobile app, and dedicated marketing and promotional activities. This allows us to provide high quality, purchase-ready leads to our dealer partners. Our new digital platform engages the consumer early in the pool buying process and facilitates the buying journey from inspiration and design to a Latham pool purchase. Our Latham Augmented Reality Pool Visualizer app, along with our website, allow homeowners to re-imagine their outdoor living spaces and directly connects them to a dealer of our choice. For example, our website has visualization tools that allow homeowners to browse through the variety of pool shapes, sizes, colors, patterns, details, and specifications that we offer to choose their pool or their pool liner. Once chosen, homeowners can save the illustrated PDF file and take it to a local dealer to purchase. In addition, our Latham Augmented Reality Pool Visualizer app provides the technology for homeowners to visualize a Latham pool in their own backyard. The interactive nature allows homeowners to compare a variety of pool types and shapes and, when ready, directly contact a dealer without leaving the Latham app.

We maintain a sales organization throughout North America, Australia, and New Zealand that works with dealers and distributors and focuses on increased penetration, dealer growth, and dealer share of wallet. We also provide our dealers with enhanced product literature, in-store display samples, and other initiatives to drive sales. We have directed a significant portion of our advertising spend to digital channels, including social media and search advertising. Our improved digital marketing engine has the ability to strategically target market spend and to generate leads in territories where dealers have capacity, in under-penetrated markets, and in the largest in-ground swimming pool markets.

Through focused demonstrations, education, product training, and other sales support efforts, we are helping our dealers to increase lead conversion rates and quality installations, thereby driving the consumer demand. We established “Latham University” in Zephyrhills, Florida, where we provide both start-up training and education on fiberglass pool advantages and best practices, sales training, and advanced pool installation to our dealers. Additionally, we provide on-site installation assistance to our new dealer partners on their initial fiberglass pool installation. We also offer Measure by Latham ("Measure"), a proprietary advanced AI-powered device that significantly reduces dealer time and error in measuring swimming pool safety covers. Measure is an end-to-end solution that provides dealers with a simple, cost-effective user experience, high-performance measuring accuracy, and a modernized ordering process. In 2025, we added the capability to measure vinyl liners with our MeasurePro tool and our mobile app, MeasureGo.

To facilitate the decision to buy, we offer warranties for our products. In addition, to assist consumers in financing their pool purchase, we connect them to specialist pool financing providers with which we partner.

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Competition

We hold the leading position in North America in every product category in which we compete. We compete with regional and local manufacturers on the basis of a number of considerations, including brand recognition and loyalty, quality, performance, product characteristics, marketing, product development, sales and distribution, and price. We believe we compete favorably with respect to these factors through our differentiated consumer value proposition; brand, breadth and quality of our product portfolio, national manufacturing footprint in the United States, and large network of dealers.

An alternative to vinyl and fiberglass pools are concrete pools, which are built in the ground and are constructed by pouring concrete over steel rods to create the shell of the pool. Concrete pools require frequent and more costly maintenance than fiberglass. Based on our knowledge of our dealers, we believe it takes three months or more to install a concrete pool compared to two to three days for fiberglass. We do not participate in the concrete pool market other than to provide automatic safety covers and all-season pool covers for concrete pools. We believe that the ongoing shift in material from concrete to fiberglass in North America will favor our business. See “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Operations and Industry—We face competition both from within our industry and from other outdoor living products and if we are not able to compete effectively, our prospects for future success will be jeopardized.” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Key Factors Affecting Our Performance—Volume of Products Sold.”

Seasonality

Although we generally have demand for our products throughout the year, our business is seasonal, and weather is one of the principal external factors affecting the business. In general, net sales and net income are highest (or net loss is lowest) during the second and third quarters, representing the peak months of swimming pool use, pool installation, and remodeling and repair activities. Calendar years having severe weather also play a role in affecting sales growth, as particularly rainy or cold years tend to slow the volume of sales, including as a result of complicating conditions for pool installations. These scenarios are partially mitigated by our geographic diversity, both across the United States and through international markets. See “Risk Factors — Risks Related to Our Operations and Industry — Adverse weather conditions could negatively impact our sales, as well as result in significant variability of sales in reporting periods.”

Intellectual Property

We rely on trademark and service mark protection to protect our brands, and we have registered or applied to register many of these trademarks and service marks. We have patented a number of our innovative designs, technologies and processes. We also rely on a combination of unpatented proprietary know-how and trade secrets. As we develop technologies and processes that we believe are innovative, we assess the patentability of new intellectual property. In addition, we employ various other methods, including confidentiality and nondisclosure agreements with third parties and employees who have access to trade secrets, to protect our trade secrets and know-how. Our intellectual property rights may be challenged by third parties and may not be effective in excluding competitors from using the same or similar technologies, brands, or works.

Acquisitions and Partnerships

We have made seven strategic acquisitions and one strategic investment since 2019: the purchase of Coverstar Central, an automatic safety cover dealer, in August 2024, followed shortly after by the purchase of two smaller Coverstar dealers in New York and Tennessee in February 2025; the purchase of certain fiberglass pool manufacturing assets in Seminole, Oklahoma, in November 2022; the purchase of Radiant Pools, a manufacturer of vinyl-lined and aluminum-walled swimming pools, in November 2021; the purchase of GLI, a vinyl liner and all-season pool cover manufacturer based in Ohio, in October 2020; and the purchase of Narellan, a manufacturer of fiberglass pools in Australia and New Zealand, in May 2019. We also made a strategic investment in October 2020 by acquiring a minority interest in Premier Pools & Spas, a pool builder focusing on in-ground swimming pools. We anticipate that we will continue to look to grow our portfolio of outdoor living products through further acquisitions. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Key Factors Affecting Our Performance — Acquisitions and Partnerships.”

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Human Capital Resources

As of December 31, 2025, we had 1,804 full-time employees, of whom 137 were based outside of North America.

Our reputation for exceptional products, services and quality relies on having exceptional people, so we ensure that our team is rewarded, engaged, and developed to build fulfilling careers. We provide competitive employee wages that are appropriate to employee positions, skill levels, experience, knowledge, and geographic location, and we provide additional rewards including incentive plans, bonus plans, and achievement awards. We benchmark our compensation and benefits plan regularly to ensure our employee value proposition remains competitive and attractive to new talent.

The health and safety of our people is a primary concern for us, so we have implemented a comprehensive health and safety program to manage workplace safety hazards and to protect employees. We provide regular training and competency development to verify and ensure compliance with health and safety procedures and regulations.

Employee Engagement and Inclusion

Employee engagement and inclusion, and belonging are fundamental principles in our culture. We are committed to fostering, cultivating, celebrating, and preserving a culture of belonging among our employees, customers, and suppliers. Latham’s initiatives include, but are not limited to, our practices and policies on recruitment and selection; compensation; benefits plan design; professional development and training; promotions; transfers; internal communications; social and recreational programs; terminations; and both ongoing development of a work environment that encourages and enforces respectful communication, teamwork, work/life balance, and engaging in community efforts.

Health, Safety and Wellness

Our health and safety policies and practices include an employee training and competency development program to regularly train, verify, and encourage compliance with health and safety procedures and regulations. We regularly monitor our total recordable incident rate and review workplace injury and claims trends monthly to identify areas of focus and opportunities for implementing new programs to protect our employees. We employ an environmental, health, and safety team that is responsible for managing, auditing, and executing unified, companywide safety and compliance programs, as well as working directly with site leadership and associates on safety awareness, reports, and preventative measures.

Environmental, Health and Safety Laws and Regulations

Our operations and properties are subject to extensive and frequently changing federal, state, and local environmental protection and health and safety laws, regulations, and ordinances. These laws, regulations, and ordinances, among other matters, govern activities and operations that may have adverse environmental effects, such as discharges to air, soil, and water, and establish standards for the handling of hazardous and toxic substances and the handling and disposal of solid and hazardous wastes.

Certain of our operations require environmental, health and safety permits, or other approvals from governmental authorities, and certain of these permits and approvals are subject to expiration, denial, revocation, or modification under various circumstances. Those requirements obligate us to obtain and maintain permits from one or more governmental agencies in order to conduct our operations. Such permits are typically issued by state agencies, but permits and approvals may also be required from federal or local governmental agencies. As with all governmental permitting processes, there is a degree of uncertainty as to whether a permit will be granted, the time it will take for a permit to be issued, and the conditions that may be imposed in connection with the granting of the permit. Compliance with these laws, regulations, permits, and approvals is a significant factor in our business. From time to time, we incur significant capital and operating expenditures to achieve and maintain compliance with applicable environmental, health and safety laws, regulations, permits, and approvals. Our failure to comply with applicable environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, or permit or approval requirements, could result in substantial liabilities or civil or criminal fines, penalties or enforcement actions, including regulatory or judicial orders enjoining or curtailing operations or requiring remedial or corrective measures, installation of pollution control equipment, or other actions, such as business disruptions, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, or results of operations.

Some of the environmental laws applicable to us provide that a current or previous owner or operator of real property may be liable for the costs of removal or remediation of environmental contamination on, under, or in that

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property or other impacted properties. Accordingly, such liability could apply to us in connection with any of our current or former manufacturing plants or other properties. In addition, some of these laws provide that persons who arrange, or are deemed to have arranged, for the disposal or treatment of hazardous substances may also be liable for the costs of removal or remediation of environmental contamination at the disposal or treatment site, regardless of whether the affected site is owned or operated by such person. Environmental laws, in general, often impose liability whether or not the owner, operator or arranger knew of, or caused, the presence of such environmental contamination. Also, third parties may make claims against owners or operators of properties for personal injuries, for property damage and/or for clean-up associated with releases of hazardous or toxic substances pursuant to applicable environmental laws and common law tort theories, including strict liability. Failure to comply with environmental laws or regulations could result in severe fines and penalties.

We are not aware of any environmental liabilities that would be expected to have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, or results of operations. We believe we comply in all material respects with environmental laws and regulations and possess the permits required to operate our manufacturing and other facilities. Our environmental compliance costs in the future will depend, in part, on the nature and extent of our manufacturing activities, regulatory developments and future requirements that cannot presently be predicted.

Sustainability

To achieve long-term success as a business, we recognize the need to align our business strategy and priorities with the expectations of our stakeholders, and our ambition is to lead our industry towards a more sustainable future. Since launching our formal sustainability program in 2021 we have worked with independent consultants to assess our sustainability performance, benchmark our efforts against our competitors, and establish and implement a comprehensive strategy to manage sustainability risks and opportunities effectively.

Our Board of Directors (“Board”) views oversight and effective management of sustainability related risks and opportunities as essential to the Company’s ability to execute its strategy and achieve long-term sustainable growth. Our management team develops sustainability strategy and related goals and policies through a sustainability working group, and our sustainability program is overseen by the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee of our Board. The working group is a cross-functional team managing the day-to-day implementation of Company initiatives and accountability for performance. Our Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee reviews the Company’s progress towards the achievement of its sustainability strategy and goals on a periodic basis.

Beginning in 2022, we published an annual sustainability report highlighting our progress in each of the priority sustainability topics and actions that are most relevant to our business and our stakeholders that were determined by a materiality assessment conducted in 2021. We have since published, and plan to continue to publish, an annual sustainability report to update our stakeholders on our ongoing journey.

Websites and Additional Information

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) maintains an Internet website at www.sec.gov that contains reports, proxy statements, and other information regarding our Company. In addition, we maintain an Investor Relations website at https://ir.lathampool.com/. We make available through our website our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and all amendments to those reports, as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file with or furnish such material to the SEC. We do not charge any fees to view, print, or access these reports on our website. The contents of our website or any other website referenced are not a part of this report.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K (this “Annual Report” or “report”) constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements contained in this report other than statements of historical fact may constitute forward-looking statements, including statements regarding our future operating results and financial position, our business strategy and plans, business and market trends, our objectives for future operations, macroeconomic and geopolitical conditions, acquisitions and related benefits, the implementation of our cost reduction plans and expected benefits, and the sufficiency of our cash balances, working capital and cash generated from operating, investing, and financing activities for our future liquidity and capital resource needs. These forward-looking statements are generally identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including the terms “anticipate,” “believe,” “confident,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “likely,” “may,” “plan,”

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“possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “target,” “will,” “would” and, in each case, their negative or other various or comparable terminology. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other important factors, many of which are outside of our control, which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including those set forth under the section of this Annual Report titled “Risk Factors,” "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" and elsewhere in this Annual Report, or as described on other subsequent reports we file or furnish with the SEC. For similar reasons, our past results may not be a reliable indicator of future performance or trends. We encourage you to read this report and our other filings with the SEC carefully. You also should be aware that these risk factors and other information do not describe every risk that we face. New emerging risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial also may impair our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. We operate in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment, and new risks emerge from time to time that may impair our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable and our expectations based on third-party information and projections are from sources that management believes to be reputable, we cannot guarantee future results, levels of activities, performance, or achievements.

These forward-looking statements reflect our views with respect to future events as of the date of this Annual Report or the date specified herein, and we have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations and projections about future events and trends. Given these uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update or review publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise after the date of this Annual Report. We anticipate that subsequent events and developments will cause our views to change. Our forward-looking statements do not reflect the potential impact of any future acquisitions, mergers, dispositions, joint ventures, or investments we may undertake. We qualify all of our forward-looking statements by these cautionary statements.