Bradford Products has long been a manufacturer of stainless steel vessels. With a pedigree for producing world-class resort-style swimming pools and water features, the firm has long been the go-to source when it comes to high-end projects. The fact should come as no surprise that Bradford Products was firm behind the world-famous Stadium Swim, a massive swimming pool sports book located at the Circa Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.

Recently, we had the opportunity to discuss the pool at greater length with Mike Sage, VP of Sales & Marketing for Bradford Products who gave us some insight into why Bradford was tapped for this particular project.

Why Bradford Products Was Chosen For The Stadium Swim Project

“The backbone of our company, and certainly the largest part of our business, is the Aquatic vertical,” said Sage, “that is what encompasses primarily all of the custom and commercial elevated stainless steel pool and spas. I think that’s probably what we’re most well-known for. That goes for anything that goes on top of an apartment building or a Las Vegas pool deck or any number of our other custom applications for swimming pools and spas around the world.”

With over 10,000 pool and spa installations worldwide, Sage said the project planners behind Circa didn’t have to look far to find Bradford Products. The firm has been responsible for many well-known resort swimming pools all over the world. In fact, they were involved in the collaboration of another high-end pool project in London that made headlines across the globe, (Sky Pool).

“We’ve got a lot of experience in Las Vegas working with most of the major resorts and casinos there having installed just a tremendous number of pools and decks,” said Sage. “For most of the major players out there, Circa was unique for a couple of different reasons. It’s located in the old downtown part of Las Vegas. It’s a much tighter environment down there, which in and of itself created some unique challenges in constructing that particular casino. Certainly, the pool presented some unique challenges.”

“When it came down to it, there really was no other choice in their mind but to work with us,” said Sage. For project planners, it made sense to choose Bradford Products. The Bellagio, Caesars Palace, Golden Nugget, Wynn, Encore, and Palms Casino are only a few of the commercial clients they have had the fortune to work with. Consequently, the 40-year-old firm’s reputation proceeds them in the market when it comes to resort swimming pools in Las Vegas.

“Ultimately why Bradford was chosen as the pool supplier there. I would say first and foremost, by far the primary reason was because of the actual orientation of the pool deck. Stadium Swim sits directly above the gaming floor of the casino. And that is the heart and soul and money generator for that casino,” explained Sage, “there had to be an absolute highest level and sense of security that these pools were not going to leak or eventually leak over time. So Bradford was chosen because of our ability to deliver a fully welded, fully guaranteed watertight, stainless steel pool that would be placed directly over the most critical part of the casino.”

“They needed the ability to get these pools up to the pool deck in some pretty tight environments, “said Sage, “they also needed an organization that had the ability to maximize the full section sizes for transportation including craning and rigging, but still doing it in a manner that was conducive to staying on construction schedules and fitting into some pretty tight spaces.”

Stadium Swim, a Unique Pool Experience Like No Other

While the project was a monumental undertaking, it’s all in a day’s work said Sage, who claims to be eager to tackle the next huge Las Vegas project that comes along. This project is just another feather in the cap for the firm as they continue to dominate when it comes to Las Vegas commercial work. The end results of the Stadium Swim clearly speak for themselves.

“It truly is a really unique design. There are six pools and they are tiered. So the closer pools are set at the lower elevation, and then the further away that you get from the television screens, the higher up the pools go. So it is truly a stadium seating experience and layout,” explained Sage.

“It’s also the first of its kind in that the pool deck also doubles as a sports book,” explained Sage, “there’s a massive wall of TVs that are broadcasting any number of sporting events. The pools and spas on the pool deck basically act as the seating for watching the action. I can tell you, it’s quite comfortable having been on the deck in the middle of August in Las Vegas. There’s no better place to sit than in Stadium Swim and enjoy the big game. That’s certainly what captures everybody’s attention, are the massive screens.”

We’re certainly intrigued by the project and it’s no wonder why Stadium Swim is rated #1 on our list of the Best Pools in Las Vegas. We’ll keep you updated with more great content about Stadium Swim when we visit it during our trip to the International Pool Spa Patio Expo in November.

Learn more about the history of Bradford Products, their involvement with the Sky Pool and Stadium Swim on the Pool Magazine podcast.

Photo Credits: Circa Resort & Casino
Featured Photo Credit: Ryan Gobuty

Latham Group Inc. had their initial public offering today. Shares soared 43% on the first day of trading. Latham was able to raise $380 million in their initial public offering priced at the bottom of a marketed range.

The stock was initially priced at $19 per share in its IPO on Thursday, but closed at $27.25 in New York trading on Friday, giving it a market cap of $3.3 billion. The shares were sold by Latham for $19 to $21 each.

During the coronavirus pandemic, Latham’s profit and sales increased as property owners focused on home improvements, such as pools. Latham focused on acquiring Narellan and a 28% stake in Premier Pools & Spas.

In an interview, Chief Executive Officer Scott Rajeski said that he believes Latham will outperform the market, which he expects to rise by 10% per year.

“We felt this was a really good time to get our story out there into the public markets and continue to drive with brand awareness of our company,” Rajeski said.

“We are so excited that we are on this journey as we embark on pushing our brand to the homeowner. We created this unique direct to homeowner model to educate them on why a Latham fiberglass pool is the best pool of choice.” said Scott Rajeski “It’s got great economics, it’s got a lower up front cost than traditional products, and we are single handededly driving this material conversion story of fiberglass pools vs other pool types. It’s got an 18% penetration today in North America today,” continued Rajeski

Last year, Latham earned $16 million in net income on revenue of $403 million in net sales, up from $7.5 million in net income on $318 million in sales the previous year. The IPO proceeds will be used to pay down debt and buy back shares, as well as for general corporate purposes, according to the group, which is headquartered in Latham, New York.

Barclays Plc, Bank of America Corp., Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. led the sale. The stock is traded under the symbol SWIM on the Nasdaq Global Select Market.

Featured Photo Credit: Times Union

Fluidra, the global leader in pool and wellness equipment, has confirmed the strong positive prospects for the company in the medium-term. It is expecting to accelerate annual sales growth to above 6% in the coming years, outgrowing the market, driven by market share gains and acquisitions. The company is also set to continue its margin improvement, guiding to expand its EBITDA margin above 50 bps per year.

• The company expects to reach the high end of its guidance range for 2021, with sales growth of 15% and cash EPS growth of 25%.
• Fluidra has committed to become a carbon neutral company in 2027 as one of its main goals within its ESG policy.

During Capital Markets Day Fluidra has reaffirmed its strong cash generation medium term guidance with cash EPS, a key proxy that excludes non-cash items and non-recurring expenses, over 15% per year. This will allow Fluidra to fund value generation initiatives, including both shareholder remuneration and inorganic growth. The company has confirmed a dividend pay-out policy of 50% of cash net profit in the coming years. In terms of M&A, the company still sees significant inorganic growth opportunities in a fragmented industry, which can be leveraged on an excellent track record.

A strong 2021

A strong start to 2021 helped by the global stay-at-home and flight-to-the-suburbs trends, confirms the strong fundamentals of the business and the resilience of the industry.

After CMP’s acquisition, Fluidra raised its 2021 guidance, with Sales growth expectations of 12-15% and cash EPS growth of 17-25%. The company has confirmed today that it expects to reach the high end of the guidance range. Furthermore, Fluidra has confirmed that it expects to reach all the objectives defined in the Strategic Plan 2018-2022 in 2021, one year ahead of the plan.

ESG at the heart of Fluidra’s activity

Fluidra has presented its new comprehensive Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) “Responsibility Blueprint” plan for the period spanning 2020-2026. One element that stands out in it is the introduction of ESG performance based variable remuneration for Fluidra’s managers.

On the environmental front, Fluidra has made the stellar commitment to becoming carbon neutral in 2027 in terms of Scope 1, 2 and by 2050 for Scope 3. Additionally, the firm expects to have more than 80% of products sales classified as ESG friendly in 2035, currently more than 50% of them already meet this criterion.

In the Social category, Fluidra will focus on the well-being of its employees, with a strong commitment to aiming for “zero net wage gap” between men and women by 2024.

The Governance category is also an essential part of the company’s roadmap. Fluidra achieved an ESG rating of 69 out of 100 based on S&P’s analysis and the company is committed to reaching a score of 80 by 2030.

“We are a global industry leader with a unique footprint and value proposition in a structurally attractive industry. We have achieved all our 2022 goals ahead of plan and we will continue growing faster than our sector. Most importantly, ESG has been at the heart of Fluidra’s activity, and our Responsibility Blueprint commitments will reinforce our long-term positive impact” Eloi Planes, Fluidra’s Executive Chairman stated

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