BARCELONA, Jul 28 (Reuters) - Spanish pool equipment maker Fluidra reported on Friday a first-half net profit of 104 million euros ($114.21 million), a 38% year-on-year drop, as sales fell 18% due to normalization in the sector, prompting it to cut its outlook for 2023.

The world's largest pool equipment maker now forecasts its full-year sales and headline profit closer to the lower end of the previously forecast range, as weaker demand for new pools and poor weather during the quarter have led to a shorter pool season.

It now estimates its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) are likely to be between 410 million euros and 450 million euros this year down from a previous range of 410 million to 480 million euros, and 512 million euros last year, while targeting sales of 2 billion to 2.1 billion euros.

Fluidra's first-half sales reached 1.2 billion, down 18% from the same period last year and led by a weaker North American market, while its EBITDA was 25.6% lower at 260 million euros.

Fluidra was one of the companies that were favored during the pandemic confinements in 2020, benefiting from the appetite of wealthy customers to buy or upgrade pools, but its business is slowing in what the company said is a normalization of the sector and a complex economic environment.

(Reporting by Joan Faus and David Latona, editing by Inti Landauro and David Evans; edited in Spanish by Flora Gómez.)