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02Profit before tax

Profitability

How do changes in sales, cost of sales and expenses affect your profit before tax, and which decisions reach the target?

Analyse the path from net sales to gross profit and from operating profit to profit before tax. Compare the effects of volume, price, product mix, cost of sales, operating expenses and finance items across budget, actual and forecast versions.

Tools

Each tool starts with a question; the sample scenarios run on synthetic demo data.

2.2

Try it yourself

Profitability What-if Simulator

Interactive example

When sales growth, a rise in cost of sales and expense changes happen together, where does your profit before tax land?

Change sales volume and price, unit cost of sales, operating expenses and finance costs. See the effect on gross profit, operating profit and profit before tax together.

Nervay / Profitability / Profitability What-if Simulator

Synthetic demo

Profitability: what-if simulation

Synthetic demo
  • Consolidated
  • Forecast 1 → management scenario
  • M USD

Assumptions

%
%
%
M USD
M USD

The base is locked; inputs change only the scenario.

Net sales

1,248M USD

+48 M · +4.0%

Gross profit

444M USD

+24 M · +5.7%

Operating profit

240M USD

+16 M · +7.1%

Profit before tax

185M USD

+9 M · +5.1%

PBT margin 14.82% · +0.15 pt

Profit bridge · Forecast 1 → scenarioM USD

The scale starts at 114.

Financial impact

Net sales 1,200 → 1,248 M USD; profit before tax 176 → 185 M USD; margin 14.67% → 14.82%.

Detailed tables
Income statement (M USD)
LineForecast 1ScenarioDifference
Net sales1,2001,248+48
Cost of sales(780)(804)(24)
Gross profit420444+24
Operating expenses(196)(204)(8)
Operating profit224240+16
Net finance cost(52)(59)(7)
Other non-operating, net440
Profit before tax176185+9
Sensitivity · profit before tax (M USD)
Unit cost of sales ↓ · Price →+1%+2%+3%
0%181193206
+1%173185198
+2%165177190

Net sales 1,200 → 1,248 M USD; profit before tax 176 → 185 M USD; margin 14.67% → 14.82%.

  • 2.1

    AI Scenario Analysis

    Which sales, cost and expense assumptions change the profit-before-tax outlook between Budget, Forecast 1 and Forecast 2?

    Compare each scenario’s net sales, cost of sales, operating expenses and net finance costs. Show the lines behind the profit-before-tax difference in a profit bridge.

  • 2.3

    Profit Driver Investigation

    How much of the profit-before-tax variance comes from sales performance, and how much from cost of sales, operating expenses and finance items?

    Examine budget versus actual, or Forecast 1 versus Forecast 2. Separate price, volume and mix effects from the change in cost of sales, and analyse how expenses contribute to the variance.

  • 2.4

    AI Profit Decision Layer

    Which pricing, sales mix, cost and expense actions contribute most to the target profit before tax?

    Compare a price revision, a shift to higher-margin products, a cost-of-sales improvement, operating expense optimisation and lower financing costs. Assess each action’s profit contribution and feasibility.