financial-metrics
Operating margin is operating profit (EBIT) divided by revenue. It shows how much of sales remains after operating costs and depreciation, before financing and tax.
Gross margin stops at delivery cost. Operating margin continues through selling, general and administrative cost, R&D, and depreciation/amortisation, down to EBIT.
Operating margin = EBIT / Revenue
It is the natural profitability ratio when you want depreciation to matter — utilities, industrials, anything with a heavy PPE base — and when you are building ROIC.
Illustration only. Hypothetical clinic group.
| Amount | % of sales | |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | €30.0m | 100% |
| Gross profit | €12.6m | 42% |
| Cash opex | €7.2m | 24% |
| D&A | €1.8m | 6% |
| EBIT | €3.6m | 12% operating margin |
| EBITDA | €5.4m | 18% EBITDA margin |
If a roll-up thesis assumes 12% operating margin at twice the scale, the question is whether D&A and clinic overhead actually exhibit leverage or whether each new site repeats the 6% D&A drag.
Expanding operating margin with flat gross margin is operating leverage (or cost cuts). Expanding operating margin with rising gross margin is a better business. Collapsing operating margin while EBITDA margin holds can mean a capex cycle is hitting the P&L through depreciation — not necessarily a worse cash business.
Public-company comps that print EBIT; coverage ratios; testing whether “adjusted EBITDA” has stripped costs that will still hit operating profit after close.
Operating margin inherits every EBIT judgement call (one-offs, impairments, lease presentation). It is not cash. Net profit margin can diverge sharply when leverage or tax attributes dominate.
Dazur shows gross, EBITDA and operating margins as a stacked bridge so a financial buyer stressing leverage and a strategic buyer stressing synergy do not argue from different altitude lines.