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Business English vocabulary · Numbers and Money

Profit margin

Meaning in business english, with examples

nounCore term

In business english, profit margin means: The percentage of money left as profit after costs are taken from sales revenue.

In Turkish: kâr marjı

How it is used

Used in finance, sales, and management reporting. Often discussed as high, low, gross, or operating, and tracked by product, client, or quarter.

Example sentences

  1. Although online orders increased, the profit margin fell because shipping and packaging costs rose faster than sales.

    In this sentence, the term measures how much profit remains after rising costs reduce the benefit of higher sales volume.

  2. The CFO asked each product team to explain why its profit margin was below target in the second quarter review.

    Here it is a performance metric used to compare actual profitability with planned business targets during a formal review.

Common collocations

  • gross profit margin
  • operating profit margin
  • increase profit margin
  • profit margin target
  • budgetThe amount of money that a company, team or project plans to spend over a period of time, or the plan that shows this.
  • invoiceA document sent by a seller that lists the goods or services provided and states how much the buyer must pay and by when.

More terms: Numbers and Money

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