Metrics
What numbers consultants lead with.
Every slide that foregrounds a metric — 7,750 in total — classified into families by what's being measured. Drill in to see who uses each family, where in the narrative, and the real examples.
Metric families
7,750 metric-led slides1266
Survey & sentiment
What people said — respondents, priorities, sentiment, NPS.
16.3%
1110
Market size & value
Scale of the pool — TAM, GMV, AUM, deal value, investment, funding.
14.3%
709
Cost & savings
What's spent or saved — costs, spend, savings, efficiency, abatement.
9.1%
541
Share & penetration
Piece of the pie — market share, adoption, penetration, uptake.
7.0%
491
Growth rate
Speed of change — CAGR, YoY, growth rate.
6.3%
261
Rates & ratios
Other rates — retention, conversion, representation, distress.
3.4%
324
Employment & headcount
People at work — employees, FTEs, productivity, jobs.
4.2%
226
Indices & scores
Composite indicators — confidence indices, rankings, ratings.
2.9%
218
Margin & return
Economic quality — margins, ROI/ROE/ROIC, TSR, profit.
2.8%
212
Environment & emissions
Green metrics — GHG, emissions, hydrogen, renewables.
2.7%
187
Volume & counts
Raw counts — number of X, transactions, deals.
2.4%
141
Revenue & sales
Top line — revenue, sales, GVA.
1.8%
76
Macro indicators
Economy-wide signals — inflation, unemployment, PMI.
1.0%
23
Valuation
Asset worth — present value, pre-money, exit value.
0.3%
1965
Other
Domain-specific or uncategorized long-tail.
25.4%
Filtered by margin_return
· number kind percent
· clear
Where in the narrative
Number shape
| percent | 122 |
| plain | 43 |
| multiplier | 33 |
| money | 20 |
80 examples
showing first 80~50%
Measuring value | Value tracking is a major hurdle to AI adoption -- exemplars deploy an end-to-end value steering and capture framework
“Value tracking is a major hurdle to AI adoption -- exemplars deploy an end-to-end value steering and capture framework.”
94%
Financial services' proportion of AI-driven profitability, including subsectors, compared with the cross-sector average
“32 percent of financial services companies are already generating AI returns, 67 percent have not yet reached this stage.”
7.1%
Grocery retail margins in Europe have historically been lower than other industries, averaging 7.1% EBITDA (2009-23)
6.6%
On average, hyper/supermarkets (6.6%) and discounters (6.4%) have EBITDA margins (2023)
“Peer group margins range 6.1% - 8.3%”
9.2%
Performance differs significantly across grocers with average EBITDA margins varying from 4.8% to 9.2% between 2015-23
-1.2pp
Grocers faced gross margin pressure (-1.2pp) combined with real terms sales decline (-4.5%)
“Grocers faced gross margin pressure (-1.2pp) combined with real terms sales decline (-4.5%).”
-0.6pp
EBITDA margin of super/ hypermarkets (-0.6pp) shows negative momentum vs discounters (+0.2pp)
“Skewed by Lidl. Margins range 6.1% - 8.3%”
-0.4pp
Grocers limited EBITDA margins decline (-0.4pp) by raising prices/ negotiating purchase terms and reducing SG&A and other costs
“Despite high inflation, COGS only increased by 1.2pp, meaning that most (95%) of the inflation was passed to consumers”
5-10pp
Over te next 5 years, macroeconomic and industry dynamics will continue to put pressure on grocers' margins, especially for hyper/supermarkets
-2.7pp
If no counter measures are taken, average EBITDA impact could range -0.2 to -2.7 pp for hyper/supermarkets
“The potential profit impact of each trend individually for a normative hyper/supermarket based on the current P&L structure”
4%
Impact of trends could make super/hypermarkets EBITDA margins thin (~4%) with 1-2% of revenue required for renewal CAPEX
“Continuation of historical cost optimization (1 – 1.5%) will not be sufficient to counter max. trend impact”
0.5%
Stepping up quality of private label & develop private brands to grow to 15% of volume could add up to 0.5% in EBITDA margin
“Stepping up quality of private label & develop private brands to grow to 15% of volume could add up to 0.5% in EBITDA margin”
0.5 – 1%
Reshaping store networks to close 10% of stores and recouping 50% of sales could add up to 0.5 – 1% EBITDA margin
“Reshaping store networks is a lever for grocery retailers to improve profitability and consumer experience, with retailers increasingly shifting focus from netw…”
0.25 – 0.75%
Driving COGS reduction by 0.3 – 1% through supplier negotiation and buying-alliance activity could add 0.25 – 0.75% EBITDA uplift
“Driving COGS reduction by 0.3 – 1% through supplier negotiation and buying-alliance activity could add 0.25 – 0.75% EBITDA uplift.”
0.5 – 1%
Improve end-to-end productivity through advanced technologies to reduce labor cost with 5 – 10% could give EBITDA uplift of 0.5 – 1%
“This calculation does not take into account the (one off) initial investment, dependent on boldness of investment this can be a large CAPEX investment (g., full…”
~1%
Ocado and Albert Heijn are examples that are using advanced technologies to automate their fulfillment and DCs
“Albert Heijn's warehouse robots could result in ~1% EBIT improvement.”
0.25–0.75pp
Monetizing Retail Media towards 0.75 – 1.5% additional revenue could give an EBITDA uplift of 0.25 – 0.75%
“Monetizing Retail Media (RM) has emerged as driver of profitability with margins reaching up to 70% within 3 years of launching.”
75%
Kroger began its retail media business in 2012 – building scale since 2021
“75% EBIT for media sales”
-1.0pp
1. If 90-100% of food COGS inflation can be passed on to consumers without affecting volumes, the EBITDA impact is -1.0pp to opp
“1.0pp decline in Gross margin, which fully translates to 1.0pp EBITDA margin decline”
-0.3pp
2. If 90-100% of labor cost increase due to labor market tightness can be passed on to consumers, the EBITDA impact is -0.3pp to opp
“90-100% of labor cost increase can be passed on to consumers”
0.2pp
3. GLP-1 drug users spend 6-11% less on groceries resulting in EBITDA margin decline of 0.1 to 0.2pp
“0.2-1.0% drop in volumes depending on the GLP-1 drug adoption rates, translating to 0.2-1.0% decrease in revenues and COGS”
-1pp
4. Market share erosion to discounters will negatively impact the EBITDA margin by -1pp to -0.3pp
“For each 1pp market share loss to discounters, the EBITDA margin of super- & hypermarkets declines by ~0.23pp”
+0.2pp
5. The increasing share or private label positively impacts EBITDA margin by 0.0pp to +0.2pp
“In low case with 31% private label share by 2029, and assuming a 5% better gross margin of private label, the total impact on the EBITDA is 0.0pp”
-0.2pp
6. Online market share is expected to grow from 6% by 1-3pp, resulting in a total EBITDA impact of -0.2pp to 0pp
“EBITDA margin of online grocery is expected to be 3-6pp lower compared to offline by 2029 (currently 5-10pp)”
4% to 7%
Private markets continue to create value through sustainability initiatives
“On average, EDCI member GPs observe EBITDA increases of 4% to 7% from sustainability-linked initiatives over the lifetime of an investment.”
~16%
Real impact being achieved across sectors
60%
6. Engage cross-functional teams and learning agendas.
“Over 60% of leading marketers work with their cross-functional peers to design experiments and align with them on testing timelines and success factors.”
-1.5%
While revenues are up for European telcos, margins continue to decline
18%
Global equity markets returned 18% in 2024...
“Returns differed significantly by region”
55%
Total returns varied widely between sectors, from -9% to +55%
18/19%
Margins & cost pressures slowing down profitability, with mixed performance across categories (and players)
“Ongoing pressures forecasted for 2025, yet gross margin upsides and operating deleverage to drive improvement”
~15%
Luxury Good Markets holding strong profitability: amid upcoming challenges, need to focus on supply chain excellence and resilience
“WITH BRANDS CALLED TO KEEP ENSURING AND NURTURING UPSTREAM EXCELLENCE”
>5p.p.
Brands to tackle performance improvement challenges
“TO SECURE PROFITABILITY RETOOL THE BUSINESS MODEL ACHIEVE LONG-TERM SUSTAINABLE GROWTH”
45/50%
Pressured marketing flywheel, with reducing brand visibility and weakened effectiveness
“Degree of creativity representing primary driver of campaign ROI, 2/3x above its reach”
2.1 percentage points
"Platform businesses" combine business and technological capabilities to reimagine customer, supplier and industry peer experiences and pursue new growth opportunities at speed.
“The 152 platform adopters in our analysis generated, on average, 2.1 percentage points higher margins in the 2019 to 2022 period, compared with non-platform com…”
~2%
As health plan margins deteriorate, service providers will need more than AI to make the legacy payer market attractive
“Average margin is ~2%”
57%
Leaders see greater AI benefits
“Just as the benefits from AI rise with its usage, so does the return on investment.”
~3%
Scaling an enterprise-wide LLM and generative AI capability
“This AI strategy has, to date, brought in tangible benefits totalling around 3% of its expected net income.”
35%-45%
Value chain – Opportunity to localize Foundry & assembly for complete ecosystem indigenization
“India needs Foundry & OSAT to realize full localization”
20%-40%
Value chain — Opportunity to build midstream and downstream domestically; though upstream remains a constraint
“Financing: Capitalize on rapid growth across all segments & enhanced asset quality with industry stabilization.”
8%
SME POTENTIAL: INCREASING ACCESS TO DEBT FOR SMES MAY BE A VIABLE STRATEGY TO STIMULATE GROWTH, FOSTER INNOVATION, AND HELP ACHIEVE FULL POTENTIAL
“Additional debt could help with increasing access to capital for capital-constrained Dutch SMEs and may unlock further growth.”
30%
The diversity dividend
“Although diverse founding teams often struggle to secure funding, they have been found to generate more value than homogenous teams.”
13.5 pp
Companies that manage to grow profitably during disruption extend their lead over competitors after disruptive events
“Long-term profitable growth companies have the ability to evolve, succeed and prosper through uncertainty and volatility. They constantly "adapt their ability t…”
8.6%
European banks reported record levels of profitability in Dec22 due to higher interest rates and a decline in operating costs.
“European [German] banks reported a market cap-weighted ROE for the last twelve months (LTM) of 9.5% [6.1%] in Dec22, withstanding the challenging economic envir…”
88%
Increasingly optimistic financial prospects for both public and private hospitals in 2023 as they recover from COVID-19 impact; private hospitals are generally more profitable
83%
Public hospitals in Vietnam and private hospitals in Indonesia exhibit exceptional financial performance; most hospitals maintain a favorable financial outlook across the region
“Public hospitals in Vietnam and private hospitals in Indonesia exhibit exceptional financial performance; most hospitals maintain a favorable financial outlook …”
80%
Public hospital financials in 2023 are similar to 2020 and worse than 2021, but hospitals are optimistic about the future post-COVID; private hospital financials remain unchanged since 2020
88%
Increasingly optimistic financial prospects for both public and private hospitals in 2023 as they recover from COVID-19 impact; private hospitals are generally more profitable
83%
Public hospitals in Vietnam and private hospitals in Indonesia exhibit exceptional financial performance; most hospitals maintain a favorable financial outlook across the region
60%
Gen Z Students value four-year degrees more than available alternatives
“Of students surveyed, the majority (60%) saw a four-year degree as having a higher ROI compared with a community college degree.”
10%
Finland’s profitability has historically been higher than the European average
90%
Private hospitals experienced a minor dip during the pandemic which persisted into 2022, but is forecast to rebound significantly
20%-25%
High barriers to entry and robust business model add to the attractiveness of the private K-12 segment (2/2)
“Since schools collect payment upfront and pay vendors/teachers monthly, K-12 schools have negative working capital requirements.”
14.8%
Rising interest rates, improved cost efficiency and lower impairment charges led to an increase in profitability for KSA banks
“L&A and deposits grew by 2.9% and 0.2% QoQ, respectively; a slower pace compared to previous quarter.”
3.05%
NIMs expanded marginally as higher funding costs offset improvement in credit yield
“NIM improved marginally by 7bps QoQ to 3.05% as aggregate net interest income increased (+5.3% QoQ)”
14.8%
Return on equity has improved since past three quarters to reach above the pre-pandemic level
“Aggregate RoE improved by 1.3% points QoQ to 14.8%, as the aggregate net income grew by 9.3% QoQ in Q3'22”
14.8%
Rising interest rates and improvement in asset quality are positives for KSA banks
“Aggregate RoE improved (+1.3% QoQ) in Q3'22 to 14.8% from 13.5% in the previous quarter.”
24%
Managers are launching new products but sometimes fail to perform an ROI analysis beforehand
“Surprisingly, almost a quarter of managers do not do so.”
26%
The nickel value chain is exposed to carbon pricing; a widespread 100 USD/t CO2 penalty increases 2021 marginal cost by 26%
“Carbon pricing landscape evolving; nickel market's exposure will depend on several variables”
13.8%
The Speedster advantage 3. Highest profitability
“The fastest industrial companies (Speedsters) have achieved the highest operating margins and the strongest margin improvements from 2016 to 2021.”
100%
Private hospitals have recovered quicker than public hospitals from the impacts of COVID-19; general economic growth and cost reductions are expected to underpin future profitability
“100% of large private hospitals expect future positive EBITDA margins.”
83%
Private hospitals have recovered better than public hospitals from COVID-19 impact and have a positive outlook on profitability over the short-to-medium term
100%
Private hospitals have a positive profitability outlook with large providers having been less severely impacted by the pandemic; 100% of large private hospitals expect future positive EBITDA margins
“100% of large private hospitals expect future positive EBITDA margins.”
80%-90%
Hospitals have been showing resilience with a positive trend towards full recovery; for most hospitals, elective surgeries are back to pre-pandemic levels with a strong outlook for 2022
“Hospitals have been showing resilience, with 80%-90% of hospitals achieving a balanced budget or positive EBITDA margin, thus indicating recovery from COVID-19 …”
90%
80%-90% of hospitals have achieved a balanced budget or positive EBITDA margin, indicating recovery from COVID-19 impact since 2020
20%
Although private hospitals have an optimistic budget outlook, ~20% of large private hospitals are currently facing budget deficits, indicating a slow recovery
75%-90%
75%-90% of hospitals have achieved a balanced budget or positive EBITDA margin; public hospitals have significant improvement on economic conditions compared to 2020
“Public hospitals have significantly improvement compared to 2020; less than 10% are running budget deficits (c.f., down from approx. 25% two years ago)”
11.1%
Pulse: Profitability metrics improved as economy recovers from the pandemic
“RoE improved to 11.1% (+3.3% points YoY) and ROA increased to 1.3% (+37 bps YoY) as aggregate net income increased by 48.6% during the year.”
2.1%
Net interest margins have compressed to six-year lows
“NIM deteriorated further to a six year low of 2.1% during FY'21, as compared to 2.3% in FY'20”
11.1%
Sector profitability recovered sharply in 2021; poised to grow further with potential interest rate hikes and economic recovery
“Aggregate RoE and RoA improved by 3.3% points YoY and 0.4% points YoY to 11.1 % and 1.3% respectively, supported by higher profitability”
21%
Companies with stronger Sustainability DNA are more likely to deliver financial value and a lasting positive impact on society and the environment
“Sustainability DNA is central to companies' ability to operate both profitably and mindfully.”
19.6%
Stronger Sustainability DNA is associated with better financial performance
“In other words, stronger Sustainability DNA is positively associated with the ability of the leadership team to deliver financial value and sustainable and equi…”
6%
Transforming from an insurer to a wealth manager, health advisor and life assistant
“Ping An has evolved from a pure P&C insurance company into an integrated ecosystem.”
20%
Telecommunications companies have brought forward 5G investments, in part due to the pandemic
“While 5G has a long ROI period it is seen as being more profitable than NBN for proponents”
21%
Despite these rising headwinds, select ‘winning’ FMCGs showed a path to sustained value creation over long-term and in recent years
“Winners must demonstrate both: Long-term, sustained performance (From 2010-2019, 15%+ annual TSR) AND Ability to beat recent headwinds (From 2017-2019, 15%+ ann…”
21%
These winners outperformed by following proactive, growth-focused agendas
“6 specific levers consistently observed across 'winners'”
84%
The areas of greatest returns
“What's interesting is that there's a close correspondence between the areas where there's the greatest gap in spending between leaders and all manufacturers and…”
94%
04 Manage technology investments well — across the enterprise
“A health insurance company, for instance, is using live dashboards to track bots and automated activities running across their portfolio of businesses. The visi…”
+23%
THE HALO EFFECT REPRESENTS THE ABILITY OF TV ADVERTISING TO AMPLIFY ADVERTISING EFFECTIVENESS IN MULTI-CHANNEL CAMPAIGNS
“Linear TV's average ROI is understated by 23%”
20%
DIGITAL DISRUPTION SHIFTING PROFILE AND NATURE OF EXPENDITURE ITEMS; PROFITABILITY LIKELY TO STABILIZE IN THE COMING YEARS
“Network consolidation reducing "brick-and-mortar" investments, changing Capex into "rolling" maintenance needs.”