Who makes the money?

What company revenue, profit and growth can tell you before you enter a new market.

A market changes before the change shows up in advertising. A competitor can open a new location, win a distributor or enter a profitable segment long before any of it is visible in their communication. By the time it catches your attention, part of their advantage is already built.

This is where the problem lies with how many businesses track their competition. They see the ads, the posts and the public appearances. They have a harder time seeing how company size is shifting, where revenue is concentrated and whether the pace of growth can be sustained.

For 2027 planning, the useful question is who is getting stronger in the market you want to sell into. Answering it takes financial data, an understanding of the business model and a check of how the company reaches its customers.

What you see in ads and what the balance sheets show

The first map is the map of attention: the names you come across, the brands being promoted and the companies that seem important. The second is the map of economic activity: revenue, profit, growth and size relative to other firms.

The two only partly overlap. An industrial supplier can have strong commercial relationships and a modest digital presence. A highly visible brand can have lower revenue than its communication suggests. Visibility does not automatically measure financial strength, and a balance sheet alone does not explain why the customer buys.

DDM Atlas lets you explore companies, industries and counties and consult the methodology behind the comparisons. The value for a business owner comes when they use this information for a decision: which segment to investigate, who to compare themselves with and where they can build a better position. [1]

What you notice when you compare four companies

In the Atlas edition for fiscal year 2024, size and growth rate tell different stories. The values below are the rounded figures shown in the ranking; they describe individual companies, not consolidated groups, and not 2027 results.

The largest company in this group does not have the fastest growth. Nor does falling revenue automatically make it commercially vulnerable. Comparing the car makers means investigating capacity, product mix and operating context. For energy and retail, the explanations are different. The table opens the investigation; it does not attribute the changes to marketing.

Four things to check before entering a market

Purchasing power. Are there buyers with a problem they would spend money on? High sector revenue is a signal of scale. Demand for your offer still has to be confirmed in conversations, past purchases and selection criteria.

Access. Can you reach the decision-maker and get into the purchasing process? A segment with multi-year contracts or approved suppliers needs a different plan from a market where the customer switches suppliers within days.

Contract economics. What is left after delivery, implementation, support and acquisition cost? A large contract can tie up resources in a low-margin project. Before you promote the offer, decide which customer is worth winning.

The reason to switch. What problem do you solve well enough to overcome inertia? Availability, implementation time, integration or lower risk can support a position. "We are professionals" does not explain why a buyer would replace a supplier they know.

Growth that looks good can leave less profit

Higher turnover can come from more customers, higher prices, acquisitions or changes in the business. The cause matters. A jump in a single year deserves analysis before it is turned into a success story.

Take a hypothetical example. A company grows revenue from 18.72 m EUR to 22.47 m EUR, while its net margin falls from 8% to 5%. Revenue rises by 20%, but net profit drops from 1.5 m EUR to 1.12 m EUR. The company sells more and keeps 25% less profit. The example is an illustrative calculation, not the result of a company in Atlas.

A marketing budget designed only for volume can make this problem worse. If you bring in more low-margin orders or customers who are expensive to serve, the result can load up operations without improving the business enough.

That is why the comparison is worth making over several years and between firms with comparable activities. Revenue growth should be read together with margin, headcount and the commercial explanations available. A public balance sheet does not automatically show you cash flow, dependence on one customer or the quality of the contracts.

A wealthy county is not automatically an accessible market

A high concentration of revenue in a region can hide very different realities. There may be a broad ecosystem of buyers or just a few very large companies. For a new supplier, the difference changes the cost and difficulty of entry.

There is another important detail: a registered office does not describe the full geography of sales. A firm registered in one county can serve customers across the whole country. Atlas explains how it assigns companies to locations; an expansion decision then requires checking the areas where demand actually exists. [2]

Before you choose a region, check who would buy, how many relevant buyers there are, how they are served today and what would make them switch suppliers. The financial map gives you the starting point. Commercial research decides whether you can turn that point into an opportunity.

Where to look for an advantage

A good place to investigate is the gap between economic performance and the way an offer is presented. A company can have solid products but explain unclearly who they are for. A segment can have mature suppliers but a cumbersome buying experience. A need can exist without being expressed in language the customer recognises.

These gaps are working hypotheses. The absence of ads does not prove the market is open. The lack of a good website does not mean the lack of commercial relationships. In B2B, contracts, referrals and distribution can be stronger barriers than online visibility.

The DDM approach starts with this check: we understand the market and the offer, choose a relevant differentiator and build the communication around a real reason to buy. Our article on business expansion describes this link between research, positioning and growth. [3]

Which year is the data you rely on from?

A strategy for 2027 may use balance sheets from previous years. When checked in October 2026, Atlas marked the 2025 edition as still being completed. Comparisons between years require checking data coverage; a drop in the reported total does not on its own prove a shrinking market. The sum of company turnovers is not GDP. [2]

This discipline protects you from spectacular conclusions and weak decisions. Data is useful when you know what it can explain and where it needs to be supplemented.

How to choose the companies worth contacting

Start with a list of 30 companies in the target segment. The number is a working size for a first investigation, not a representative sample. Identify the legal entity, the actual activity, the year of the data and cases where several firms belong to the same group. Otherwise you may count the same buyer twice or compare a distributor with a manufacturer.

Next to each company, add four pieces of commercial information: the problem you can solve, the person who decides, the likely timing of the purchase and the proof that you could deliver. Turnover shows the size of the business; these four pieces of information show whether the firm can become a customer.

Then compare two segments on the same columns. A segment with fewer companies but access to the decision-maker and active projects can be more attractive than one with high revenue and contracts locked for the next two years. The conclusion must come from the data you filled in, not from the sector's reputation.

The questions that check whether the opportunity exists

In the first sales conversations, ask for a description of the last purchase: "What triggered the project?", "What alternatives did you compare?", "Who approved the budget?", "What mattered in the choice?" and "What disappointed you after delivery?". These questions bring the real process to the surface. "Would you buy our solution?" can get a polite answer with no budget behind it.

Separate the frequent problem from the paid problem. Many buyers may say they want a simpler experience and still not switch suppliers for it. Look for an observable cost: lost hours, delayed projects, stuck inventory, errors or missed orders. Then check whether your solution reduces that cost and whether the difference justifies the price.

How much does the expansion need to sell to be worth it?

Build a scenario for a precise period, for example six months. Use revenue and costs excluding VAT on the same basis. From the contract value, subtract the variable delivery costs. From this contribution, subtract the variable acquisition cost. What remains must cover the fixed investment in the expansion. The model assumes contracts with comparable contributions and acquisition costs; for different offers, build separate scenarios or an explicitly weighted mix.

DDM expansion model, based on the break-even formula fixed costs ÷ unit contribution. Reference: U.S. Small Business Administration · Break-even point. The scenario includes only the costs entered.

Hypothetical scenario: an expansion project has a fixed investment of 33,699 EUR. Each contract brings in 5,617 EUR after delivery, and variable acquisition costs 1,872 EUR. That leaves 3,744 EUR per contract to cover the investment. You need nine contracts in the chosen period. At six contracts, the calculated result is -11,233 EUR; at 12 contracts, +11,233 EUR, before taxes and costs not included.

Test the difficult scenario as well. If the contribution per contract falls to 4,493 EUR and acquisition rises to 2,621 EUR, the threshold reaches 18 contracts. If the team can only deliver 12, the expansion has to be redesigned. Operational capacity can invalidate a plan even when the demand exists.

Estimated profit doesn't pay tomorrow's invoice

Check cash collection separately. A project can have a positive contribution and still require money before you get paid: supplier deposits, salaries, stock or implementation. Put the estimated payments and receipts on a weekly calendar. The largest cumulative deficit shows the financing the scenario needs; add a buffer based on the delays you can absorb.

Don't finance an expansion on the assumption that every invoice will be paid exactly on time. Check what happens if the first contracts close a month later or if payment is delayed. If the plan only works in the perfect scenario, the risk has not yet been dealt with.

One large customer can change the economics of the whole expansion

Hypothetical scenario: the new segment brings in 224,660 EUR in revenue, with an average contribution of 25% before fixed costs and acquisition. A single customer accounts for 40% of revenue. If you lose them, revenue drops by 89,864 EUR and contribution by 22,466 EUR, assuming the same margin. If people, space and infrastructure are still being paid for, fixed costs do not automatically fall with sales.

Before calling the expansion a success, check how concentrated the contribution is too. The largest customer by revenue may have a low margin; a smaller customer may support a disproportionate share of the economic result. Build the scenario without your most important customer and see which costs you could cut, how quickly and with what effect on the other contracts.

This analysis changes how you build the portfolio. You can look for buyers in other sectors, limit the resources dedicated to a single contract and negotiate terms that reduce cash exposure. The choice depends on the cost of diversification and on the real alternatives. There is no universal percentage that makes every portfolio safe.

The question for the investment meeting: if our most important customer disappears or postpones the project, how long can we sustain the segment and what decision do we take before we use up the reserve?

Frequently asked questions

Can I identify a profitable market from balance sheets alone?

You can identify segments worth investigating. For a decision you also need demand, access to buyers, cost to serve and competition.

Is a fast-growing company automatically a more dangerous competitor?

Not automatically. Check the source of the growth and how much its business overlaps with your offer. Strong financial performance can have causes unrelated to the segment where you compete.

What is the first step for a company that wants to expand?

Choose the target segment and buyer, then compare the economic reality with the existing offer. Only after that can it evaluate the message and the acquisition budget.

Before you invest in your next position, understand who already holds the market and what would make the customer make room for you.