PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS FOR TOP100 COMPANIES IN NORTHWEST MACEDONIA
Case Details
Title: Performance Analysis of TOP100 Companies
Prepared by: Sergej Zafiroski, General Manager Insider ID – Research & Consulting Agency
Analysis Period:
2009–2024
Scope: Financial performance, revenue growth, profitability, productivity, and employment trends of TOP100 companies (members of the Chamber of Commerce of Northwest North Macedonia).
Methodology Note: Expenses are calculated as the difference between total revenue and net profit, including operating costs, financial expenses, and taxes. The analysis is based on officially reported financial statements and standardized indicators to ensure consistency and comparability over time.
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FINANCIAL ACHIEVEMENT OF THE MEMBERS OF THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF NORTH-WEST MACEDONIA
The analysis was prepared by Sergej Zafiroski – General Manager of the research and consulting agency Insider ID. For additional information regarding data, services and analysis, please contact +389 71 210 471 or info@insider.mk.
Despite the calming of inflation and the loosening of monetary policy by central banks around the world, the current year 2023 is quite turbulent and unpredictable. The still strong labor market and the lack of qualified personnel are putting pressure on businesses to increase wages and consequently increase prices for final products/services. In addition, the unstable political and economic environment in the world has a high impact on supply chains, of which the Macedonian economy is no exception. Resolving these challenges, although they have an immediate effect, is a long-term process for which it is still necessary to find appropriate alternatives.
In such an economic context, the members of the Chamber of Commerce of North-West Macedonia are achieving better financial results and growth in both income and profit, the number of employees and investments. The total (unofficially projected) income generated by members is 2.96 billion euros in 2023, with a profit of 191 million euros.
The net profit margin of all members of the chamber is approximately equal in 2023 or 6.84% compared to 6.85% in 2022. Despite the decrease, since 2020, the net profit margin has a noticeable continuity with a low oscillation that is between 6.65% – 6.85%. It is expected that in the next few years the profit (as a percentage) will remain at the same level, while the income will have additional growth. What can potentially affect profitability is the increase in employee salaries, because as shown in the last part of the analysis, the growth of companies’ income is higher than the growth of the average income per employee.
The growth of income and profit in the previous few years has been continuous, despite the fact that in 2023 there is a slowdown compared to the previous two years. In fact, the TOP100 companies for the first time since 2018 have recorded a slight decrease in profit despite an increase in income for 2023 compared to the previous year. Part of the achieved income growth is a consequence of an increase in product prices and not an increase in activity among companies, while the stagnation of profit is a consequence of a combination of factors, among which, most likely, are changing resource prices. In order to determine the exact and real growth of companies, additional analysis is needed of what and how much inflation has affected the specific industry (or company) in order to be able to draw a relevant conclusion about the achieved growth.
Financial performance and projection for 2021 – 2023
The largest 100 member companies of the Economic Chamber of North-West Macedonia have a 9% revenue growth and a stagnation of profit in 2023 compared to 2022. In absolute terms, revenue grew from 1.38 billion to 1.39 billion euros, while profit from 100.9 to 99.69 million euros.
The projections for 2024 are based on the growth/decline that companies had in the period 2018-23. Despite the expectations of a recession and the previously highlighted decrease in economic activity in Europe, the largest companies are projected to achieve revenue and profit growth in the next period, because in the current year 2024, the changes are not at the level of causing a decrease in results. Calculations suggest that in 2024, the TOP 100 companies will generate approximately 200 million euros higher revenue from 1.39 to 1.56 billion euros and profit higher by 16 million euros. To a large extent, profits will depend on resources, wages and the lack of a qualified workforce will have the greatest impact on profits.
The net profit margin of the TOP100 in the previous 3 years is moderately higher and is between 7.0 – 7.3% and the projection for 2024 is expected to have the same value. Although the companies that are in the TOP100 have greater stability in revenues and profits, which suggests that this stability will be a target in the next period. TOP 100 companies according to employees have an increase of approximately 290 employees between 2022-2023 or from 9,441 to 9,735. It is interesting to note that for 2024, a decrease in the number of employees is expected by approximately 190 to 9,557, primarily due to the rapid growth in the last 3 years, which indicates that there will either be a stabilization or a decrease in their number.
Comparison of basic financial parameters between chamber members and TOP 100
The last part of the analysis is dedicated to a comparison between the projected financial performance of all members of the chamber and the TOP100 Companies in the period from 2018 to 2023. The importance of the largest companies is high, considering that their participation in total revenues, profits and number of employees compared to the general performance is more than significant. In fact, the growth that all companies in the chamber have at a general level in terms of profits is primarily driven by the growth achieved by the TOP100 companies.
The revenue achieved by all members is projected at 2.85 billion euros, compared to the actual 1.39 billion euros achieved in 2023 by the TOP100 companies by revenue. In the same year, the revenue of the largest 100 participates with 51% of the total revenue or approximately half. Expressed as a percentage, 9.5% (according to 2019 data) of the companies generate approximately 48% of the total revenue in the chamber.
For the second indicator, profit, all members have achieved a total of 85.93 million euros (2018) to a projected 177 million euros (2022) with an average growth of 17% annually, compared to 49.53 to 100 million euros for the TOP100 companies. The profits of the largest companies have a share of 51% in the total profit of all members of the chamber or 9.5% of the companies (100 companies) achieve 1/2 of the total profit.
The profit margins of both groups are fairly equal, with a slight advantage in some years for the TOP100 companies, or an average of 1%, which, given the high turnover achieved by the companies, has a significant absolute amount.
Performance per employee in TOP 100 companies
The last part of the analysis presents the average results per employee, i.e. the average income (productivity) and profit, as well as its movement between 2018 – 2023 and expectations for the current year 2024.
According to the data, the average revenue per employee increased from 85,475 euros in 2018 to 142,986 euros in 2023, or a cumulative growth (between the first and last year with available data) of 81.64%. The average revenue, in turn, increased from 5,391 euros to 10,240 euros between 2018 and 2023. The projection for 2024 is that the average revenue per employee in the TOP100 companies will be 163,856 euros and profit will be 12,051 euros.
The general conclusion is that both indicators have recorded significant growth per employee in the period when real data is available (2018 – 2023), but what is also noticeable is that the growth of average values per employee is lower than the general growth of revenue and profit. As stated in the introduction to the analysis, such a deviation may be the result of several reasons, including the improvement of internal processes, digitalization, optimization of operations, but also an increase in the number of employees and lower productivity.
Summery of key findings
