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Definition

The value of products sold by a company during a particular financial period. Sales is not necessarily the same as "turnover", "revenue" or "income" which may include other sources of income such as rent, interest or commissions. But usually the major part of turnover or revenue is comprised of the company's sales. It is important to compare the turnover of the current year with that of the previous year to determine whether it is rising by at least the inflation rate - because if it is not then the company's sales are declining in real terms. It is also worth tracking a company's margin by taking its profit as a percentage of its sales and looking to see whether this ratio has been increasing or decreasing over the past few years. Margins can change because the company sells more of its profitable lines and less of its less profitable lines resulting in a "mix variance". In its results for the year to 30th September 2023, Nampak (NPK) reported revenue of R16,6bn compared to R16,9bn in the previous year. This is a 2% decline, but during that year the inflation rate was around 5% - so in real terms Nampak sold about 7% less.

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