Net profit margins factor in all business expenses, including the impact of increased ad spending and the hiring of additional staff for the holidays.

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Apportionment means you take the net profit and apply a percentage factor derived from sales, property owned and payroll.

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In the first stage, Air Polonia wants to achieve a load factor - a profit benchmark showing the percentage of paying passengers per seat flown -- of above 40 percent on foreign flights and 70 percent on domestic routes.

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Unlike the light-duty vehicle market, most medium- and heavy-duty truck purchasers operate on slim profit margins where fuel costs are a major factor in their economic survival.

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Then any precipitating factor undermining the trade can lead to profit taking at the margin.

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That makes no sense if you think about businesses trying to maximize their profit from any given transaction, but it makes sense if you remember that customer satisfaction is an important factor in the long-term success of a retail business.

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