27/08/2026
EBITDA Impact
BIG COMPANIES DON'T HAVE SMALL COST PROBLEMS.
They have small inefficiencies that become multi-million-rand EBITDA problems.
Consider an operation with:
Annual Revenue: R1 Billion
Current EBITDA Margin: 12%
Current EBITDA: R120 Million
Now imagine we identify operational inefficiencies equal to just 2% of revenue.
The calculation:
R1,000,000,000 × 2% = R20,000,000
If those unnecessary costs are sustainably removed without damaging productive capacity:
EBITDA increases from R120M to R140M.
EBITDA Margin:
Before:
R120M ÷ R1B × 100 = 12%
After:
R140M ÷ R1B × 100 = 14%
A 2-percentage-point EBITDA margin improvement.
That is the level where operational efficiency becomes a boardroom issue.
Research and turnaround work consistently show that disciplined cost management, productivity improvement and rigorous tracking of operational initiatives can produce significant EBITDA improvements. For example, McKinsey has documented major margin differences between companies that control costs aggressively and those whose costs grow faster than revenue. (McKinsey & Company)
This is what we analyse:
• Energy Cost → EBITDA Impact
• Downtime → Lost Production & EBITDA Impact
• Labour Inefficiency → Cost per Output
• Procurement Variance → Margin Erosion
• Maintenance Failure → Production Loss
• Facilities Costs → Cost-to-Revenue Ratio
• Overhead Growth → EBITDA Compression
We don't look at costs in isolation.
We ask one financial question:
"How much is this operational problem costing EBITDA?"
Because a 1% or 2% operational improvement in a business generating hundreds of millions—or billions—in revenue is not a minor saving.
It can represent millions in additional operating profit.
I focus on helping large operations identify, quantify and prioritise expensive operational inefficiencies through financial and operational analysis.
Mining | Manufacturing | Private Healthcare | Cold Storage | Warehousing & Logistics | Industrial Operations
Ryan Gama
Business Cost Optimization Specialist
