Gorilla flags margin confidence gap in European energy

Gorilla has published research on margin reporting in Europe's B2B energy retail sector, identifying a gap between executives' confidence in margin accuracy and their ability to reconcile sales with actual margins.

The survey of 600 senior energy executives in the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands points to what Gorilla called a "Margin Confidence Paradox" in the industry.

More than 90 per cent of respondents said they believe their organisation has an accurate view of its margins. Yet most said they can reconcile reported sales with actual financial margins only "usually, but with some gaps or delays".

Another 74 per cent said siloed teams were preventing effective margin optimisation, suggesting many companies are trying to manage profitability through disconnected processes spanning pricing, trading, risk, settlements and finance.

Revenue risk

The research also highlighted the financial impact executives attach to weak margin visibility. Most estimated that between six per cent and 10 per cent of annual revenue is at risk because of poor visibility over margins and slow decision-making.

In product development, most B2B energy firms take more than three years to move a new energy product from inception to billing at scale. Most organisations also still manage margin retrospectively rather than in real time.

The results come as energy retailers continue to navigate volatile wholesale markets and increasing pressure on commercial performance. In that environment, the ability to track profitability quickly and accurately is becoming more closely tied to pricing decisions, risk controls and financial reporting.

For finance leaders, the findings point to a broader operational problem rather than a simple reporting issue. Confidence in top-line margin reporting may remain high, but delays in reconciliation and fragmented internal structures can make it harder to identify where profits are being won or lost.

Operational gap

Gorilla commissioned the research, which was conducted by Censuswide, to benchmark how energy retailers understand, monitor and act on margin across several business functions.

Ruben Van den Bossche, Chief Executive Officer of Gorilla, said the issue was not executive confidence itself, but the mismatch between that confidence and day-to-day operating conditions.

"What surprised us wasn't the confidence itself but how little it matches the operational reality beneath it," Van den Bossche said.

"If organisations believe they are making decisions based on precise margin intelligence when, in reality, they're often working from incomplete, inconsistent or delayed information, this creates the risky Margin Confidence Paradox.

"In today's energy market, where volatility has become the norm, that's no longer just an operational inefficiency - it is a commercial and, potentially, existential risk. The companies that outperform over the next decade won't simply collect more data; they'll be the ones who can identify and stem margin leakage by seeing, understanding and acting on margin in real time."

The figures add to a wider debate in European energy retail over legacy systems, fragmented data flows and the difficulty of linking commercial activity to financial outcomes. For many suppliers, margin is shaped by multiple moving parts, including contract terms, hedging positions, customer usage, settlement timing and billing accuracy.

When those elements sit across separate teams and systems, producing a clear and timely picture of profitability becomes more difficult. That, in turn, can affect how quickly retailers respond to shifts in customer demand, wholesale prices or competitive pressure.

The survey suggests this challenge remains widespread despite strong executive confidence in internal reporting. Most respondents said they trust the numbers, but the detail beneath that trust appears less settled, particularly when organisations try to trace reported sales through to final realised margin.

The study's focus on senior executives across six European markets gives it broad regional scope, although it reflects sentiment within the B2B energy segment rather than the wider power and utilities market. Even so, the combination of delayed reconciliation, siloed teams and revenue at risk points to a persistent management issue for retailers trying to sharpen profitability.