Sales at Alza.sk have risen each year since 2022 and reached EUR 621m

Alza.cz runs a very large turnover through a thin margin

Alza.cz a.s., the Czech online retailer, booked revenue of CZK 61.1bn in 2024 and kept a net profit of CZK 2.3bn. That is a net margin of 3.8%. The abbreviation a.s. marks a Czech joint-stock company. The auditor signed the 2024 accounts without qualification.

A thin margin is the normal shape of retail. Most of each koruna a retailer takes in goes straight back to the suppliers of the goods on the shelf. What is left has to cover warehouses, logistics, staff and returns. So I would not call this margin weak. I would call it typical for the business model.

The 2024 figures on their own do not show whether the margin is widening or narrowing. Management says it will keep pursuing healthy growth and a healthy level of operating profit. That is an intention, not a result, and I would not read anything into it until the next annual accounts show the trend.

Alza.sk earned more and ended the year holding less cash

The Slovak company under the same brand, Alza.sk s. r. o. (s. r. o. is the Slovak limited liability company), keeps growing fast. Revenue was EUR 79.5m in 2022, EUR 239m in 2023, EUR 543m in 2024 and EUR 621m in 2025, all under Slovak accounting standards and in euros.

Operating profit rose by 28.6% to EUR 8.6m in 2025. EBITDA, meaning operating profit plus depreciation and amortisation, came to EUR 12.8m. Over the same year, cash at the balance sheet date fell by 59.0% to EUR 4.7m.

A growing retailer often looks exactly like this. More sales mean more stock in the warehouse and more money owed by customers, and both tie up cash before any profit turns into money in the bank. A dividend or a repayment to a related company would produce the same picture. The year-end figures do not say which of these it was. Year-end cash is also only a snapshot of one day. Even so, profit up and cash down in the same year is the gap I would ask about first.

Kofola's parent company reports unusually high operating margins

The numbers for Kofola ČeskoSlovensko a.s. are those of the parent company alone, under IFRS, the international accounting standards. That matters. This is the holding company, not the drinks business it sits on top of.

In 2024 the parent booked revenue of CZK 603m and operating profit of CZK 540m, an operating margin of 89.5%. In 2023 operating profit of CZK 600m was larger than revenue of CZK 589m, an operating margin of 102.0%. An operating profit above revenue is only possible when income arrives outside the revenue line, as other operating income. In a holding company that usually means items from its own subsidiaries. The accounts do not break that income down, so this is the likely mechanism rather than a confirmed one.

The number that matters most is the net margin. It narrowed by 18.0 pp to 54.9%, as net profit went from CZK 429m to CZK 331m while revenue edged up. Revenue barely moved and profit fell, so whatever changed sat below the revenue line. This October Kofola a.s. was registered as a new subsidiary of the parent. What that change means for the parent's income will only show in its next accounts.

NVIDIA's profit grew faster than its sales

In the quarter that ended in July 2026, NVIDIA Corporation reported revenue of USD 96.2bn, up 105.9% from USD 46.7bn a year earlier. Operating profit rose by 124.1% to USD 63.7bn. Net profit rose by 125.9% to USD 59.7bn. These are consolidated figures under US accounting rules (US GAAP).

When profit grows faster than revenue, costs are growing more slowly than sales. A large share of the cost base, such as research and development, does not rise with every extra chip sold, so each additional dollar of revenue keeps more of itself as profit. The comparison is with the same quarter a year earlier, which removes seasonal effects. It says nothing about whether this pace can last, and I would not treat a single quarter as a trend.

Microsoft widened its margin and spent down its cash line

Microsoft Corporation closed its fiscal year at the end of June 2026 with revenue of USD 332bn, against USD 282bn a year earlier. Net profit rose by 31.3% to USD 134bn, and the net margin widened by 4.2 pp to 40.3%.

The cash balance went the other way, falling by 30.8% to USD 20.9bn. Before anyone reads distress into that, a caution. This figure is cash alone. A company of this size holds much of its liquidity in short-term investments, which sit outside this line. Spending on data centres, share buybacks or acquisitions could each explain the drop, and the cash figure on its own does not say which. I would treat it as a gap to explain, not a problem to announce.

Apple grew its profit and strengthened its balance sheet

In the quarter that ended in June 2026, Apple Inc. reported revenue of USD 109bn, against USD 94.0bn a year earlier. Operating profit rose by 26.6% to USD 35.7bn and net profit rose by 27.1% to USD 29.8bn.

The more interesting move was on the balance sheet. The equity ratio, meaning equity divided by total assets, rose by 8.2 pp to 28.1%, from 19.9%. Equity went from USD 65.8bn to USD 108bn, while total assets grew from USD 331bn to USD 383bn. Equity grew faster than the balance sheet, so a larger share of the assets is now funded by the owners rather than by liabilities.

The pattern this week: profit and cash do not move together

Profit rose at Microsoft, NVIDIA, Apple and Alza.sk. At Microsoft and at Alza.sk, cash fell in the same period. At Kofola's parent, the revenue line hardly tells you where the profit comes from. None of this is a warning sign on its own. It is a reminder that the profit line is where analysis starts, not where it ends.

The check I would run tomorrow is simple. Put this year's change in profit next to this year's change in cash. If they point in opposite directions, build the bridge between them: change in stock, change in receivables, investment spending, dividends and loan repayments. If the bridge closes, you understand your year. If it does not, you have found the item to ask your accountant about.

Then look at how much of your operating profit comes from outside revenue. If that share is large, your margin says more about your group structure than about your business.

My verdict on the week: good profit news, with the cash still to be explained.