[jacques_chester]

There are multiple steps in the determination of profit ("earnings"), which I think is the cause of the confusion.

Folk tend to fixate on gross profit, because that's the pointy end of their direct market relationships. I buy a banana and it has an x% markup over the price paid to the distributor. That percentage may be quite high and if I'm aware of it I may think someone is taking the piss.

But of course gross profit is just the beginning: you need to deduct SG&A (which is where the senior managers live), R&D (the engineers) and other bits and bobs before arriving at EBIT.