All firms, average EBITDA
9.88%
→
7.47%
Down 2.41 points
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Industry Benchmarking Tool, 2025 vs 2026
High-profit shops still earn 2.4x the average. The bar to be one dropped three points.
The middle and the top quartile both lost margin, and the top lost almost three times as much. Four movements worth knowing.
US: 104 firms to 116 firms
Canada: 28 firms to 23 firms
United States
The multiple held. The floor dropped.
Divide high-profit EBITDA by the all-firm average in either year and you land on roughly 2.4x. The absolute distance between the two groups is a different story.
Top 25%, high-profit EBITDA
24.10%
→
17.83%
Down 6.27 points
Cutoff to qualify as high profit
14.47%
→
11.53%
Down 2.94 points
High profit is the top 25% by EBITDA over revenue, force ranked each year. The bar floats with the field.
Three more US movements
One reversal, two signals
Bid success rate, high-profit firms
34%
→
46%
A full reversal. The top quartile converted below the field in 2025 and now converts eleven points above it.
Engineering software satisfaction, all firms
50%
→
64%
The largest single-metric jump anywhere in the report.
AI automation as a priority, next 12 months
30%
→
42%
Still last of seven improvement areas, well behind profitability at 97%.
Canada
Canada went the other way
Where US margins compressed, Canadian margins expanded, and the bar to qualify as high profit rose instead of falling.
All firms, average EBITDA
8.29%
→
11.16%
Top 25%, high-profit EBITDA
18.45%
→
26.76%
Cutoff to qualify as high profit
14.55%
→
18.09%
2025 and 2026 INNERGY Industry Benchmarking Tool. Data collected and aggregated by Inverra. No individual results shown.