Technical Question Help

So this is a question I got and was wondering how to answer it.

A company is doing $100 in revenue at a 20% EBITDA margin and cost structure of 50-50 fixed and variable. Revenue increases $10 and the EBITDA margin stays the same. What's the new EBITDA?

The new EBITDA is $26. Would anyone be able to help me why that is the case?

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The EBITDA margin doesn't stay the same.  Maybe they misspoke.

For year 1, Revenue is $100 and EBITDA is $20, implying your total costs are $80.  Your fixed costs are $40 and variable costs are $40 given they're split 50/50.  Your variable costs are 40% of your sales ($40 / $100).

For year 2, Revenue is $110 and your fixed costs stay at $40 (since they're fixed).  Your variable costs are actually $44 ($110 * 40%) since the variable cost margin stays the same (this is probably what they were referring to).  Therefore your new EBITDA is $26, which is a 24% margin.

 

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