How Do You Measure Earnings Improvement When the Starting Point Is a Loss?
GOTO’s FY2024–FY2025 results show why a negative growth percentage can hide a narrowing loss. Test financial-research tools by their signed inputs, formulas and accounting basis.
By Trade Inc Research
Summary
When earnings start below zero, measure the change in rupiah first, then describe whether the loss narrowed, widened or turned into profit. A conventional percentage-growth formula can produce a negative answer even when the loss becomes smaller. For a research-tool buyer, the useful feature is access to the signed underlying figures—not just a growth badge.
This guide uses GOTO’s FY2024–FY2025 annual results as a historical example, not a statement about its latest profitability. Published by Trade Inc Research, affiliated with Trade Inc.
Key takeaways
- Keep negative signs, reporting periods and the accounting measure visible.
- A smaller loss is an improvement, but it is not a profit.
- Actual and pro-forma comparisons use different bases; do not combine them.
- Ask a tool to show the inputs and formula before accepting its interpretation.
A real example: a smaller loss, not negative progress
GoTo’s 11 March 2026 results release reports an actual annual loss of Rp5,465 billion for FY2024 and Rp1,502 billion for FY2025, rounded to billions. Its actual-results table describes a 73% improvement. GoTo FY2025 results
Using those public rounded numbers:
| Step | Calculation | Interpretation |
|---|---|---|
| Signed change | −1,502 − (−5,465) = +3,963 | Rp3,963 billion improvement |
| Loss narrowing | (5,465 − 1,502) ÷ 5,465 × 100 ≈ 72.5% | Loss became about 72.5% smaller |
| Ordinary growth formula | [−1,502 − (−5,465)] ÷ −5,465 × 100 ≈ −72.5% | Negative denominator reverses the sign |
The third line is mathematically consistent with its formula but a poor standalone description of economic direction. “Profit fell 72.5%” would misdescribe this comparison. “The annual loss narrowed by about 72.5%, but remained Rp1,502 billion” preserves both improvement and the remaining loss.
Check the accounting basis before the calculator
The same release’s pro-forma table shows losses of Rp3,084 billion and Rp1,633 billion, with a 47% improvement. That is a different comparison, not an alternative rounding of the actual table. Keep each table’s labels and footnotes attached to its numbers.
The calculation alone also cannot establish why the result improved. Recurring operations, financing costs, taxes or non-recurring accounting items can affect the bottom line. Investigating the cause requires the relevant statement notes; a smaller loss does not by itself establish sustainable profitability or cash generation.
What should a financial-research tool show?
Trade Inc’s publicly documented MCP connection can retrieve annual and quarterly financial figures through a compatible AI workspace, subject to account access. A read-only check for this guide returned two annual GOTO net-result values that round to the actual figures above. The calculations here are editorial calculations, not proof of an automatic negative-base warning in the website. Connection and financial-tool guide
Try this acceptance test before relying on a tool:
Retrieve GOTO’s FY2024 and FY2025 annual net result. Show signed values, currency, units and period ends. Check the issuer’s actual-results table. Calculate the rupiah improvement and percentage reduction in loss magnitude. Keep pro-forma results separate. If the starting value is zero or negative, explain why an ordinary growth label may mislead.
A useful response lets you reproduce the result. A percentage without its inputs fails that test, even if the prose sounds confident.
What happens when earnings cross zero?
Consider a hypothetical move from a loss of 100 to a profit of 20, in the same unit. The improvement is 120. Dividing by the signed starting value produces −120%; calling that “earnings declined 120%” reverses the story. Say “turned profitable, improving by 120” instead. If the starting value is zero, percentage growth is undefined.
This is an illustrative arithmetic example, not another company result or product demonstration.
Who needs this workflow?
It fits readers repeatedly comparing loss-making companies who want retrieved figures and a reproducible calculation in one research conversation. Someone checking only one annual report may need nothing beyond the issuer’s table and a spreadsheet. No subscription is necessary to perform this arithmetic.
For broader statement checks, see our financial-statement research guide.
Conclusion
Choose a tool that exposes the signed starting point, the measure and the source—not one that merely produces a growth percentage. Loss narrowing is evidence of a better reported result for the selected period. Sustainable profit needs further evidence, and a later widening loss would weaken the improvement narrative. Neither outcome alone establishes investment value.
This article is for research and information only. It is not personalized financial advice or an instruction to trade.