A company could certainly clear 36% gross profits and only 7% after all expenese accounted for. So in theory both could be correct.I didnt notice a distinction in the article. The gross profit for my business was 35.9% last month....net will be around 1/3 of that.
You have a point. Most people hear anecdotally that a retail jewler has a 100 to 200% Mark-up and they use such an item to generalize profit overall.
They likewise think since a small house builder charges about 20% on a change order that the builder of an office building makes a like gross profit when it is likely 4% gross markup.