How big is Ariad Group?

Around 29 full-time equivalents (financial year 2025).

Which sectors does Ariad Group work for?

Energy & environment, Finance & insurance, Logistics & transport, Retail & e-commerce, Telecom & media.

Review: Ariad Group

Q: Who are the clients of Ariad Group?

Among others Belfius, BNP Paribas Fortis, Saxo Bank, Carrefour, Orange, L’Oréal.

Vanuit Diegem werkt Ariad Group sinds 2011 als bureau. De bezetting ligt rond 29 VTE. Uit de publiek bekende klantenlijst: Belfius, BNP Paribas Fortis, Saxo Bank en Carrefour.

1

How this agency makes money

Revenue, margin and what an hour of work brings in. Everything on the earning side sits together here.

Revenue trendgross margin per financial year

20212022202320242025

Latest year: € 5,03 mln gross margin, growth +13,2% against a sector median of +1,9%.

At or above sector pace

MarginEBITDA / gross margin · value-added coverage

20212022202320242025

Ariad GroupSector median

EBITDA margin 11,6%, sector median 24,6%. Value-added coverage 1,12 (median 1,24). Value-added coverage sits in the sector-wide grey zone (0.95-1.15): context, not an alarm.

Below sector level

Revenue per headGross margin per FTE, against payroll cost

€ 172.697

Median all agencies (2024) € 76.097

Against a payroll cost of € 162.120 per FTE. The ratio between the two is the coverage rate above.

Above the median

Yield levelYield per hour worked, against payroll cost

€ 106

Median all agencies (2024) € 46

47.401 hours worked, 1.629 per FTE. Against that sits € 100 of payroll cost per hour worked, leaving € 6 for premises, equipment, depreciation and profit.

Above the median

No hourly rate follows from this. Gross margin is already net of services and sundry goods, which mixes rebilled production with the agency's own overhead, and the accounts do not say how many hours were billable. Deriving a rate from this systematically understates it.

2

Can the agency take a hit

Buffer, cash position and payment behaviour side by side, so you can see where they disagree.

Bufferequity in months of payroll

Buffer: 6,6 months (median 6,8 mo). Equity in the latest year: € 2,58 mln.

Adequate buffer

Cash positionAvailable cash, and whether it covers short-term debt

Cash € 464.961. Liquidity ratio 2,38: current assets cover short-term debt in full. Solvency 56,3%.

Amply covered

Payment behaviourTowards suppliers and towards the NBB

Trade payables correspond to 14 days of supplier credit, sector median 62. The accounts were filed 177 days after closing; the legal deadline is seven months.

Pays and files on time

3

Signals and strengths

Events from the CBE and the Official Gazette over the past 24 months, plus positive markers derived from the figures.

Continuity

No serious signals

Signals in the last 24 months

Board change · 9 Jun 2026 · Staatsblad
Appointments or resignations on the board. Routine during growth, succession or a new partner. Ask about it when several changes follow each other closely.
Registered office moved · 3 Nov 2025 · Staatsblad
The registered office relocated. Usually just a new office.
Board change · 6 Jun 2025 · Staatsblad
Appointments or resignations on the board. Routine during growth, succession or a new partner. Ask about it when several changes follow each other closely.
Board change · 24 Feb 2025 · Staatsblad
Appointments or resignations on the board. Routine during growth, succession or a new partner. Ask about it when several changes follow each other closely.

Click a signal for a plain-language explanation. Each signal is a fact from a public source, without the agency's own context. Best to ask them directly.

What this agency does well

Gross margin grew 4 years in a row
Profitable in every one of the last 5 years
Strong buffer: 6,6 months of payroll in equity
Team grew (+16,9% FTE in the latest year)
Healthy working capital (current ratio 2,38)
Equity was earned, not injected (reserves 4,4× the capital contributed)
Turnover below the median (16,5%)

Each point is a fact from the filed annual accounts, measured against the same thresholds and sector medians as the signals above.

4

All the figures

Reference material, not a starting point. Expand it if you want to read the series yourself.

5 financial years, 2021 to 2025Result, staff and balance sheet

	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
Result
Gross margin	€ 1,87 mln	€ 2,68 mln+43%	€ 4,25 mln+58,5%	€ 4,44 mln+4,6%	€ 5,03 mln+13,2%
EBITDA	€ 743.299	€ 714.267	€ 824.521	€ 186.776	€ 584.052
EBITDA margin	39,7%	26,7%	19,4%	4,2%	11,6%
Staff
FTE	8,3	13,4+61,4%	20,7+54,5%	24,9+20,3%	29,1+16,9%
Gross margin per FTE	€ 225.702	€ 199.926	€ 205.115	€ 178.291	€ 172.697
Payroll cost per FTE	€ 72.123	€ 65.224	€ 78.152	€ 0	€ 162.120
Balance sheet
Equity	€ 1,12 mln	€ 1,62 mln	€ 2,29 mln	€ 2,34 mln	€ 2,58 mln
Cash	€ 1,13 mln	€ 1,07 mln	€ 921.810	€ 492.338	€ 464.961
Liquidity ratio	1,79	2,15	1,92	2,03	2,38

Payroll cost per FTE comes from the social report where available, otherwise from the Remuneration line. Both are gross costs including employer contributions.

What this factsheet does not know

How good the work is. Figures do not measure creativity, strategy or chemistry.
How the client portfolio is spread. Concentration is not in the accounts.
Freelancers and subcontractors are not in the FTE figures. An agency with 40 staff may in practice run with 70 people.
The figures cover financial year 2025, filed on 26/06/2026. At a fast-moving agency reality today may differ.

Based on publicly filed annual accounts (NBB) and official records (CBE, Belgian Official Gazette). An indication, not financial advice. Sector medians calculated on 14 Sep 2026. Sector medians based on financial year 2024: the last year for which nearly all accounts have been filed.

Coming soon

We're working on this part of the factsheet.

Sector focus

Finance & insuranceRetail & e-commerce

Publicly known clients

BelfiusBNP Paribas FortisSaxo BankCarrefourOrangeL’Oréal

Based on IKAg research and public sources. Incomplete or outdated? Let us know.

1

People 10 people mapped

Notably, no declared strategists in sight — this agency would rather make than philosophise.

JC

Javier Cuadra

Business Director

AC

Alexis Corbet

Senior Business Manager

BP

Benoit Piron

Business Manager

BF

Bruno Francolini

Business Manager

CB

Cédric Beullens

Talent Acquisition Specialist

KG

Kyra Goudenhooft

Business Lead

ML

Maite Lobato Padín

Business Manager

NS

Nele Sauwens

Talent Manager

PG

Paulien Goditiabois

Talent Acquisition Specialist

TP

Thomas Parmentier

Senior Business Manager

Based on public profiles. Something wrong? Let us know.

2

Seniors or juniors?

Payroll cost per FTE is the best public proxy for a team's experience level. Higher is not automatically better, but it says something about who sits at the table.

Payroll cost per FTE

€ 162.120

+175% versus the median

Team composition

29,1 FTE

54% women
46% men

€ 162.120

All agencies (2024) € 59.069

Read with care. Directors and partners invoicing through a management company are not in the payroll cost. At small agencies this skews the picture downwards considerably.

3

Will your team stay?

Inflow and outflow from the social report. This series only counts people on the payroll: freelancers who invoice do not appear in it. A low figure therefore means two very different things, a stable permanent team or a small core with heavy outsourcing. A high figure usually points to short contracts. Compare only within the same type of agency.

Exits 2025

16,5%

Median all agencies (2024): 33,2%

Inflow 2025

40,5%

11,8 FTE in, 4,8 FTE out

Net team change

+7,0 FTE

20212022202320242025

Source: annual accounts and social reports (NBB), collected by IKAg. Financial year 2025. Calculations by IKAg; an indication, not financial advice. Sector medians based on financial year 2024: the last year for which nearly all accounts have been filed.