What is Becoming specialised in?

Brand strategy & positioning, Marketing strategy, Brand identity & design, Campaign concepts & big ideas, Campaign execution.

Around 21 full-time equivalents (financial year 2025).

Review: Becoming

Q: Who are the clients of Becoming?

Among others Delhaize, Lilly, McCain, Tarte à moi, SPF/FOD, VISITWallonia, Kinlys, Maison La Lorraine, BCS Butterfly, Entremont, Bel.

Lielens is al ruim dertig jaar actief als brandingbureau uit Schaarbeek. Er werken ongeveer 21 mensen, uitgedrukt in voltijdse equivalenten. De focus ligt op strategie, branding & identiteit en creatie & reclame. De klanten komen vooral uit merken/corporate breed.

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: € 1,93 mln gross margin, growth +37,3% against a sector median of +6,6%.

At or above sector pace

MarginEBITDA / gross margin · value-added coverage

20212022202320242025

LielensSector median

EBITDA margin 3,1%, sector median 32,2%. Value-added coverage 1,03 (median 1,29). 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

€ 91.568

Median (2025) € 82.809

Against a payroll cost of € 83.321 per FTE. The ratio between the two is the coverage rate above.

Above the median

Yield levelYield per hour worked, against payroll cost

€ 58

Median (2025) € 48

33.132 hours worked, 1.570 per FTE. Against that sits € 53 of payroll cost per hour worked, leaving € 5 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: 9,1 months (median 6,3 mo). Equity in the latest year: € 1,34 mln.

Adequate buffer

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

Cash € 377.712. Liquidity ratio 1,68: current assets cover short-term debt in full. Solvency 39,7%.

Amply covered

Payment behaviourTowards suppliers and towards the NBB

Trade payables correspond to 89 days of supplier credit, sector median 68. The accounts were filed 173 days after closing; the legal deadline is seven months.

Pays slower than average

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

1 red flag(s) (24m)

Signals in the last 24 months

Zichtbaarheid verschoven · 1 Oct 2026 · Google Autocomplete
Zichtbaarheid verschoven · 1 Oct 2026 · Google Autocomplete
Zichtbaarheid verschoven · 1 Sep 2026 · Google Autocomplete
Zichtbaarheid verschoven · 1 Aug 2026 · Google Autocomplete
Board change · 17 Mar 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.
Two consecutive loss-making years · 31 Dec 2024 · NBB
Two financial years in a row closed at a loss. That can be an investment period, or a client that fell away. Ask what explains the pattern and what has changed since.
+ 1 older signals within 24m

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 3 years in a row
Outgrew the sector median 3 years running
Strong buffer: 9,1 months of payroll in equity
Team grew (+57,5% FTE in the latest year)
Healthy working capital (current ratio 1,68)
Comfortable cash position: 78 days of payroll
Turnover below the median (23,7%)

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	€ 1,18 mln	€ 362.595-69,2%	€ 683.698+88,6%	€ 1,41 mln+105,8%	€ 1,93 mln+37,3%
EBITDA	€ 191.448	€ 327.320	€ -172.003	€ 83.008	€ 59.071
EBITDA margin	16,2%	90,3%	-25,2%	5,9%	3,1%
Staff
FTE	17,4	15,9-8,6%	15,7-1,3%	13,4-14,6%	21,1+57,5%
Gross margin per FTE	€ 67.734	€ 22.805	€ 43.548	€ 105.019	€ 91.568
Payroll cost per FTE	€ 73.860	€ 77.965	€ 90.397	€ 89.902	€ 83.321
Balance sheet
Equity	€ 1,72 mln	€ 1,77 mln	€ 1,67 mln	€ 1,32 mln	€ 1,34 mln
Cash	€ 376.028	€ 1,36 mln	€ 206.774	€ 741.724	€ 377.712
Liquidity ratio	1,51	1,31	1,28	1,27	1,68

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 22/06/2026. 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 2 Nov 2026. Sector medians based on financial year 2025: the last year for which nearly all accounts have been filed.

What the agency actually does 5 services

Strategy & Insights

Brand strategy & positioning Marketing strategy

Branding & Design

Brand identity & design

Advertising & Campaigns

Campaign concepts & big ideas Campaign execution

Sector focus

Food & beverageRetail & e-commerceHealth & pharmaTravel & hospitalityPublic sector & government

Publicly known clients

Delhaize, Lilly, McCain, Tarte à moi, SPF/FOD, VISITWallonia, Kinlys, Maison La Lorraine, BCS Butterfly, Entremont, Bel

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

1

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

€ 83.321

+37% versus the median

Team composition

21,1 FTE

52% women
48% men

€ 83.321

Median Brandingbureau (2025) € 60.980All agencies (2025) € 62.294

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.

2

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

23,7%

Median for this type of agency (2025): 38,9%

Inflow 2025

55,0%

11,6 FTE in, 5,0 FTE out

Net team change

+6,6 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 2025: the last year for which nearly all accounts have been filed.