What is Captain Work specialised in?

Video production, Paid social, Search advertising (SEA), Employer brand strategy, Recruitment campaigns.

How big is Captain Work?

Around 22 full-time equivalents (financial year 2024).

Review: Captain Work

Captain Work bestaat sinds 2020 en profileert zich als employer branding bureau uit Hasselt. De bezetting ligt rond 6 VTE. Het bureau combineert employer branding, paid media (sea/social/display) en video & productie.

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

2021202220232024

Latest year: € 542.868 gross margin, growth -39% against a sector median of +1,9%.

Shrinking

MarginEBITDA / gross margin · value-added coverage

2021202220232024

Captain WorkSector median

EBITDA margin -, sector median 24,6%. Value-added coverage 0,36 (median 1,24).

No margin data

Revenue per headGross margin per FTE, against payroll cost

€ 25.250

Median all agencies (2024) € 76.009

Against a payroll cost of € 66.885 per FTE. The ratio between the two is the coverage rate above.

Below the median

Yield levelYield per hour worked, against payroll cost

€ 15

Median all agencies (2024) € 46

36.154 hours worked, 1.682 per FTE. Against that sits € 40 of payroll cost per hour worked, leaving € -25 for premises, equipment, depreciation and profit.

Below 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: -12,9 months (median 6,8 mo). Equity in the latest year: € -1,55 mln.

Critical buffer

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

Cash € 22.668. Liquidity ratio 0,13: current assets cover short-term debt not in full. Solvency -338,5%.

Not covered

Payment behaviourTowards suppliers and towards the NBB

Trade payables correspond to 162 days of supplier credit, sector median 62. The accounts were filed 203 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

4 red flag(s) (24m)

Signals in the last 24 months

Two consecutive loss-making years · 31 Dec 2025 · 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.
Negative equity · 31 Dec 2025 · NBB
Debts exceed assets. Sometimes a subordinated shareholder loan sits opposite that, sometimes not. Ask how the agency is covering this, and on what timescale.
Critical buffer · 31 Dec 2025 · NBB
Equity covers less than one month of payroll. At an agency that pays out its profit every year this means something different than at one that is losing money. Ask where the reserve sits.
Low value-added coverage · 31 Dec 2025 · NBB
Every euro of payroll generates less than 95 cents of added value. That happens in a build-up year, with a lot of subcontracting, or under pressure on rates. Ask what explains it here.
Sharp headcount decline · 31 Dec 2025 · NBB
Average headcount fell by 15% or more in a year. That can be contraction, and just as easily a deliberate choice for fewer but more experienced people. Ask who left and who came in their place.
Board change · 22 Jul 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.
+ 2 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.

4

All the figures

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

4 financial years, 2021 to 2024Result, staff and balance sheet

	2021	2022	2023	2024
Result
Gross margin	€ 539.141	€ 1,51 mln+180,9%	€ 889.761-41,3%	€ 542.868-39%
EBITDA	€ -176.548	€ 232.041	€ -451.750	€ -918.773
EBITDA margin	-32,7%	15,3%	-50,8%	-
Staff
FTE	12,5	24,5+96%	22,6-7,8%	21,5-4,9%
Gross margin per FTE	€ 43.131	€ 61.822	€ 39.370	€ 25.250
Payroll cost per FTE	€ 57.128	€ 52.167	€ 58.947	€ 66.885
Balance sheet
Equity	€ -154.377	€ 35.881	€ -508.580	€ -1,55 mln
Cash	€ 82.697	€ 228.540	€ 29.038	€ 22.668
Liquidity ratio	0,65	0,84	0,39	0,13

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 23/07/2026. 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.

What the agency actually does 5 services

Content & Production

Video production

Media

Paid social Search advertising (SEA)

Employer Brand & Internal

Employer brand strategy Recruitment campaigns

Sector focus

werkgevers/HR (rekrutering en employer branding op krappe arbeidsmarkt)

From our own research. The agency hasn't listed its sectors yet.

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

1

People 11 people mapped

The titles skew top-heavy: lots of seniority, few juniors — you're mostly buying experience. A wide leadership layer: 6 of 11 steer. Notably, no declared strategists in sight — this agency would rather make than philosophise.

EH

Elly Huysmans

Co-founder

JM

Jo Mellemans

Co-founder

JS

Jo Saenen

Co-managing director Glowi Jobs

LV

Liesbeth Vandenrijt

Managing Partner Motmans & Partners

TV

Tim Van Damme

Co-managing director Glowi Jobs

XG

Xavier Gabriëls

CEO

JG

Jana Goetmaeckers

JV

Jana Vandervoorde

MG

Maite Gonzalez

MC

Marzia Canu

PJ

Philip Jurca

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

€ 90.905

+54% versus the median

Team composition

6,2 FTE

€ 90.905

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

248,4%

Median all agencies (2024): 33,2%

Inflow 2025

16,1%

1,0 FTE in, 15,4 FTE out

Net team change

-14,4 FTE

20212022202320242025

Exits are clearly above what is usual for this type of agency. That may reflect project-based staffing, but it is a reason to ask in the pitch how much of the proposed team was already here two years ago, and to contractually fix your permanent contacts.

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.