What is Choco specialised in?

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

Around 1 full-time equivalent (financial year 2025).

Review: Choco

Q: Who are the clients of Choco?

Among others Honda, BNP Paribas Fortis Factor, Jaguar Land Rover, Apotheia, Zorgnet-Icuro, Brussels IVF, Febecoop, Fintro, Volta, P&V, Durabrik, Tele-Onthaal, de Gezinsbond, Toerisme Vlaanderen, Test Aankoop.

Choco bestaat sinds 2002 en profileert zich als creatief bureau uit Deurne. De opgegeven expertises zijn creatie & reclame, strategie en branding & identiteit. Sectoren waar het bureau vaak werkt: breed b2b/b2c en merken en bedrijfscultuur.

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

2022202320242025

Latest year: € 307.197 gross margin, growth -4,4% against a sector median of -0,2%.

Growing slower than the sector

MarginEBITDA / gross margin · value-added coverage

2022202320242025

ChocoSector median

EBITDA margin 76%, sector median 21,9%. Value-added coverage 4,67 (median 1,23).

Healthy margin

Revenue per headGross margin per FTE, against payroll cost

€ 255.997

Median (2024) € 72.309

Against a payroll cost of € 52.914 per FTE. The ratio between the two is the coverage rate above.

Above the median

Yield levelYield per hour worked, against payroll cost

€ 159

Median (2024) € 45

1.938 hours worked, 1.615 per FTE. Against that sits € 33 of payroll cost per hour worked, leaving € 126 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: 86,9 months (median 7,7 mo). Equity in the latest year: € 459.947.

Adequate buffer

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

Cash € 342.040. Liquidity ratio 3,16: current assets cover short-term debt in full. Solvency 47,6%.

Amply covered

Payment behaviourTowards suppliers and towards the NBB

Trade payables correspond to 138 days of supplier credit, sector median 74. The accounts were filed 147 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

No serious signals

Signals in the last 24 months

Zichtbaarheid verschoven · 1 Nov 2026 · Google Autocomplete
Zichtbaarheid verschoven · 1 Oct 2026 · Google Autocomplete
Zichtbaarheid verschoven · 1 Sep 2026 · Google Autocomplete
Zichtbaarheid verschoven · 1 Aug 2026 · Google Autocomplete

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

EBITDA margin above the sector median (76,0%)
Profitable in every one of the last 4 years
Strong buffer: 86,9 months of payroll in equity
Value-added per euro of payroll above the sector median (4,67)
Margin per hour worked rose 3 years in a row
Healthy working capital (current ratio 3,16)
Equity was earned, not injected (reserves 3,8× the capital contributed)
Comfortable cash position: 1966 days of payroll

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.

4 financial years, 2022 to 2025Result, staff and balance sheet

	2022	2023	2024	2025
Result
Gross margin	€ 463.513	€ 335.189-27,7%	€ 321.198-4,2%	€ 307.197-4,4%
EBITDA	€ 179.549	€ 101.156	€ 221.933	€ 233.347
EBITDA margin	38,7%	30,2%	69,1%	76%
Staff
FTE	5,3	3,3-37,7%	1,7-48,5%	1,2-29,4%
Gross margin per FTE	€ 87.455	€ 101.572	€ 188.940	€ 255.997
Payroll cost per FTE	€ 51.719	€ 68.841	€ 55.345	€ 52.914
Balance sheet
Equity	€ 449.605	€ 374.434	€ 412.138	€ 459.947
Cash	€ 229.318	€ 123.175	€ 283.494	€ 342.040
Liquidity ratio	2,75	2,90	3,19	3,16

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 27/05/2026. 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 2024: 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

Automotive & mobilityHealth & pharmaFinance & insurancePublic sector & governmentReal estate & construction

Publicly known clients

Honda, BNP Paribas Fortis Factor, Jaguar Land Rover, Apotheia, Zorgnet-Icuro, Brussels IVF, Febecoop, Fintro, Volta, P&V, Durabrik, Tele-Onthaal, de Gezinsbond, Toerisme Vlaanderen, Test Aankoop

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

1

People 3 people mapped

A small team: short lines, little noise between you and the makers.

KP

Krist Pauwels

SP

Steven Pauwels

VM

Veerle Miller

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

€ 52.914

-14% versus the median

Team composition

1,2 FTE

€ 52.914

Median Creatief bureau (2024) € 61.920All agencies (2024) € 59.021

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

250,0%

Median for this type of agency (2024): 32,5%

Inflow 2025

250,0%

3,0 FTE in, 3,0 FTE out

Net team change

0,0 FTE

2022202320242025

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.