Around 60 full-time equivalents (financial year 2025).

Which sectors does Comate work for?

Industry & manufacturing, Technology & software, Healthcare & pharma.

Review: Comate

Q: Who are the clients of Comate?

Among others Perseus Biomics, Zeal Robotics, NGRAVE, UNEEG, Deltaray, Bekaert, CoMoveIT, Bright Energy, Cyclowax, Slimbox, Pickit 3D, Ansana, Solhyd, Netalux, Onward Medical.

Comate werkt ruim tien jaar als bureau uit Leuven. Er werken ongeveer 60 mensen, uitgedrukt in voltijdse equivalenten. De ervaring zit vooral in healthcare/medical devices, industrial & machinery en products & devices (consumentenhardware).

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: € 3,86 mln gross margin, growth -37% against a sector median of +1,9%.

Shrinking

MarginEBITDA / gross margin · value-added coverage

20212022202320242025

ComateSector median

EBITDA margin -23,2%, sector median 24,6%. Value-added coverage 0,85 (median 1,24).

Loss-making

Revenue per headGross margin per FTE, against payroll cost

€ 64.102

Median all agencies (2024) € 76.097

Against a payroll cost of € 97.035 per FTE. The ratio between the two is the coverage rate above.

Below the median

Yield levelYield per hour worked, against payroll cost

€ 38

Median all agencies (2024) € 46

102.682 hours worked, 1.706 per FTE. Against that sits € 57 of payroll cost per hour worked, leaving € -19 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: 1,5 months (median 6,8 mo). Equity in the latest year: € 743.133.

Thin buffer

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

Cash € 329.977. Liquidity ratio 0,36: current assets cover short-term debt not in full. Solvency 10%.

Not covered

Payment behaviourTowards suppliers and towards the NBB

Trade payables correspond to 31 days of supplier credit, sector median 62. The accounts were filed 180 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

1 red flag(s) (24m)

Signals in the last 24 months

Board change · 29 May 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.
Board change · 6 Jan 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.
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.
Sharp drop in equity · 31 Dec 2025 · NBB
The financial reserve shrank by more than 30% over two financial years. A dividend, buying out a partner and a loss-making year all look the same here. Ask which of the three it was.
Thin buffer · 31 Dec 2025 · NBB
Equity covers less than three months of payroll. A limited reserve, and at many smaller agencies the normal state of affairs. Ask how the agency absorbs a setback.
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.
+ 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.

What this agency does well

Equity was earned, not injected (reserves 21,3× the capital contributed)

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	€ 4,15 mln	€ 4,82 mln+16,2%	€ 7,16 mln+48,5%	€ 6,13 mln-14,4%	€ 3,86 mln-37%
EBITDA	€ 947.148	€ 1,29 mln	€ 2,15 mln	€ 712.969	€ -894.100
EBITDA margin	22,8%	26,8%	30,1%	11,6%	-23,2%
Staff
FTE	46,0	56,0+21,7%	68,8+22,9%	72,9+6%	60,2-17,4%
Gross margin per FTE	€ 90.159	€ 86.037	€ 104.018	€ 84.037	€ 64.102
Payroll cost per FTE	€ 68.613	€ 74.705	€ 91.416	€ 88.590	€ 97.035
Balance sheet
Equity	€ 1,92 mln	€ 3,45 mln	€ 3,73 mln	€ 2,92 mln	€ 743.133
Cash	€ 1,34 mln	€ 925.839	€ 30.352	€ 536.338	€ 329.977
Liquidity ratio	1,98	0,35	0,51	0,68	0,36

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 29/06/2026. 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 21 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

Health & pharmaTechnology & software

Publicly known clients

Perseus Biomics, Zeal Robotics, NGRAVE, UNEEG, Deltaray, Bekaert, CoMoveIT, Bright Energy, Cyclowax, Slimbox, Pickit 3D, Ansana, Solhyd, Netalux, Onward Medical

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

1

People 1 people mapped

WF

Wouter Foulon

Founder of Comate

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

€ 97.035

+64% versus the median

Team composition

60,2 FTE

13% women
87% men

€ 97.035

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

36,5%

Median all agencies (2024): 33,2%

Inflow 2025

1,7%

1,0 FTE in, 22,0 FTE out

Net team change

-21,0 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.