What is Gelo specialised in?

Brand strategy & positioning, Marketing strategy, Brand identity & design, Website strategy & UX.

Around 2 full-time equivalents (financial year 2025).

Review: Gelo

Q: Who are the clients of Gelo?

Among others Stadskantoor Gent, Stadhuis Roeselare, WZC Motena, KAA Gent, AZ Delta, ARhus Café, Africa Museum.

Gelo is al ruim tien jaar actief als ux- & designstudio uit Sint-Denijs-Westrem. De focus ligt op ux/ui design, strategie en branding & identiteit. De klanten komen vooral uit organisaties en steden en gemeenten. Tot de publiek bekende klanten behoren Stadskantoor Gent, Stadhuis Roeselare, WZC Motena en KAA Gent.

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: € 121.972 gross margin, growth +76,1% against a sector median of -3,7%.

At or above sector pace

MarginEBITDA / gross margin · value-added coverage

20212022202320242025

GeloSector median

EBITDA margin 6,1%, sector median 15,1%. Value-added coverage 1,07 (median 1,06). 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

€ 60.986

Median (2025) € 73.601

Against a payroll cost of € 56.936 per FTE. The ratio between the two is the coverage rate above.

Below the median

Yield levelYield per hour worked, against payroll cost

€ 39

Median (2025) € 46

3.149 hours worked, 1.575 per FTE. Against that sits € 36 of payroll cost per hour worked, leaving € 3 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: 7,3 months (median 3,4 mo). Equity in the latest year: € 69.647.

Adequate buffer

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

Cash € 45.836. Liquidity ratio 1,73: current assets cover short-term debt in full. Solvency 43,9%.

Amply covered

Payment behaviourTowards suppliers and towards the NBB

Trade payables correspond to 162 days of supplier credit, sector median 52. The accounts were filed 243 days after closing; the legal deadline is seven months.

Filed late

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

Points to ask about

Signals in the last 24 months

Late filing · 31 Aug 2026 · NBB
The annual accounts were filed after the statutory deadline. Over a third of the sector does this, usually because of the accountant's calendar. Rarely a story in itself.
Registered office moved · 28 Jul 2026 · Staatsblad
The registered office relocated. Usually just a new office.
Board change · 21 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.
Late filing · 30 Sep 2025 · NBB
The annual accounts were filed after the statutory deadline. Over a third of the sector does this, usually because of the accountant's calendar. Rarely a story in itself.
Sharp drop in equity · 31 Dec 2024 · 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.
Registered office moved · 22 Nov 2024 · Staatsblad
The registered office relocated. Usually just a new office.

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

Outgrew the sector median 2 years running
Strong buffer: 7,3 months of payroll in equity
Team grew (+53,8% FTE in the latest year)
Value-added per euro of payroll above the sector median (1,07)
Margin per hour worked rose 2 years in a row
Healthy working capital (current ratio 1,73)
Equity was earned, not injected (reserves 2,7× the capital contributed)
Comfortable cash position: 147 days of payroll
Invests in training (20 hours per FTE)

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	€ 244.945	€ 126.781-48,2%	€ 13.124-89,6%	€ 69.255+427,7%	€ 121.972+76,1%
EBITDA	€ 42.460	€ -65.211	€ -136.994	€ 6.896	€ 7.473
EBITDA margin	17,3%	-51,4%	-	10%	6,1%
Staff
FTE	3,3	2,8-15,2%	1,6-42,9%	1,3-18,8%	2,0+53,8%
Gross margin per FTE	€ 74.226	€ 45.279	€ 8.202	€ 53.273	€ 60.986
Payroll cost per FTE	€ 60.888	€ 65.873	€ 93.302	€ 47.562	€ 56.936
Balance sheet
Equity	€ 277.720	€ 204.997	€ 64.288	€ 66.662	€ 69.647
Cash	€ 122.810	€ 120.910	€ 39.215	€ 27.377	€ 45.836
Liquidity ratio	5,13	5,52	5,02	1,53	1,73

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 31/08/2026. 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 4 services

Strategy & Insights

Brand strategy & positioning Marketing strategy

Branding & Design

Brand identity & design

Digital Experience & Tech

Website strategy & UX

Sector focus

Health & pharmaPublic sector & government

Publicly known clients

Stadskantoor GentStadhuis RoeselareWZC MotenaKAA GentAZ DeltaARhus CaféAfrica Museum

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

€ 56.936

-14% versus the median

Team composition

2,0 FTE

Training per FTE

20,0 h

Many agencies fill this field in incompletely.

€ 56.936

Median UX- & designstudio (2025) € 66.413All 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

150,0%

Median for this type of agency (2025): 35,4%

Inflow 2025

150,0%

3,0 FTE in, 3,0 FTE out

Net team change

0,0 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 2025: the last year for which nearly all accounts have been filed.