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

Review: Hive

Q: Who are the clients of Hive?

Among others VUB, Theater aan Zee, MAC21, Paulusfeesten VZW, La Nuit Events, AZ Damiaan Oostende, Stad Oostende, Toerisme Oostende, Kursaal Oostende, Ostend Beach, Filmfestival Oostende, Jong Voka, Horecabeurs Bredene.

Hive werkt ruim tien jaar als eventbureau uit Bredene.

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: € 401.431 gross margin, growth -17,1% against a sector median of -8,9%.

Shrinking

MarginEBITDA / gross margin · value-added coverage

20212022202320242025

HiveSector median

EBITDA margin 87,8%, sector median 36,2%. Value-added coverage 9,28 (median 1,50).

Healthy margin

Revenue per headGross margin per FTE, against payroll cost

€ 334.526

Median (2024) € 94.044

Against a payroll cost of € 35.490 per FTE. The ratio between the two is the coverage rate above.

Above the median

Yield levelYield per hour worked, against payroll cost

€ 212

Median (2024) € 54

1.892 hours worked, 1.577 per FTE. Against that sits € 23 of payroll cost per hour worked, leaving € 190 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: 339,3 months (median 9,8 mo). Equity in the latest year: € 1,20 mln.

Adequate buffer

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

Cash € 539.871. Liquidity ratio 11,26: current assets cover short-term debt in full. Solvency 85,8%.

Amply covered

Payment behaviourTowards suppliers and towards the NBB

Trade payables correspond to 35 days of supplier credit, sector median 98. 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

No serious signals

Signals in the last 24 months

Zichtbaarheid verschoven · 1 Sep 2026 · Google Autocomplete
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.

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 (87,8%)
Profitable in every one of the last 5 years
Strong buffer: 339,3 months of payroll in equity
Team grew (+71,4% FTE in the latest year)
Value-added per euro of payroll above the sector median (9,28)
Healthy working capital (current ratio 11,26)
Equity was earned, not injected (reserves 63,9× the capital contributed)
Comfortable cash position: 4627 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.

5 financial years, 2021 to 2025Result, staff and balance sheet

	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
Result
Gross margin	€ 326.273	€ 475.789+45,8%	€ 342.724-28%	€ 484.370+41,3%	€ 401.431-17,1%
EBITDA	€ 291.454	€ 420.946	€ 326.626	€ 444.861	€ 352.472
EBITDA margin	89,3%	88,5%	95,3%	91,8%	87,8%
Staff
FTE	1,3	1,30%	-	0,7	1,2+71,4%
Gross margin per FTE	€ 250.980	€ 365.992	-	€ 691.957	€ 334.526
Payroll cost per FTE	€ 22.149	€ 37.831	-	€ 45.764	€ 35.490
Balance sheet
Equity	€ 469.157	€ 678.401	€ 834.094	€ 1,06 mln	€ 1,20 mln
Cash	€ 251.705	€ 113.775	€ 453.214	€ 442.569	€ 539.871
Liquidity ratio	2,58	2,42	3,96	4,76	11,26

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 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 & pharmaPublic sector & governmentMedia & entertainmentEducationTravel & hospitality

Publicly known clients

VUB, Theater aan Zee, MAC21, Paulusfeesten VZW, La Nuit Events, AZ Damiaan Oostende, Stad Oostende, Toerisme Oostende, Kursaal Oostende, Ostend Beach, Filmfestival Oostende, Jong Voka, Horecabeurs Bredene

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

1

People 3 people mapped

LV

Lars Vanbillemont

Mede-eigenaar & Zaakvoerder, Project manager

JP

Jimmy Pauwaert

Mede-eigenaar, Project manager & Custom specialist

NP

Nicky Provoost

Digital stuff

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

€ 35.490

-38% versus the median

Team composition

1,2 FTE

0% women
100% men

Training per FTE

0,0 h

Many agencies fill this field in incompletely.

€ 35.490

Median Eventbureau (2024) € 56.817All 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

750,0%

Median for this type of agency (2024): 39,6%

Inflow 2025

750,0%

9,0 FTE in, 9,0 FTE out

Net team change

0,0 FTE

2021202220242025

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.