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

Review: Inert

Q: What is Inert specialised in?

Website development, Website strategy & UX.

Q: Who are the clients of Inert?

Among others Brussels Airport, Van de Velde, LEO reader, NOWJOBS, Proximus, Hyundai, Toyota, Eneco, Wergo, Poppr, Opel, IKO, MSK Gent, Engie, Audi.

Inert is een ux- & designstudio met thuisbasis in Gent, opgericht in 2018. Op de loonlijst staan ongeveer 2 voltijdse equivalenten. De dienstverlening draait om ux/ui design en webdevelopment. Sectoren waar het bureau vaak werkt: geen specifieke focus; digitale producten/diensten.

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: € 184.604 gross margin, growth -14,9% against a sector median of -3,7%.

Shrinking

MarginEBITDA / gross margin · value-added coverage

20212022202320242025

InertSector median

EBITDA margin 9,4%, sector median 15,1%. Value-added coverage 1,10 (median 1,06). Value-added coverage sits in the sector-wide grey zone (0.95-1.15): context, not an alarm.

Healthy margin

Revenue per headGross margin per FTE, against payroll cost

€ 92.302

Median (2025) € 73.601

Against a payroll cost of € 83.159 per FTE. The ratio between the two is the coverage rate above.

Above the median

Yield levelYield per hour worked, against payroll cost

€ 51

Median (2025) € 46

3.588 hours worked, 1.794 per FTE. Against that sits € 46 of payroll cost per hour worked, leaving € 5 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: 0,0 months (median 3,4 mo). Equity in the latest year: € -132.

Critical buffer

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

Cash -. Liquidity ratio 0,65: current assets cover short-term debt not in full. Solvency -0,2%.

Not covered

Payment behaviourTowards suppliers and towards the NBB

Trade payables correspond to 16 days of supplier credit, sector median 52. 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

3 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.
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.
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.
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.
Loss-making year · 31 Dec 2024 · NBB
One financial year closed at a loss. The size is not shown here: it can be a few thousand euros, a one-off settlement, or a deliberate investment. Ask the agency what was behind it.

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

Value-added per euro of payroll above the sector median (1,10)

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	€ 137.919	€ 117.923-14,5%	€ 225.597+91,3%	€ 216.991-3,8%	€ 184.604-14,9%
EBITDA	€ 8.912	€ -4.583	€ 68.180	€ 10.786	€ 17.340
EBITDA margin	6,5%	-3,9%	30,2%	5%	9,4%
Staff
FTE	2,0	1,9-5%	2,7+42,1%	3,0+11,1%	2,0-33,3%
Gross margin per FTE	€ 68.960	€ 62.065	€ 83.554	€ 72.330	€ 92.302
Payroll cost per FTE	€ 62.905	€ 57.068	€ 51.234	€ 68.456	€ 83.159
Balance sheet
Equity	€ 20.698	€ 13.073	€ 14.255	€ 4.286	€ -132
Cash	€ 22.426	€ 20.381	€ 61.704	€ 4.783	-
Liquidity ratio	1,28	1,16	0,88	0,65	0,65

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 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 2 services

Digital Experience & Tech

Website development Website strategy & UX

Sector focus

Automotive & mobilityEnergy & utilitiesRetail & e-commerceFashion & lifestyleTravel & hospitality

Publicly known clients

Brussels Airport, Van de Velde, LEO reader, NOWJOBS, Proximus, Hyundai, Toyota, Eneco, Wergo, Poppr, Opel, IKO, MSK Gent, Engie, Audi

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

€ 83.159

+25% versus the median

Team composition

2,0 FTE

€ 83.159

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

50,0%

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

Inflow 2025

/

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.