What is James Bold specialised in?

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

How big is James Bold?

Around 2 full-time equivalents (financial year 2026).

Review: James Bold

Q: Who are the clients of James Bold?

Among others VCSolutions, De Zutter Art Gallery, Monizze, POM Limburg, De Familiepraktijk, Drylock Technologies, Nowa, Mexico Natie, Ovolo, FTI Supernova, Het Stripmuseum, Nutrisan, Van Dievel Transport, The Backyard, Medisch Huis Curata.

James Bold is een brandingbureau uit Mechelen, actief sinds 2019. Er werken ongeveer 2 mensen, uitgedrukt in voltijdse equivalenten. De focus ligt op strategie, branding & identiteit en webdevelopment. Het zwaartepunt ligt bij opdrachtgevers uit algemeen/kmo (full-service).

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

20222023202420252026

Latest year: € 135.805 gross margin, growth -25,2% against a sector median of +6,6%.

Shrinking

MarginEBITDA / gross margin · value-added coverage

20222023202420252026

James BoldSector median

EBITDA margin 27%, sector median 32,2%. Value-added coverage 1,37 (median 1,29).

Healthy margin

Revenue per headGross margin per FTE, against payroll cost

€ 67.902

Median (2025) € 82.809

Against a payroll cost of € 49.376 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) € 48

3.480 hours worked, 1.740 per FTE. Against that sits € 28 of payroll cost per hour worked, leaving € 11 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: 16,2 months (median 6,3 mo). Equity in the latest year: € 132.940.

Adequate buffer

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

Cash € 26.396. Liquidity ratio 1,77: current assets cover short-term debt in full. Solvency 45,5%.

Amply covered

Payment behaviourTowards suppliers and towards the NBB

Trade payables correspond to 258 days of supplier credit, sector median 68. The accounts were filed 210 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 Sep 2026 · Google Autocomplete
Zichtbaarheid verschoven · 1 Aug 2026 · Google Autocomplete
Late filing · 16 Nov 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.

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

Strong buffer: 16,2 months of payroll in equity
Value-added per euro of payroll above the sector median (1,37)
Healthy working capital (current ratio 1,77)
Equity was earned, not injected (reserves 20,4× the capital contributed)
Comfortable cash position: 98 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, 2022 to 2026Result, staff and balance sheet

	2022	2023	2024	2025	2026
Result
Gross margin	€ 64.686	€ 79.120+22,3%	€ 58.788-25,7%	€ 181.668+209%	€ 135.805-25,2%
EBITDA	€ 56.261	€ 28.180	€ -24.003	€ 76.446	€ 36.680
EBITDA margin	87%	35,6%	-40,8%	42,1%	27%
Staff
FTE	0,3	1,5+400%	2,0+33,3%	2,4+20%	2,0-16,7%
Gross margin per FTE	€ 215.619	€ 52.747	€ 29.394	€ 75.695	€ 67.902
Payroll cost per FTE	€ 27.747	€ 33.826	€ 41.290	€ 43.739	€ 49.376
Balance sheet
Equity	€ 73.213	€ 90.366	€ 59.516	€ 113.062	€ 132.940
Cash	€ 22.875	€ 8.694	€ 5.000	€ 49.571	€ 26.396
Liquidity ratio	1,70	1,74	1,29	1,59	1,77

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 2026, filed on 27/10/2026. 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 development

Sector focus

B2B servicesHealth & pharmaPublic sector & governmentMedia & entertainment

Publicly known clients

VCSolutions, De Zutter Art Gallery, Monizze, POM Limburg, De Familiepraktijk, Drylock Technologies, Nowa, Mexico Natie, Ovolo, FTI Supernova, Het Stripmuseum, Nutrisan, Van Dievel Transport, The Backyard, Medisch Huis Curata

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

1

People 7 people mapped

The heart of this team is creative: 3 of 7 profiles are makers. Within that core, Design, UX/UI Design and Copywriting stand out. One strategist on board — enough to hold the direction, not to fill meetings.

J

Jolien

Account Manager

MM

Matth Mouling

Co-founder & Creative Director

WW

Wim Weetjens

Co-founder & Strategic Director

A

Alexander

Digital Performance Marketeer

L

Laura

Webdesigner

R

Riet

Graphic Designer

S

Sofie

Copywriter

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

€ 49.376

-19% versus the median

Team composition

2,0 FTE

€ 49.376

Median Brandingbureau (2025) € 60.980All 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.

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

83,3%

Median for this type of agency (2025): 38,9%

Inflow 2025

83,3%

2,0 FTE in, 2,0 FTE out

Net team change

0,0 FTE

20222023202420252026

Figures for financial year 2025: in 2026 this agency published no inflow or outflow.

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 2026. 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.