Where is Novation located?

In Houthalen-Helchteren, Belgium.

What is Novation specialised in?

AI & innovation strategy, Brand strategy & positioning, Customer & audience strategy, Brand identity & design, Campaign concepts & big ideas, Campaign execution.

Around 8 full-time equivalents (financial year 2025).

Review: Novation: web agency

Q: Who are the clients of Novation?

Among others Visit Limburg, De Vlaamse Waterweg, (Visit) Maaseik, Impuls Communicatie.

Novation is een digitaal bureau (web & platform) uit Helchteren, actief sinds 2008. Het team telt ongeveer 8 medewerkers (VTE). Het bureau is toegespitst op webdevelopment. Het zwaartepunt ligt bij opdrachtgevers uit limburgse kmo's en organisaties.

Drupal websites, webshops en webapplicaties
Novation bouwt websites, webshops en webapplicaties, gebaseerd op Drupal. Belangrijke extra: ze zijn Anysurfer Certified om toegankelijke websites te bouwen.
Ze werken vooral voor overheden, vzw’s en organisaties uit de toeristische sector.
Novation bestaat uit een team van 15 VTE, waaronder:

1 zaakvoerder/sales
2 designers
10 developers
2 projectmanagers

Zelf omschrijven ze hun cultuur als: menselijk, gedreven, expertise
Waarin ze willen groeien: digitale marketing

Referentieklanten: Visit Limburg, De Vlaamse Waterweg, (Visit) Maaseik, Impuls Communicatie
Gepercipieerde concurrenten: Inventis, Yappa, iO, Expliciet
Tech stack: Drupal
Ondernemingsnummer: 0808.730.372
Gemiddelde klantgrootte: 40k

Awards & Partnerships

2× Feweb Excellence Awards

1× WebAward.be

HubSpot Partner

Who do they see as competitors?

Expliciet Inventis iO Yappa

As indicated by the agency itself.

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: € 607.981 gross margin, growth +6,7% against a sector median of +3,1%.

At or above sector pace

MarginEBITDA / gross margin · value-added coverage

20212022202320242025

NovationSector median

EBITDA margin 25,4%, sector median 22,6%. Value-added coverage 1,34 (median 1,23).

Healthy margin

Revenue per headGross margin per FTE, against payroll cost

€ 76.960

Median (2025) € 77.398

Against a payroll cost of € 56.944 per FTE. The ratio between the two is the coverage rate above.

Around the median

Yield levelYield per hour worked, against payroll cost

€ 47

Median (2025) € 48

12.886 hours worked, 1.631 per FTE. Against that sits € 35 of payroll cost per hour worked, leaving € 12 for premises, equipment, depreciation and profit.

Around 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: 4,7 months (median 5,3 mo). Equity in the latest year: € 177.904.

Adequate buffer

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

Cash € 172.716. Liquidity ratio 1,46: current assets cover short-term debt in full. Solvency 37,9%.

Amply covered

Payment behaviourTowards suppliers and towards the NBB

Trade payables correspond to 31 days of supplier credit, sector median 46. The accounts were filed 175 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

Points to ask about

Signals in the last 24 months

Zichtbaarheid verschoven · 1 Nov 2026 · Google Autocomplete
Zichtbaarheid verschoven · 1 Nov 2026 · Google Autocomplete
Zichtbaarheid verschoven · 1 Sep 2026 · Google Autocomplete
Zichtbaarheid verschoven · 1 Aug 2026 · Google Autocomplete
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.

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 (25,4%)
Profitable in every one of the last 5 years
Value-added per euro of payroll above the sector median (1,34)
Healthy working capital (current ratio 1,46)
Comfortable cash position: 140 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	€ 362.218	€ 467.782+29,1%	€ 596.280+27,5%	€ 570.063-4,4%	€ 607.981+6,7%
EBITDA	€ 85.016	€ 17.626	€ 153.867	€ 78.049	€ 154.155
EBITDA margin	23,5%	3,8%	25,8%	13,7%	25,4%
Staff
FTE	6,7	9,8+46,3%	8,7-11,2%	9,5+9,2%	7,9-16,8%
Gross margin per FTE	€ 54.062	€ 47.733	€ 68.538	€ 60.007	€ 76.960
Payroll cost per FTE	€ 41.215	€ 43.836	€ 50.564	€ 51.570	€ 56.944
Balance sheet
Equity	€ 131.033	€ 131.093	€ 158.743	€ 161.258	€ 177.904
Cash	€ 106.715	€ 86.439	€ 121.037	€ 135.515	€ 172.716
Liquidity ratio	1,76	1,19	1,42	1,40	1,46

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 24/06/2026. 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 28 services

Strategy & Insights

AI & innovation strategy Brand strategy & positioning Customer & audience strategy

Branding & Design

Brand identity & design

Advertising & Campaigns

Campaign concepts & big ideas Campaign execution Performance creative & DCO

Content & Production

Content strategy & editorial

Media

Digital & programmatic buying Media strategy & planning Search advertising (SEA)

Social, Influencer & Community

Organic social content Social strategy & platform mix

Digital Experience & Tech

E-commerce (incl. payment) Mobile apps & PWAs Platform implementation (CMS, DXP, DAM, PIM) SEO & GEO Website development Website strategy & UX

CRM, Email & Loyalty

CRM & lifecycle strategy Direct marketing & lead management Marketing automation

Data, Measurement & Governance

Dashboards & reporting Data science & analytics (incl. predictive modelling)

PR & Reputation

Corporate communication

Employer Brand & Internal

Employer brand strategy Recruitment campaigns

Events, Sponsoring & Activation

Brand activation (incl. guerrilla)

Sector focus

Health & pharmaPublic sector & governmentTravel & hospitalityFood & beverageReal estate & construction

Publicly known clients

Ziekenhuis Oost-Limburg, Kind & Samenleving, De Vlaamse Waterweg nv, Visit Limburg, AXI, VLIR-UOS, Brouwerij Martens, Algeco, ElaN Languages, STG-Group, Dekens Group, Barú, Koll Grooming, BAJ Beton, Thema Travel

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

1

People 5 people mapped

This is first a build crew — 3 of 5 are developers. A specialist, not a generalist: the expertise is narrow but deep. A small team: short lines, little noise between you and the makers.

ED

Ewout Duyck

KN

Kenny Noten

LC

Lies Cuppens

Project Manager

NK

Nicky Kerfs

RV

Robin Vanbriel

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

€ 56.944

-10% versus the median

Team composition

7,9 FTE

28% women
73% men

€ 56.944

Median Digitaal bureau (web & platform) (2025) € 63.343All 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

30,4%

Median for this type of agency (2025): 27,9%

Inflow 2025

5,1%

0,4 FTE in, 2,4 FTE out

Net team change

-2,0 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 2025: the last year for which nearly all accounts have been filed.

Official partnerships 1 badge(s)

HubSpot: Partner1 of 28 Belgian partners in the IKAg database.

As published in the platforms' official partner directories, collected by IKAg.

Award-winning work 3 award(s)

2022

Feweb Excellence Awards WinnerAccessibility Champ · “Symfoon.be” · source ↗

2019

Feweb Excellence Awards Grand PrixWebshop of the Year · “Kambukka.be” · source ↗
WebAward.be WinnerWebshop of the Year · “Kambukka.be” · source ↗

As published by the organising award shows, collected by IKAg.