Around 18 full-time equivalents (financial year 2025).

Review: Sabouge

Sabouge is al ruim dertig jaar actief als productiehuis uit Antwerpen. De bezetting ligt rond 18 VTE.

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

2022202320242025

Latest year: € 946.255 gross margin, growth +2,1% against a sector median of 0%.

At or above sector pace

MarginEBITDA / gross margin · value-added coverage

2022202320242025

SabougeSector median

EBITDA margin 4,5%, sector median 45,7%. Value-added coverage 1,05 (median 1,46). 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

€ 53.765

Median (2025) € 77.875

Against a payroll cost of € 47.187 per FTE. The ratio between the two is the coverage rate above.

Below the median

Yield levelYield per hour worked, against payroll cost

€ 34

Median (2025) € 48

27.692 hours worked, 1.573 per FTE. Against that sits € 30 of payroll cost per hour worked, leaving € 4 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: 3,0 months (median 9,9 mo). Equity in the latest year: € 226.941.

Adequate buffer

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

Cash € 124.440. Liquidity ratio 1,87: current assets cover short-term debt in full. Solvency 50,2%.

Amply covered

Payment behaviourTowards suppliers and towards the NBB

Trade payables correspond to 25 days of supplier credit, sector median 58. The accounts were filed 176 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

No serious signals

Signals in the last 24 months

Registered office moved · 21 Aug 2026 · 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

Gross margin grew 3 years in a row
Outgrew the sector median 3 years running
Profitable in every one of the last 4 years
Team grew (+7,3% FTE in the latest year)
Margin per hour worked rose 3 years in a row
Healthy working capital (current ratio 1,87)
Turnover below the median (11,4%)

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.

4 financial years, 2022 to 2025Result, staff and balance sheet

	2022	2023	2024	2025
Result
Gross margin	€ 587.094	€ 802.569+36,7%	€ 926.751+15,5%	€ 946.255+2,1%
EBITDA	€ 60.106	€ 95.756	€ 68.872	€ 42.939
EBITDA margin	10,2%	11,9%	7,4%	4,5%
Staff
FTE	11,3	14,6+29,2%	16,4+12,3%	17,6+7,3%
Gross margin per FTE	€ 51.955	€ 54.970	€ 56.509	€ 53.765
Payroll cost per FTE	€ 41.610	€ 44.136	€ 47.451	€ 47.187
Balance sheet
Equity	€ 157.540	€ 201.681	€ 221.066	€ 226.941
Cash	€ 229.516	€ 185.581	€ 202.280	€ 124.440
Liquidity ratio	1,49	1,78	1,82	1,87

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 23/12/2025. 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.

Coming soon

We're working on this part of the factsheet.

Coming soon

We're working on this part of the factsheet.

1

People 16 people mapped

The heart of this team is creative: 12 of 16 profiles are makers. Within that core, Motion, Illustratie and Design stand out. A specialist, not a generalist: the expertise is narrow but deep. Notably, no declared strategists in sight — this agency would rather make than philosophise.

B

Bjorn

Head of Studio @ DPG Media

J

Jolien

Head of Studio + Partner

P

Peter

CEO

D

Damien

Motion Designer

E

Eline

Lay-outer

F

Fre

Motion Designer

F

Frederik

Motion Designer

K

Kerry-Vy

Motion Designer

K

Kobe

Lay-outer

K

Koedoe

Office Manager

M

Matthias

Motion Designer

O

Ouren

Motion Designer

R

Raf

Motion Designer + Project Manager

S

Stephanie

Motion Designer

T

Tomas

Motion Designer

Y

Yannis

Motion Designer

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

€ 47.187

-15% versus the median

Team composition

17,6 FTE

23% women
77% men

€ 47.187

Median Productiehuis (2025) € 55.256All 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

11,4%

Median for this type of agency (2025): 30,8%

Inflow 2025

11,4%

2,0 FTE in, 2,0 FTE out

Net team change

0,0 FTE

2022202320242025

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.