How big is Smooth Sailing?

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

Which sectors does Smooth Sailing work for?

Energy & environment, Technology & software.

Review: Smooth Sailing

Q: Who are the clients of Smooth Sailing?

Among others Payflip, ecoinvent, Impact us today, Izix, Effex, Flexmail, Dobby, Solventure.

Smooth Sailing is een ux- & designstudio uit Leuven, actief sinds 2022. De bezetting ligt rond 2 VTE. Het aanbod is gericht op ux/ui design. Sectorieel richt het bureau zich vooral op software start-ups en scale-ups en sustainability scale-ups. Tot de publiek bekende klanten behoren Payflip, ecoinvent, Impact us today en Izix.

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

202320242025

Latest year: € 154.561 gross margin, growth -55,9% against a sector median of -3,7%.

Shrinking

MarginEBITDA / gross margin · value-added coverage

202320242025

Smooth SailingSector median

EBITDA margin -20,1%, sector median 15,1%. Value-added coverage 0,83 (median 1,06).

Loss-making

Revenue per headGross margin per FTE, against payroll cost

€ 73.601

Median (2025) € 73.601

Against a payroll cost of € 88.227 per FTE. The ratio between the two is the coverage rate above.

Around the median

Yield levelYield per hour worked, against payroll cost

€ 50

Median (2025) € 46

3.107 hours worked, 1.480 per FTE. Against that sits € 60 of payroll cost per hour worked, leaving € -10 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: -1,7 months (median 3,4 mo). Equity in the latest year: € -25.683.

Critical buffer

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

Cash € 31.486. Liquidity ratio 0,80: current assets cover short-term debt not in full. Solvency -23,4%.

Not covered

Payment behaviourTowards suppliers and towards the NBB

Trade payables correspond to 292 days of supplier credit, sector median 52. The accounts were filed 240 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

2 red flag(s) (24m)

Signals in the last 24 months

Zichtbaarheid verschoven · 1 Nov 2026 · Google Autocomplete
Zichtbaarheid verschoven · 1 Nov 2026 · Google Autocomplete
Zichtbaarheid verschoven · 1 Oct 2026 · Google Autocomplete
Late filing · 28 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.
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.
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.
+ 5 older signals within 24m

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

Comfortable cash position: 62 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.

3 financial years, 2023 to 2025Result, staff and balance sheet

	2023	2024	2025
Result
Gross margin	€ 356.979	€ 350.738-1,7%	€ 154.561-55,9%
EBITDA	€ 77.807	€ 188.501	€ -31.116
EBITDA margin	21,8%	53,7%	-20,1%
Staff
FTE	2,5	2,4-4%	2,1-12,5%
Gross margin per FTE	€ 142.792	€ 146.141	€ 73.601
Payroll cost per FTE	€ 111.669	€ 67.565	€ 88.227
Balance sheet
Equity	€ 5.146	€ 7.326	€ -25.683
Cash	€ 57.309	€ 215.483	€ 31.486
Liquidity ratio	1,02	1,01	0,80

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 28/08/2026. 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 2025: the last year for which nearly all accounts have been filed.

What the agency actually does 1 services

Digital Experience & Tech

Website strategy & UX

Sector focus

Technology & software

Publicly known clients

PayflipecoinventImpact us todayIzixEffexFlexmailDobbySolventure

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

1

People 8 people mapped

The heart of this team is creative: 4 of 8 profiles are makers. Notably, no declared strategists in sight — this agency would rather make than philosophise.

AC

Andreas Creten

Skipper

CV

Caroline Verellen

Product Designer & UX researcher

DP

Dieter Peirs

Product Designer

HD

Hannes D'Hulster

Product lead

IV

Isa Verschraegen

Product Manager

NS

Nicolas Schepers

UX researcher & Designer

SP

Saška Pallayová

Product Designer

SY

Serena Yang

Product Manager

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

€ 88.227

+33% versus the median

Team composition

2,1 FTE

€ 88.227

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.

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

95,2%

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

Inflow 2025

/

202320242025

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.