What is Sparkel specialised in?

Brand strategy & positioning, Marketing strategy, Brand identity & design, Content strategy & editorial, Copywriting & long-form content.

Around 3 full-time equivalents (financial year 2025).

Review: Sparkel

Q: Who are the clients of Sparkel?

Among others S.O.S. Renting, EVI milieuadvies, Sack Zelfbouw, Injectis, Decebra, Bike Care Wim, Caravan expo, Willy Naessens Group, Clarysse Dranken, Waregem Koerse, Maisonie, Gemeente Maarkedal, Devagro, Brustor, Meliopus.

Sparkel bestaat sinds 2021 en profileert zich als full-service bureau uit Ronse. Met ongeveer 3 VTE is dit een klein bureau. Het aanbod bestrijkt strategie, branding & identiteit en content & copy. Sectoren waar het bureau vaak werkt: kmo's in oost-vlaanderen die externe marketingmanager zoeken.

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: € 206.816 gross margin, growth -6,7% against a sector median of +1,7%.

Shrinking

MarginEBITDA / gross margin · value-added coverage

2022202320242025

SparkelSector median

EBITDA margin 41,5%, sector median 23,9%. Value-added coverage 1,72 (median 1,27).

Healthy margin

Revenue per headGross margin per FTE, against payroll cost

€ 76.599

Median (2025) € 78.251

Against a payroll cost of € 43.924 per FTE. The ratio between the two is the coverage rate above.

Around the median

Yield levelYield per hour worked, against payroll cost

€ 46

Median (2025) € 49

4.449 hours worked, 1.648 per FTE. Against that sits € 27 of payroll cost per hour worked, leaving € 20 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: 4,3 months (median 5,8 mo). Equity in the latest year: € 43.067.

Adequate buffer

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

Cash € 117.726. Liquidity ratio 1,42: current assets cover short-term debt in full. Solvency 8,6%.

Amply covered

Payment behaviourTowards suppliers and towards the NBB

Trade payables correspond to 49 days of supplier credit, sector median 54. The accounts were filed 31 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 Oct 2026 · Google Autocomplete
Zichtbaarheid verschoven · 1 Sep 2026 · Google Autocomplete
Zichtbaarheid verschoven · 1 Aug 2026 · Google Autocomplete
Sharp drop in equity · 30 Sep 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.

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 (41,5%)
Profitable in every one of the last 4 years
Value-added per euro of payroll above the sector median (1,72)
Healthy working capital (current ratio 1,42)
Equity was earned, not injected (reserves 13,4× the capital contributed)
Comfortable cash position: 362 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.

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

	2022	2023	2024	2025
Result
Gross margin	€ 77.434	€ 135.015+74,4%	€ 221.579+64,1%	€ 206.816-6,7%
EBITDA	€ 68.779	€ 72.188	€ 72.862	€ 85.902
EBITDA margin	88,8%	53,5%	32,9%	41,5%
Staff
FTE	0,2	1,7+750%	3,4+100%	2,7-20,6%
Gross margin per FTE	€ 387.169	€ 79.421	€ 65.170	€ 76.599
Payroll cost per FTE	€ 26.669	€ 36.353	€ 43.048	€ 43.924
Balance sheet
Equity	€ 55.693	€ 108.978	€ 122.728	€ 43.067
Cash	€ 32.985	€ 111.067	€ 112.013	€ 117.726
Liquidity ratio	2,50	3,66	2,03	1,42

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 31/10/2025. 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.

What the agency actually does 5 services

Strategy & Insights

Brand strategy & positioning Marketing strategy

Branding & Design

Brand identity & design

Content & Production

Content strategy & editorial Copywriting & long-form content

Sector focus

Real estate & constructionFood & beverageB2B servicesPublic sector & governmentRetail & e-commerce

Publicly known clients

S.O.S. Renting, EVI milieuadvies, Sack Zelfbouw, Injectis, Decebra, Bike Care Wim, Caravan expo, Willy Naessens Group, Clarysse Dranken, Waregem Koerse, Maisonie, Gemeente Maarkedal, Devagro, Brustor, Meliopus

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

1

People 9 people mapped

Digital marketing is the engine: 4 of 9 profiles sit there. Notably, no declared strategists in sight — this agency would rather make than philosophise.

KD

Kelly De Pourcq

E

Eline

J

Jarno

J

Jeroen

M

Marlies

M

Michiel

P

Plumeau

S

Sarah

S

Sienna

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

€ 43.924

-27% versus the median

Team composition

2,7 FTE

63% women
37% men

€ 43.924

Median Full-service bureau (2025) € 60.368All 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

59,3%

Median for this type of agency (2025): 31,1%

Inflow 2025

29,6%

0,8 FTE in, 1,6 FTE out

Net team change

-0,8 FTE

2022202320242025

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.