Where is SQLI Digital located?

In Sint-Martens-Latem, Belgium.

How big is SQLI Digital?

Around 49 full-time equivalents (financial year 2023).

Which sectors does SQLI Digital work for?

Energy & environment, Industry & manufacturing, Education & training, Retail & e-commerce, Food & beverage.

Review: SQLI Digital

Q: What is SQLI Digital specialised in?

Campaign concepts & big ideas, Campaign execution, Influencer & creator marketing, Organic social content, Social strategy & platform mix, CRM & lifecycle strategy.

Q: Who are the clients of SQLI Digital?

Among others Puratos, BENT, SWDE, Arvesta, SUDenergie, ATTILA, ArcelorMittal, Brustor, Universiteit Gent, Advanced Power Solutions.

SQLI Digital is een digitaal bureau (web & platform) uit Sint-Martens-Latem. De bezetting ligt rond 49 VTE. De opgegeven expertise is webdevelopment en paid media (sea/social/display). De ervaring zit vooral in retail/e-commerce, fmcg, industrie/manufacturing en utilities/energie. Publiek gekende klanten zijn onder meer Puratos, BENT, SWDE en Arvesta. Het bureau maakt deel uit van een groep.

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

202120222023

Latest year: € 3,13 mln gross margin, growth +22,4% against a sector median of +12,9%.

At or above sector pace

MarginEBITDA / gross margin · value-added coverage

202120222023

SQLI DigitalSector median

EBITDA margin -0,8%, sector median 16,9%. Value-added coverage 0,99 (median 1,16). Value-added coverage sits in the sector-wide grey zone (0.95-1.15): context, not an alarm.

Loss-making

Revenue per headGross margin per FTE, against payroll cost

€ 64.072

Median (2023) € 69.968

Against a payroll cost of € 63.369 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 (2023) € 42

80.206 hours worked, 1.640 per FTE. Against that sits € 39 of payroll cost per hour worked, leaving € 0 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: 3,2 months. Equity in the latest year: € 829.975.

Group entity - see note

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

Cash € 531.867. Liquidity ratio 1,29: current assets cover short-term debt in full. Solvency 27,7%.

Amply covered

Payment behaviourTowards suppliers and towards the NBB

Trade payables correspond to 133 days of supplier credit, sector median 46. The accounts were filed 169 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

No signals in the last 24 months.

What this agency does well

Team grew (+11,9% FTE in the latest year)
No warning signals in the last 24 months
Healthy working capital (current ratio 1,29)
Comfortable cash position: 63 days of payroll
Turnover below the median (17,6%)

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, 2021 to 2023Result, staff and balance sheet

	2021	2022	2023
Result
Gross margin	€ 2,98 mln	€ 2,56 mln-14,2%	€ 3,13 mln+22,4%
EBITDA	€ 637.503	€ -6.850	€ -25.307
EBITDA margin	21,4%	-0,3%	-0,8%
Staff
FTE	41,5	43,7+5,3%	48,9+11,9%
Gross margin per FTE	€ 71.919	€ 58.593	€ 64.072
Payroll cost per FTE	€ 56.510	€ 58.601	€ 63.369
Balance sheet
Equity	€ 1,16 mln	€ 1,01 mln	€ 829.975
Cash	€ 1,19 mln	€ 47.731	€ 531.867
Liquidity ratio	1,58	1,47	1,29

Payroll cost per FTE comes from the social report where available, otherwise from the Remuneration line. Both are gross costs including employer contributions.

Group entity. This agency is a subsidiary of an (international) group. Thin equity at network subsidiaries is often group policy (management fees, dividends to the parent) rather than a distress signal. The buffer dimension is therefore not assessed.

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 2023, filed on 17/06/2024. 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 14 Sep 2026. Sector medians based on financial year 2023: the last year for which nearly all accounts have been filed.

What the agency actually does 14 services

Advertising & Campaigns

Campaign concepts & big ideas Campaign execution

Social, Influencer & Community

Influencer & creator marketing Organic social content Social strategy & platform mix

CRM, Email & Loyalty

CRM & lifecycle strategy Direct marketing & lead management Marketing automation

PR & Reputation

Corporate communication PR strategy & media relations

Employer Brand & Internal

Internal communication

Events, Sponsoring & Activation

Brand activation (incl. guerrilla) Events & experiences Sponsorship & partnerships

Sector focus

Energy & utilitiesFood & beverageB2B servicesEducationRetail & e-commerce

Publicly known clients

PuratosBENTSWDEArvestaSUDenergieATTILAArcelorMittalBrustorUniversiteit GentAdvanced Power Solutions

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

1

People 1 people mapped

PL

Paulo Lourenço

UX/UI 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

€ 63.369

+14% versus the median

Team composition

48,9 FTE

64% women
36% men

Training per FTE

15,6 h

Many agencies fill this field in incompletely.

€ 63.369

Median Digitaal bureau (web & platform) (2023) € 55.792All agencies (2023) € 57.182

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 2023

17,6%

Median for this type of agency (2023): 29,0%

Inflow 2023

11,9%

5,8 FTE in, 8,6 FTE out

Net team change

-2,8 FTE

202120222023

Source: annual accounts and social reports (NBB), collected by IKAg. Financial year 2023. Calculations by IKAg; an indication, not financial advice. Sector medians based on financial year 2023: the last year for which nearly all accounts have been filed.