How big is Sweet Mustard?

Around 30 full-time equivalents (financial year 2025).

Which sectors does Sweet Mustard work for?

Energy & environment, Finance & insurance, Industry & manufacturing, Public sector & non-profit, Technology & software.

Review: Sweet Mustard

Q: What is Sweet Mustard specialised in?

Website development, Website strategy & UX.

Q: Who are the clients of Sweet Mustard?

Among others Van Dessel, G&V Energy Group, Vanheede Environment Group, Belgian Pork Group, CrowdSurfer.

Sweet Mustard is een softwarebureau uit Kortrijk, actief sinds 2017. Er werken ongeveer 30 mensen, uitgedrukt in voltijdse equivalenten. Het aanbod is gericht op webdevelopment en ux/ui design. Het zwaartepunt ligt bij opdrachtgevers uit industrie, energie/mobiliteit, verzekeringen en overheid. Tot de publiek bekende klanten behoren Van Dessel, G&V Energy Group, Vanheede Environment Group en Belgian Pork Group.

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: € 2,45 mln gross margin, growth -2,7% against a sector median of +8,7%.

Growing slower than the sector

MarginEBITDA / gross margin · value-added coverage

20212022202320242025

Sweet MustardSector median

EBITDA margin 8,8%, sector median 23%. Value-added coverage 1,10 (median 1,19). 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

€ 81.175

Median (2025) € 82.528

Against a payroll cost of € 73.759 per FTE. The ratio between the two is the coverage rate above.

Around the median

Yield levelYield per hour worked, against payroll cost

€ 52

Median (2025) € 53

47.546 hours worked, 1.574 per FTE. Against that sits € 47 of payroll cost per hour worked, leaving € 5 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: 6,7 months (median 6,7 mo). Equity in the latest year: € 1,24 mln.

Adequate buffer

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

Cash € 22.257. Liquidity ratio 1,60: current assets cover short-term debt in full. Solvency 44,4%.

Amply covered

Payment behaviourTowards suppliers and towards the NBB

Trade payables correspond to 38 days of supplier credit, sector median 43. The accounts were filed 208 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

Zichtbaarheid verschoven · 1 Aug 2026 · Google Autocomplete
Zichtbaarheid verschoven · 1 Aug 2026 · Google Autocomplete

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

Profitable in every one of the last 5 years
Strong buffer: 6,7 months of payroll in equity
Margin per hour worked rose 2 years in a row
Healthy working capital (current ratio 1,60)
Equity was earned, not injected (reserves 7,3× the capital contributed)
Turnover below the median (6,6%)

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.

5 financial years, 2021 to 2025Result, staff and balance sheet

	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
Result
Gross margin	€ 2,74 mln	€ 2,68 mln-2,2%	€ 1,85 mln-31,2%	€ 2,52 mln+36,5%	€ 2,45 mln-2,7%
EBITDA	€ 647.782	€ 500.389	€ 216.686	€ 322.250	€ 214.669
EBITDA margin	23,6%	18,6%	11,7%	12,8%	8,8%
Staff
FTE	35,8	37,3+4,2%	32,8-12,1%	32,80%	30,2-7,9%
Gross margin per FTE	€ 76.650	€ 71.979	€ 56.292	€ 76.824	€ 81.175
Payroll cost per FTE	€ 58.298	€ 58.383	€ 49.393	€ 64.684	€ 73.759
Balance sheet
Equity	€ 863.019	€ 1,19 mln	€ 1,32 mln	€ 1,52 mln	€ 1,24 mln
Cash	€ 22.186	€ 19.416	€ 260.238	€ 183.912	€ 22.257
Liquidity ratio	1,41	1,76	1,78	2,02	1,60

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 27/07/2026. 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 2 services

Digital Experience & Tech

Website development Website strategy & UX

Sector focus

Finance & insuranceEnergy & utilitiesPublic sector & governmentTelecomFood & beverage

Publicly known clients

Van DesselG&V Energy GroupVanheede Environment GroupBelgian Pork GroupCrowdSurfer

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

1

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

€ 73.759

+1% versus the median

Team composition

30,2 FTE

24% women
77% men

€ 73.759

Median Softwarebureau (2025) € 72.781All 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.

2

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

6,6%

Median for this type of agency (2025): 29,1%

Inflow 2025

13,2%

4,0 FTE in, 2,0 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.