What is Unlocked specialised in?

Campaign concepts & big ideas, Campaign execution, Organic social content, Social strategy & platform mix, Events & experiences.

Around 15 full-time equivalents (financial year 2024).

Review: Unlocked

Q: Who are the clients of Unlocked?

Among others Wargaming, PGL, OMEN (HP), G2 Esports, Team Liquid, Samsung, TwitchCon Europe, Philips OneBlade.

Unlocked is een eventbureau met thuisbasis in Olen, opgericht in 2010. De bezetting ligt rond 15 VTE. Ze werken rond events, social media en creatie & reclame. Sectorieel richt het bureau zich vooral op gaming, esports en entertainment. Namen die publiek aan dit bureau gelinkt worden: Wargaming, PGL, OMEN (HP) en G2 Esports.

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

202220232024

Latest year: € -80.689 gross margin, growth - against a sector median of +12,7%.

Not enough history

MarginEBITDA / gross margin · value-added coverage

202220232024

UnlockedSector median

EBITDA margin -, sector median 48,1%. Value-added coverage -0,44 (median 1,65).

No margin data

Revenue per headGross margin per FTE, against payroll cost

€ -5.274

Median (2024) € 94.044

Against a payroll cost of € 60.421 per FTE. The ratio between the two is the coverage rate above.

Below the median

Yield levelYield per hour worked, against payroll cost

€ -3

Median (2024) € 54

25.736 hours worked, 1.682 per FTE. Against that sits € 36 of payroll cost per hour worked, leaving € -39 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: 2,0 months (median 12,1 mo). Equity in the latest year: € 150.510.

Thin buffer

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

Cash € 128.819. Liquidity ratio 1,26: current assets cover short-term debt in full. Solvency 7,5%.

Amply covered

Payment behaviourTowards suppliers and towards the NBB

The accounts were filed 273 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

1 red flag(s) (24m)

Signals in the last 24 months

Zichtbaarheid verschoven · 1 Sep 2026 · Google Autocomplete
Late filing · 30 Sep 2025 · 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.
Thin buffer · 31 Dec 2024 · NBB
Equity covers less than three months of payroll. A limited reserve, and at many smaller agencies the normal state of affairs. Ask how the agency absorbs a setback.
Low value-added coverage · 31 Dec 2024 · NBB
Every euro of payroll generates less than 95 cents of added value. That happens in a build-up year, with a lot of subcontracting, or under pressure on rates. Ask what explains it here.
Sharp headcount decline · 31 Dec 2024 · NBB
Average headcount fell by 15% or more in a year. That can be contraction, and just as easily a deliberate choice for fewer but more experienced people. Ask who left and who came in their place.
Two consecutive loss-making years · 31 Dec 2024 · NBB
Two financial years in a row closed at a loss. That can be an investment period, or a client that fell away. Ask what explains the pattern and what has changed since.
+ 1 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

Healthy working capital (current ratio 1,26)

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, 2022 to 2024Result, staff and balance sheet

	2022	2023	2024
Result
Gross margin	€ 7,44 mln	€ -32.562-100,4%	€ -80.689
EBITDA	€ 5,16 mln	€ -1,96 mln	€ -1,33 mln
EBITDA margin	69,4%	-	-
Staff
FTE	22,9	21,8-4,8%	15,3-29,8%
Gross margin per FTE	€ 324.854	€ -1.494	€ -5.274
Payroll cost per FTE	€ 70.345	€ 57.244	€ 60.421
Balance sheet
Equity	€ 4,05 mln	€ 1,78 mln	€ 150.510
Cash	€ 2,22 mln	€ 541.391	€ 128.819
Liquidity ratio	2,95	1,75	1,26

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 2024, filed on 30/09/2025. 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 5 Oct 2026. Sector medians based on financial year 2024: the last year for which nearly all accounts have been filed.

What the agency actually does 5 services

Advertising & Campaigns

Campaign concepts & big ideas Campaign execution

Social, Influencer & Community

Organic social content Social strategy & platform mix

Events, Sponsoring & Activation

Events & experiences

Sector focus

Media & entertainmentTechnology & softwareFMCG

Publicly known clients

WargamingPGLOMEN (HP)G2 EsportsTeam LiquidSamsungTwitchCon EuropePhilips OneBlade

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

€ 60.421

+6% versus the median

Team composition

15,3 FTE

21% women
79% men

€ 60.421

Median Eventbureau (2024) € 56.817All agencies (2024) € 59.045

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 2024

130,7%

Median for this type of agency (2024): 39,6%

Inflow 2024

104,6%

16,0 FTE in, 20,0 FTE out

Net team change

-4,0 FTE

202220232024

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 2024. Calculations by IKAg; an indication, not financial advice. Sector medians based on financial year 2024: the last year for which nearly all accounts have been filed.