Around 20 full-time equivalents (financial year 2025).

Review: Upthrust

Q: What is Upthrust 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 Upthrust?

Among others Hulphond, Vermeulen, Odettes Lunettes, Modulyss, Mora, Reynaers Aluminium, Wasa.

Vanuit Antwerpen werkt Upthrust sinds 2015 als performance- & mediabureau. Er werken ongeveer 20 mensen, uitgedrukt in voltijdse equivalenten. Het bureau is toegespitst op paid media (sea/social/display) en seo. Sectorieel richt het bureau zich vooral op fmcg, financieel, corporates en scale-ups/sme's. Uit de publiek bekende klantenlijst: Hulphond, Vermeulen, Odettes Lunettes en Modulyss.

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: € 1,86 mln gross margin, growth -54% against a sector median of +5,3%.

Shrinking

MarginEBITDA / gross margin · value-added coverage

20212022202320242025

UpthrustSector median

EBITDA margin -5,7%, sector median 28%. Value-added coverage 0,93 (median 1,23).

Loss-making

Revenue per headGross margin per FTE, against payroll cost

€ 92.764

Median (2025) € 76.236

Against a payroll cost of € 81.005 per FTE. The ratio between the two is the coverage rate above.

Above the median

Yield levelYield per hour worked, against payroll cost

€ 57

Median (2025) € 47

32.713 hours worked, 1.636 per FTE. Against that sits € 50 of payroll cost per hour worked, leaving € 7 for premises, equipment, depreciation and profit.

Above 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: 24,1 months (median 6,3 mo). Equity in the latest year: € 3,25 mln.

Adequate buffer

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

Cash € 5,29 mln. Liquidity ratio 0,67: current assets cover short-term debt not in full. Solvency 6,1%.

Not covered

Payment behaviourTowards suppliers and towards the NBB

Trade payables correspond to 67 days of supplier credit, sector median 63. The accounts were filed 160 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

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.
Low value-added coverage · 31 Dec 2025 · 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 2025 · 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.
Loss-making year · 31 Dec 2025 · NBB
One financial year closed at a loss. The size is not shown here: it can be a few thousand euros, a one-off settlement, or a deliberate investment. Ask the agency what was behind it.
Board change · 5 Sep 2025 · Staatsblad
Appointments or resignations on the board. Routine during growth, succession or a new partner. Ask about it when several changes follow each other closely.
Board change · 29 Aug 2025 · Staatsblad
Appointments or resignations on the board. Routine during growth, succession or a new partner. Ask about it when several changes follow each other closely.

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

Strong buffer: 24,1 months of payroll in equity
Comfortable cash position: 1191 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.

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

	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
Result
Gross margin	€ 3,14 mln	€ 3,58 mln+14,1%	€ 3,50 mln-2,2%	€ 4,03 mln+15,1%	€ 1,86 mln-54%
EBITDA	€ 1,59 mln	€ 439.269	€ -349.547	€ 2,20 mln	€ -106.320
EBITDA margin	50,7%	12,3%	-10%	54,7%	-5,7%
Staff
FTE	29,6	40,8+37,8%	40,9+0,2%	36,0-12%	20,0-44,4%
Gross margin per FTE	€ 105.947	€ 87.671	€ 85.572	€ 111.924	€ 92.764
Payroll cost per FTE	€ 51.656	€ 59.785	€ 79.534	€ 79.635	€ 81.005
Balance sheet
Equity	€ 9,10 mln	€ 10,29 mln	€ 7,09 mln	€ 7,93 mln	€ 3,25 mln
Cash	€ 189.886	€ 911.000	€ 846.136	€ 6,31 mln	€ 5,29 mln
Liquidity ratio	0,46	2,67	2,41	0,76	0,67

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 09/06/2026. 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 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

Food & beverageReal estate & constructionFashion & lifestyleTravel & hospitality

Publicly known clients

HulphondVermeulenOdettes LunettesModulyssMoraReynaers AluminiumWasa

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

1

People 7 people mapped

The titles skew top-heavy: lots of seniority, few juniors — you're mostly buying experience. A wide leadership layer: 5 of 7 steer.

CF

Cees Faes

Managing Partner

DD

Dennis De Cat

Managing Partner

GD

Grégory Delens

Managing Partner

SN

Stefan Nuijten

Managing Director

WS

Wouter Stoutjesdijk

Managing Director

ME

Maarten Elshove

MM

Michiel Mol

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

€ 81.005

+30% versus the median

Team composition

20,0 FTE

49% women
51% men

€ 81.005

Median Performance- & mediabureau (2025) € 62.495All 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

82,0%

Median for this type of agency (2025): 25,1%

Inflow 2025

/

20212022202320242025

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.