Review: BoostU

BoostU is een performance- & mediabureau met thuisbasis in Herentals. Op de loonlijst staan ongeveer 13 voltijdse equivalenten. Het aanbod bestrijkt paid media (sea/social/display), data & analytics en crm & marketing automation. Publiek gekende klanten zijn onder meer Heylen Group (Merkado); samenwerking met BossData.

ContinuitySolid2,1 months of wages without income · median 3,9

littlea lot

Team stabilityLittle churn22,2% a year, roughly 1 in 5 · median 37,6%

stablea lot

SeniorityMixed profile€ 66.846 per FTE, € 5.571 a month · median € 59.168

juniorsenior

Price levelMarket rate€ 51 per hour worked · median € 46

keentop

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: € 1,11 mln gross margin, growth +35,3% against a sector median of +7,8%.

At or above sector pace

MarginEBITDA / gross margin · value-added coverage

20212022202320242025

BoostUSector median

EBITDA margin 19,8%, sector median 27,8%. Value-added coverage 1,25 (median 1,31).

Healthy margin

Revenue per headGross margin per FTE, against payroll cost

€ 83.882

Median (2024) € 76.969

Against a payroll cost of € 66.846 per FTE. The ratio between the two is the coverage rate above.

Above the median

Yield levelYield per hour worked, against payroll cost

€ 51

Median (2024) € 46

21.843 hours worked, 1.655 per FTE. Against that sits € 40 of payroll cost per hour worked, leaving € 10 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: 7,3 months (median 5,3 mo). Equity in the latest year: € 533.520.

Adequate buffer

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

Cash € 156.771. Liquidity ratio 1,92: current assets cover short-term debt in full. Solvency 48,8%.

Amply covered

Payment behaviourTowards suppliers and towards the NBB

Trade payables correspond to 108 days of supplier credit, sector median 53. The accounts were filed 159 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

Gross margin grew 4 years in a row
Profitable in every one of the last 5 years
Strong buffer: 7,3 months of payroll in equity
Team grew (+26,9% FTE in the latest year)
No warning signals in the last 24 months
Margin per hour worked rose 2 years in a row
Healthy working capital (current ratio 1,92)
Comfortable cash position: 65 days of payroll
Turnover below the median (15,2%)

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	€ 487.000	€ 499.000+2,5%	€ 689.967+38,3%	€ 818.652+18,7%	€ 1,11 mln+35,3%
EBITDA	€ 92.000	€ 75.000	€ 182.263	€ 278.221	€ 218.886
EBITDA margin	18,9%	15%	26,4%	34%	19,8%
Staff
FTE	9,4	8,0-14,9%	9,0+12,5%	10,4+15,6%	13,2+26,9%
Gross margin per FTE	€ 51.809	€ 62.375	€ 76.663	€ 78.717	€ 83.882
Payroll cost per FTE	€ 45.106	€ 54.875	€ 58.891	€ 64.070	€ 66.846
Balance sheet
Equity	€ 102.000	€ 120.000	€ 213.566	€ 415.010	€ 533.520
Cash	-	-	€ 170.233	€ 158.086	€ 156.771
Liquidity ratio	-	-	1,24	1,78	1,92

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 08/06/2026. 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 27 Jul 2026. Sector medians based on financial year 2024: the last year for which nearly all accounts have been filed.

What the agency actually does 29 services

Strategy & Insights

AI & innovation strategy Brand strategy & positioning Customer & audience strategy

Branding & Design

Brand identity & design

Advertising & Campaigns

Campaign concepts & big ideas Campaign execution Performance creative & DCO

Content & Production

Content strategy & editorial

Media

Digital & programmatic buying Media strategy & planning Search advertising (SEA)

Social, Influencer & Community

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

Digital Experience & Tech

E-commerce (incl. payment) Mobile apps & PWAs SEO & GEO Website development Website strategy & UX

CRM, Email & Loyalty

CRM & lifecycle strategy Direct marketing & lead management Marketing automation

Data, Measurement & Governance

Dashboards & reporting Data science & analytics (incl. predictive modelling)

PR & Reputation

Corporate communication PR strategy & media relations

Employer Brand & Internal

Employer brand strategy Recruitment campaigns

Events, Sponsoring & Activation

Brand activation (incl. guerrilla)

Sector focus

ambitieuze scale-ups / internationaal groeiende bedrijven, e-commerce/marketplaces

Publicly known clients

Heylen Group (Merkado); samenwerking met BossData

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

1

People 15 people mapped

Digital marketing is the engine: 6 of 15 profiles sit there. Within that core, SEA and Analytics stand out. There are 3 strategists around — expect thinking first, pixels second.

N

Nick

Founder

A

Ann-Sophie

Team lead & strategist

A

Annelies

Performance marketeer

C

Cara

Performance marketeer

C

Charlotte

Team lead & strategist

E

Emma

Digital Recruitment Creative

H

Hendrik

Performance marketeer

J

Jim

Applied AI Strategist

J

Jonas

Performance marketeer

K

Karen

Performance marketeer

P

Pieter

Developer

P

Plien

Digital Recruitment Consultant

R

Ruben

Designer

S

Sofie

Performance marketeer

S

Steffi

Performance Project Manager

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

€ 66.846

+13% versus the median

Team composition

13,2 VTE

67% women
33% men

€ 66.846

Median Performance- & mediabureau (2024) € 59.168All agencies (2024) € 59.129

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

15,2%

Median for this type of agency (2024): 37,6%

Inflow 2025

42,4%

5,6 FTE in, 2,0 FTE out

Net team change

+3,6 VTE

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 2024: the last year for which nearly all accounts have been filed.