How big is Burson Cohn & Wolfe?

Around 59 full-time equivalents (financial year 2025).

Review: Burson Cohn & Wolfe

Sinds 1983 is Burson Cohn & Wolfe actief als pr- & communicatiebureau uit Brussel. De bezetting ligt rond 59 VTE.

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

2022202320242025

Latest year: € 9,82 mln gross margin, growth -0,7% against a sector median of +1,2%.

Growing slower than the sector

MarginEBITDA / gross margin · value-added coverage

2022202320242025

Burson Cohn & WolfeSector median

EBITDA margin 33,6%, sector median 25,6%. Value-added coverage 1,50 (median 1,29).

Healthy margin

Revenue per headGross margin per FTE, against payroll cost

€ 166.361

Median (2025) € 83.630

Against a payroll cost of € 111.920 per FTE. The ratio between the two is the coverage rate above.

Above the median

Yield levelYield per hour worked, against payroll cost

€ 100

Median (2025) € 50

98.539 hours worked, 1.670 per FTE. Against that sits € 67 of payroll cost per hour worked, leaving € 33 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: 4,6 months (median 12,2 mo). Equity in the latest year: € 2,54 mln.

Adequate buffer

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

Cash € 113.535. Liquidity ratio 1,57: current assets cover short-term debt in full. Solvency 39,4%.

Amply covered

Payment behaviourTowards suppliers and towards the NBB

Trade payables correspond to 11 days of supplier credit, sector median 71. The accounts were filed 119 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

Board change · 17 Oct 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.
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.
Board change · 7 Mar 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 · 11 Feb 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

EBITDA margin above the sector median (33,6%)
Profitable in every one of the last 4 years
Value-added per euro of payroll above the sector median (1,50)
Margin per hour worked rose 2 years in a row
Healthy working capital (current ratio 1,57)

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.

4 financial years, 2022 to 2025Result, staff and balance sheet

	2022	2023	2024	2025
Result
Gross margin	€ 9,81 mln	€ 9,70 mln-1,2%	€ 9,88 mln+1,9%	€ 9,82 mln-0,7%
EBITDA	€ 1,99 mln	€ 1,67 mln	€ 2,47 mln	€ 3,30 mln
EBITDA margin	20,3%	17,3%	25%	33,6%
Staff
FTE	71,8	73,3+2,1%	65,5-10,6%	59,0-9,9%
Gross margin per FTE	€ 136.626	€ 132.271	€ 150.867	€ 166.361
Payroll cost per FTE	€ 94.560	€ 100.715	€ 112.837	€ 111.920
Balance sheet
Equity	€ 2,58 mln	€ 1,80 mln	€ 2,66 mln	€ 2,54 mln
Cash	€ 304.018	€ 1,25 mln	€ 406.928	€ 113.535
Liquidity ratio	1,69	1,55	2,02	1,57

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 29/04/2026. 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.

Coming soon

We're working on this part of the factsheet.

Coming soon

We're working on this part of the factsheet.

1

People 14 people mapped

The titles skew top-heavy: lots of seniority, few juniors — you're mostly buying experience. A wide leadership layer: 11 of 14 steer. Notably, no declared strategists in sight — this agency would rather make than philosophise.

AC

Andrew Cecil

Belgium CEO

CG

Chiara Gaudenzi-Morandi

Belgium Head of Energy & Industrials

DN

Daniela Negri

Belgium Head of Health

DB

Dimitri Banas

Belgium Head of Technology

EC

Emmanuel Chantelot

Belgium Managing Director, Healthcare and Corporate Advisory

FR

Federica Rizzo

Belgium Director

FB

François Bailly

Belgium Head of Belgian Practice

GW

Gesa Winkens

Belgium Director

LB

Laure Brochet

Belgium Director

LM

Lawrie McLaren

Belgium Senior Managing Director

SD

Sarah Debbiche Krichen

Belgium Director

GG

Greta Gietz

Belgium Head of Corporate & Public Affairs and New Business

ND

Nil Dogan

Belgium Chief Financial Officer

RS

Ray Southward

Belgium Chief People Officer

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

€ 111.920

+82% versus the median

Team composition

59,0 FTE

55% women
45% men

€ 111.920

Median PR- & communicatiebureau (2025) € 61.577All 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

55,6%

Median for this type of agency (2025): 35,1%

Inflow 2025

49,2%

29,0 FTE in, 32,8 FTE out

Net team change

-3,8 FTE

2022202320242025

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.