Review: City Cubes

Vanuit Antwerpen werkt City Cubes als eventbureau. De bezetting ligt rond 12 VTE. De dienstverlening draait om events en creatie & reclame.

ContinuitySolid7,1 months of wages without income · median 10,0

littlea lot

Team stabilityLittle churn44,2% a year, roughly 1 in 2 · median 47,4%

stablea lot

SeniorityMixed profile€ 53.076 per FTE, € 4.423 a month · median € 56.555

juniorsenior

Price levelMarket rate€ 69 per hour worked · median € 53

keentop

Awards

11× BEA Awards

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

2021202220232024

Latest year: € 1,38 mln gross margin, growth +12,7% against a sector median of +30,3%.

Growing slower than the sector

MarginEBITDA / gross margin · value-added coverage

2021202220232024

City CubesSector median

EBITDA margin 48,6%, sector median 46,8%. Value-added coverage 2,06 (median 1,65).

Healthy margin

Revenue per headGross margin per FTE, against payroll cost

€ 115.768

Median (2024) € 88.262

Against a payroll cost of € 53.076 per FTE. The ratio between the two is the coverage rate above.

Above the median

Yield levelYield per hour worked, against payroll cost

€ 69

Median (2024) € 53

19.906 hours worked, 1.673 per FTE. Against that sits € 32 of payroll cost per hour worked, leaving € 37 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: 24,4 months (median 11,8 mo). Equity in the latest year: € 1,28 mln.

Adequate buffer

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

Cash € 371.405. Liquidity ratio 1,49: current assets cover short-term debt in full. Solvency 35%.

Amply covered

Payment behaviourTowards suppliers and towards the NBB

Trade payables correspond to 247 days of supplier credit, sector median 100. The accounts were filed 212 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 3 years in a row
EBITDA margin above the sector median (48,6%)
Strong buffer: 24,4 months of payroll in equity
Team grew (+16,7% FTE in the latest year)
Value-added per euro of payroll above the sector median (2,06)
No warning signals in the last 24 months
Healthy working capital (current ratio 1,49)
Equity was earned, not injected (reserves 54,7× the capital contributed)
Comfortable cash position: 215 days of payroll
Turnover below the median (16,8%)

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, 2021 to 2024Result, staff and balance sheet

	2021	2022	2023	2024
Result
Gross margin	€ 105.000	€ 893.610+751,1%	€ 1,22 mln+36,8%	€ 1,38 mln+12,7%
EBITDA	€ -238.000	€ 418.771	€ 418.055	€ 670.134
EBITDA margin	-226,7%	46,9%	34,2%	48,6%
Staff
FTE	6,8	9,2+35,3%	10,2+10,9%	11,9+16,7%
Gross margin per FTE	€ 15.441	€ 97.131	€ 119.866	€ 115.768
Payroll cost per FTE	€ 47.794	€ 46.701	€ 49.903	€ 53.076
Balance sheet
Equity	€ 664.000	€ 932.279	€ 1,04 mln	€ 1,28 mln
Cash	-	€ 555.254	€ 1,78 mln	€ 371.405
Liquidity ratio	-	1,51	1,94	1,49

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 31/07/2025. 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 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 35 services

Strategy & Insights

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

Branding & Design

Brand identity & design Packaging design Product & service design

Advertising & Campaigns

Campaign concepts & big ideas Campaign execution Performance creative & DCO

Content & Production

Content strategy & editorial

Media

Digital & programmatic buying Media strategy & planning Offline buying (TV, radio, print, OOH) 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 Internal communication Recruitment campaigns

Events, Sponsoring & Activation

Brand activation (incl. guerrilla) Events & experiences Sponsorship & partnerships

Sector focus

Merken en (reclame)bureaus die brand activation/events zoeken; Benelux

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

€ 53.076

-6% versus the median

Team composition

11,9 VTE

39% women
61% men

Training per FTE

0,0 u

Many agencies fill this field in incompletely.

€ 53.076

Median Eventbureau (2024) € 56.555All 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.

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

16,8%

Median for this type of agency (2024): 47,4%

Inflow 2024

25,2%

3,0 FTE in, 2,0 FTE out

Net team change

+1,0 VTE

2021202220232024

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.

Award-winning work 11 award(s)

2025

BEA Awards GoldBusiness-to-Consumer · “Samsung Ferris Wheel” · source ↗

2024

BEA Awards SilverB2C Events · “MINI Big Love Boat (BMW Group)” · source ↗
BEA Awards GoldB2B Events · “Boss Art Deco (BOSS Paints)” · source ↗
BEA Awards SilverInstitutional Events · “FTI Slotfestival” · source ↗

2023

BEA Awards GoldInstitutional Events · “FTI Express (Vlaamse Overheid)” · source ↗

2022

BEA Awards GoldB2C Events · “DS Podcastfestival (Mediahuis)” · source ↗

2021

BEA Awards GoldB2C Events · “Smile Safari” · source ↗

2019

BEA Awards GoldB2C Events · “Straffe Kost (Lidl)” · source ↗

2018

BEA Awards SilverB2C Events · “Lidl Pop-Up store at Tomorrowland (Lidl)” · source ↗

2017

BEA Awards BronzeB2C Events · “Kaffee van Antwerpen” · source ↗

2016

BEA Awards Bronze“Next Level: Het Grootste Licht van De Standaard” · source ↗

As published by the organising award shows, collected by IKAg.