Review: Trendwolves

Trendwolves is een contentbureau met thuisbasis in Gent. Het bureau combineert content & copy, strategie, branding & identiteit en pr & communicatie.

ContinuityWatch

GrowthGrowing fast49,7% gross margin versus the previous year · median 8,7%

shrinkinggrowth

ProfitabilityAverage margin31,3% of gross margin remains as EBITDA · median 29,0%

thinample

ResilienceThin balance sheet-105% of the balance sheet is equity · median 35%

thinample

Per-head and per-hour figures say too little here: too few people are on the payroll. This factsheet therefore shows growth, profitability and balance sheet.

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: € 201.146 gross margin, growth +49,7% against a sector median of +8,7%.

At or above sector pace

MarginEBITDA / gross margin · value-added coverage

20212022202320242025

TrendwolvesSector median

EBITDA margin 31,3%, sector median 29%. Value-added coverage 1,55 (median 1,31).

Healthy margin

Revenue per headGross margin per FTE, against payroll cost

€ 105.866

Median (2024) € 81.438

Against a payroll cost of € 56.118 per FTE. The ratio between the two is the coverage rate above.

Above the median

Yield levelYield per hour worked, against payroll cost

€ 56

Median (2024) € 49

3.592 hours worked, 1.891 per FTE. Against that sits € 30 of payroll cost per hour worked, leaving € 26 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: -18,7 months (median 7,3 mo). Equity in the latest year: € -178.118.

Critical buffer

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

Cash € 108.217. Liquidity ratio 1,77: current assets cover short-term debt in full. Solvency -105,3%.

Amply covered

Payment behaviourTowards suppliers and towards the NBB

Trade payables correspond to 7 days of supplier credit, sector median 65. The accounts were filed 190 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

2 red flag(s) (24m)

Signals in the last 24 months

Negative equity · 31 Dec 2024 · NBB
Debts exceed assets. A serious signal: the agency is running on other people's credit.
Critical buffer · 31 Dec 2024 · NBB
Equity covers less than one month of payroll. Very little reserve to absorb a setback.
Late filing · 3 Dec 2024 · NBB
The annual accounts were filed after the statutory deadline. Over a third of the sector does this; rarely alarming in itself.

Click a signal for a plain-language explanation.

What this agency does well

EBITDA margin above the sector median (31,3%)
Profitable in every one of the last 5 years
Team grew (+46,2% FTE in the latest year)
Value-added per euro of payroll above the sector median (1,55)
Healthy working capital (current ratio 1,77)
Comfortable cash position: 370 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	€ 78.000	€ 153.000+96,2%	€ 158.731+3,7%	€ 134.392-15,3%	€ 201.146+49,7%
EBITDA	€ 2.000	€ 94.000	€ 90.777	€ 35.652	€ 62.905
EBITDA margin	2,6%	61,4%	57,2%	26,5%	31,3%
Staff
FTE	1,0	0,5-50%	0,4-20%	1,3+225%	1,9+46,2%
Gross margin per FTE	€ 78.000	€ 306.000	€ 396.829	€ 103.378	€ 105.866
Payroll cost per FTE	€ 40.000	€ 44.000	€ 45.025	€ 54.780	€ 56.118
Balance sheet
Equity	€ -445.000	€ -358.000	€ -270.248	€ -240.182	€ -178.118
Cash	-	-	€ 76.493	€ 36.954	€ 108.217
Liquidity ratio	-	-	1,51	1,49	1,77

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 09/07/2026. 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 7 services

Strategy & Insights

Brand strategy & positioning Marketing strategy

Branding & Design

Brand identity & design

Content & Production

Content strategy & editorial Copywriting & long-form content

PR & Reputation

Corporate communication PR strategy & media relations

Sector focus

Merken/organisaties die jongeren en jonge gezinnen willen bereiken

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

1

People 3 people mapped

LJ

Lena Jacobs

Research lead

NV

Noah Verbeeck

Workshop facilitator

SD

Sofie De Wilde

Trend analyst

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

€ 56.118

-8% versus the median

Team composition

1,9 VTE

€ 56.118

Median Contentbureau (2024) € 60.737All 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

189,5%

Inflow 2025

136,8%

2,6 FTE in, 3,6 FTE out

Net team change

-1,0 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.