Review: Who Owns The Zebra

Vanuit Sint-Denijs-Westrem werkt Who Owns The Zebra als digitaal bureau (web & platform). Op de loonlijst staan ongeveer 21 voltijdse equivalenten. Het bureau is toegespitst op webdevelopment en ux/ui design. Sectoren waar het bureau vaak werkt: financiele diensten, overheid/publieke sector, media en fmcg/food.

ContinuityUnder pressure2,1 months of wages without income · median 2,8

littlea lot

Team stabilityLittle churn23,5% a year, roughly 1 in 4 · median 28,0%

stablea lot

SenioritySenior profile€ 72.651 per FTE, € 6.054 a month · median € 59.418

juniorsenior

Price levelMarket rate€ 40 per hour worked · median € 45

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: € 1,35 mln gross margin, growth -28,2% against a sector median of +1,3%.

Shrinking

MarginEBITDA / gross margin · value-added coverage

20212022202320242025

Who Owns The ZebraSector median

EBITDA margin -13,6%, sector median 17,6%. Value-added coverage 0,88 (median 1,16).

Loss-making

Revenue per headGross margin per FTE, against payroll cost

€ 64.166

Median (2024) € 74.559

Against a payroll cost of € 72.651 per FTE. The ratio between the two is the coverage rate above.

Below the median

Yield levelYield per hour worked, against payroll cost

€ 40

Median (2024) € 45

33.486 hours worked, 1.595 per FTE. Against that sits € 46 of payroll cost per hour worked, leaving € -5 for premises, equipment, depreciation and profit.

Below 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: -0,9 months (median 4,9 mo). Equity in the latest year: € -110.381.

Critical buffer

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

Cash € 267.014. Liquidity ratio 0,89: current assets cover short-term debt not in full. Solvency -11,4%.

Not covered

Payment behaviourTowards suppliers and towards the NBB

Trade payables correspond to 52 days of supplier credit, sector median 48. The accounts were filed 195 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

Two consecutive loss-making years · 31 Dec 2024 · NBB
The agency closed two financial years in a row at a loss. That is structural and weighs heavier than a single bad year.
Sharp drop in equity · 31 Dec 2024 · NBB
The financial reserve shrank by more than 30% over two financial years. Watch whether the trend continues.
Critical buffer · 31 Dec 2024 · NBB
Equity covers less than one month of payroll. Very little reserve to absorb a setback.

Click a signal for a plain-language explanation.

What this agency does well

Stable team (no meaningful FTE loss)
Comfortable cash position: 64 days of payroll
Turnover below the median (14,3%)

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	€ 1,35 mln	€ 1,65 mln+22,3%	€ 1,60 mln-2,6%	€ 1,88 mln+17%	€ 1,35 mln-28,2%
EBITDA	€ 116.000	€ 160.299	€ -19.714	€ 48.791	€ -183.780
EBITDA margin	8,6%	9,7%	-1,2%	2,6%	-13,6%
Staff
FTE	22,4	25,0+11,6%	24,2-3,2%	21,2-12,4%	21,0-0,9%
Gross margin per FTE	€ 60.089	€ 65.862	€ 66.263	€ 88.525	€ 64.166
Payroll cost per FTE	€ 54.063	€ 58.547	€ 66.284	€ 65.498	€ 72.651
Balance sheet
Equity	€ 481.000	€ 561.058	€ 504.186	€ 94.435	€ -110.381
Cash	-	€ 320.958	€ 33.383	€ 448.620	€ 267.014
Liquidity ratio	-	1,32	1,11	1,05	0,89

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 14/07/2026. 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 2 services

Digital Experience & Tech

Website development Website strategy & UX

Sector focus

financiele dienstenoverheid/publieke sectormediaFMCG/foodretailtelecom/utilities

Publicly known clients

Crelan, Bekaert, De Morgen, Vlaams Parlement, vdk bank, Arenal, Xerius, Levi's, Parentia, Lunch Garden, Agristo, Forum Jobs, 3 Fonteinen, What's Cooking?, Fiberklaar, De Warmste Week

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

1

People 1 people mapped

GW

Guy Wilssens

Client Partner

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

€ 72.651

+22% versus the median

Team composition

21,0 VTE

41% women
60% men

€ 72.651

Median Digitaal bureau (web & platform) (2024) € 59.418All 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

14,3%

Median for this type of agency (2024): 28,0%

Inflow 2025

0,0%

0,0 FTE in, 3,0 FTE out

Net team change

-3,0 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.