Review: Yapado

Yapado is een pr- & communicatiebureau met thuisbasis in Gent. Met ongeveer 3 VTE is dit een klein bureau. De opgegeven expertises zijn pr & communicatie, social media en content & copy. Sectoren waar het bureau vaak werkt: fmcg/lifestyle: food & drinks, beauty & wellness, outdoor & sports en health.

ContinuitySolid6,2 months of wages without income · median 2,9

littlea lot

SeniorityJunior profile€ 37.951 per FTE, € 3.163 a month · median € 63.223

juniorsenior

GrowthShrinking-3,8% gross margin versus the previous year · median 1,3%

shrinkinggrowth

ProfitabilityAverage margin23,6% of gross margin remains as EBITDA · median 11,7%

thinample

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: € 227.477 gross margin, growth -3,8% against a sector median of +1,3%.

Growing slower than the sector

MarginEBITDA / gross margin · value-added coverage

2022202320242025

YapadoSector median

EBITDA margin 23,6%, sector median 11,7%. Value-added coverage 1,33 (median 1,11).

Healthy margin

Revenue per headGross margin per FTE, against payroll cost

€ 75.826

Median (2024) € 72.227

Against a payroll cost of € 37.951 per FTE. The ratio between the two is the coverage rate above.

Around the median

Yield levelYield per hour worked, against payroll cost

€ 45

Median (2024) € 47

5.107 hours worked, 1.647 per FTE. Against that sits € 23 of payroll cost per hour worked, leaving € 22 for premises, equipment, depreciation and profit.

Around 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: 7,7 months (median 7,2 mo). Equity in the latest year: € 104.764.

Adequate buffer

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

Cash € 60.866. Liquidity ratio 1,07: current assets cover short-term debt in full. Solvency 20,7%.

Tightly covered

Payment behaviourTowards suppliers and towards the NBB

Trade payables correspond to 198 days of supplier credit, sector median 91. The accounts were filed 208 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

EBITDA margin above the sector median (23,6%)
Strong buffer: 7,7 months of payroll in equity
Value-added per euro of payroll above the sector median (1,33)
No warning signals in the last 24 months
Equity was earned, not injected (reserves 4,6× the capital contributed)
Comfortable cash position: 189 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.

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

	2022	2023	2024	2025
Result
Gross margin	€ 243.000	€ 197.345-18,8%	€ 236.492+19,8%	€ 227.477-3,8%
EBITDA	€ 85.000	€ 25.041	€ 50.460	€ 53.601
EBITDA margin	35%	12,7%	21,3%	23,6%
Staff
FTE	3,0	3,00%	3,3+10%	3,0-9,1%
Gross margin per FTE	€ 81.000	€ 65.782	€ 71.664	€ 75.826
Payroll cost per FTE	€ 49.333	€ 39.366	€ 45.419	€ 37.951
Balance sheet
Equity	€ 144.000	€ 130.160	€ 111.694	€ 104.764
Cash	-	€ 43.074	€ 44.582	€ 60.866
Liquidity ratio	-	1,37	1,17	1,07

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 25/10/2025. 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 6 services

Content & Production

Content strategy & editorial Copywriting & long-form content

Social, Influencer & Community

Organic social content Social strategy & platform mix

PR & Reputation

Corporate communication PR strategy & media relations

Sector focus

FMCG/lifestyle: food & drinksbeauty & wellnessoutdoor & sportshealthkids

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

€ 37.951

-40% versus the median

Team composition

3,1 VTE

67% women
33% men

€ 37.951

Median PR- & communicatiebureau (2024) € 63.223All 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.

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.