Forging of metal

NACE 25401

Current registrations962

Starters, 12 months · division 25587

Employment (FTE) · division 2557,790

Median age · division 2512.1 years

In NACE division 25, 5.4 companies per 100 started in the past twelve months, against 7.5 nationally; that is lower than that of 66% of the 87 NACE divisions with this figure. Comparison: as of 26-10-2026 05:30.

Key figures for NACE division 25

financial year 2025 · median over 4,379 filed annual accounts

Median solvency

45.2%

higher than 54% of the 79 divisions with this figure

Median equity

€180,613

higher than 59% of the 79 divisions with this figure

Median net result

€20,175

higher than 65% of the 79 divisions with this figure

Annual accounts in sample

4,379

Foreign control in NACE division 25

5,926 registered companies

Companies with a foreign parent

0.8%

49 of 5,926; Belgium 0.3%

Staff at those companies

13%

5,465 of 41,701 FTE; Belgium 15%

Main parent countries: Netherlands (12), Germany (7) and France (7).Show on the map by municipality

Staff cost per FTE in NACE division 25

1,471 employers

Median

€62,900

Belgium €61,400

Middle half

€54,100 to €73,000

half of the employers lie between

Place among sectors

50 of 78

sectors with a median staff cost per FTE, highest first

By size class
Size	Median	Middle half	Employers
fewer than 10 FTE	€59,500	€49,600 to €68,900	711
10 to 49 FTE	€65,600	€57,300 to €74,500	620
50 to 249 FTE	€70,200	€63,900 to €79,800	119
250 FTE or more	€83,600	€77,100 to €95,300	21

Employers with the highest staff cost per FTE in this division All sectors by staff cost In the Analysis workbench

Bankruptcies

past five years

Bankruptcies (5y)

Historical share

1.77%

Nationally, 1.61% of current registrations have a published bankruptcy opening in the past five years. This sector's historical share is higher than that of 67% of the 88 NACE divisions with this figure. The median bankruptcy probability in NACE division 25 is 0.4%, against 0.2% nationally, over 6,100 scored companies. Comparison: as of 26-10-2026 05:30.

Bankruptcies still running

NACE division 25

Running bankruptcies

196

Half have run longer than

22 months

Belgium: 20 months

Longer than three years

37%

Belgium: 31%

Measured nationally: Of 108,300 bankruptcies of legal entities across Belgium, 49% were closed within five years for insufficient assets and 28% after liquidation, 3% were withdrawn; 20% were still open after five years. Half had ended after 26 months (a quarter after 15, three quarters after 51 months).

Counts companies with this main activity in the register on 27 October 2026. The outcome itself is not measured by sector: the activity of a company that leaves the register after its bankruptcy is too often not kept to compare closed cases fairly.

Outcome by court and division

Regional split

by region · 479 of 962 enterprises with a registered office on file

Flanders 299 · 62.4%

Wallonia 168 · 35.1%

Brussels 12 · 2.5%

Recent bankruptcies in this sector

Date	Company
09-10-2026	R&F CONSTRUCT BE 0467.063.413
26-05-2026	Boone-Metaal BE 1021.195.214
29-04-2026	NOKKELE BE 0760.349.049
02-01-2026	Lenaerts Group BE 0740.486.023
26-09-2025	Robin Lemaire BE 0607.948.389
23-06-2025	Labat, Laurent BE 0840.095.323 · sole trader · Seraing
04-12-2024	Carlier, Grégory BE 0892.423.457 · sole trader · Namur
22-11-2024	GREGOBOIS BE 0738.838.310

Geographic distribution

by province · based on the registered office

West Flanders WVL 72

East Flanders OVL 59

Antwerp ANT 90

Flemish Brabant VLB 34

Limburg LIM 44

Brussels BRU 12

Hainaut HAI 40

Walloon Brabant WBR 19

Namur NAM 30

Liège LIE 67

Luxembourg LUX 12

fewer moremax 90

Where are this sector's balance sheets registered? By municipality, down to the address

Subsidies in this sector

per register · legal entities with an enterprise number

Flemish subsidies €48.1m awarded 1,439 recipients · 2022 to 2025 · largest: Onderzoeksproject
Federal transfers 35.0m amount as published 7 recipients · 2023 to 2025 · largest: Subsidie in het kader van de steun voor strategische projecten in kader van veiligheid en defensie
EU budget €63.2m attributed share 15 recipients · 2021 to 2025 · largest: European Defence Fund
EU research €16.8m eu contribution 15 recipients · 2008 to 2027 · largest: Horizon Europe

Explore every recipient in this sector

How these figures are counted

Current enterprise registrations are counted through their registered main activities; establishment units are excluded. Counted in the KBO's NACE 2025 nomenclature, the one in which code 25401 exists.

Share of currently registered companies with a published bankruptcy opening in the past five years. Registered main activities in the selected classification can overlap. This retrospective share is not a future bankruptcy probability.

The comparison with the country and with the other NACE divisions comes from a nightly overview of every division, each counted in the nomenclature in which it exists. A standing such as "higher than 80%" counts the other divisions that have the figure. The bankruptcy probability is the median of our nightly score over the division's companies that have one; the count is stated.

The key figures cover the whole NACE division 25, not NACE 25401 on its own: there are too few filed annual accounts per five-digit code to compute them separately. The middle company of the sector, based on all filed annual accounts.