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Construction of utility projects for electricity and telecommunications

Current registrations 1,787division 42: 5,866
Starters, 12 months 1377.7 per 100 · Belgium 8.9
Bankruptcies, 12 months 3620.1 per 1,000 registrations · Belgium 6.2
Employment (FTE) 12,963166 employers · latest accounts
Median age 5.0 yearsBelgium 8.1 years
E-invoicing via Peppol 90.8%1,623 of 1,787 companies in the Peppol Directory · Belgium 85.0%

Filed accounts

NACE 42220 · financial year 2025 · 891 filed annual accounts
Median solvency
42.1%
division 42.5% · Belgium 46.1%
Median net result
€21,766
division €21,767 · Belgium €16,520
Median equity
€79,291
division €128,358 · Belgium €98,421
Loss-making
22.2%
division 22.6% · Belgium 26.7%
Negative equity
9.5%
division 7.7% · Belgium 12.4%
Median return on equity
23.8%
division 17.0% · Belgium 15.9%
Median liquidity
1.61
division 1.60 · Belgium 1.66
Filed late
45.7%
financial year 2024, 874 filings · division 40.6% · Belgium 38.4%
Missing or 90 days late
6.7%
of 1,003 companies with annual accounts · division 5.8% · Belgium 5.4%
Per financial year202020212022202320242025
Median solvency 39.5%39.1%39.5%40.9%42.1%42.1%
Median net result €28,800€30,035€24,946€23,889€22,710€21,766

Hold your customer's or competitor's figures against them in the Sector benchmark

Bankruptcies

Bankruptcies, 5 years, still registered
79
4.42% of the registrations · Belgium 1.68%
Running bankruptcies
79
44.2 per 1,000 registrations

Recent bankruptcies

Date Company
05-11-2026 Dünver, Kerem
BE 0538.983.171 · sole trader · Kortrijk
21-10-2026 DATELEC
BE 0450.732.175
20-10-2026 KURSEK INFRA
BE 1018.545.926
19-10-2026 CORAL ENTERPRISES
BE 1018.865.828
12-10-2026 MASAL GROUP
BE 0791.289.475
07-10-2026 DALTECH
BE 1019.578.183
02-10-2026 ABK Infra
BE 1013.281.695
29-09-2026 VG INDUSTRIAL WORK
BE 0863.866.459

Every bankruptcy in division 42, last 90 days

Spread across the country

by region and province · 1,423 of 1,787 enterprises with a registered office on file · a sole trader has no published seat
  • Flanders 1,112 · 78.1%
  • Wallonia 171 · 12.0%
  • Brussels 103 · 7.2%
  • Abroad 37 · 2.6%
fewer moremax 418

Largest employers

NACE 42220 as first main activity · staff from the latest accounts
  1. 1 EQUANSSaint-Josse-ten-Noode 4,824 FTEfinancial year 2025
  2. 2 BESIX UnitecSchelle 547 FTEfinancial year 2025
  3. 3 STADSBADER CONTRACTORSBrussels 452 FTEfinancial year 2025
  4. 4 ETWAL - PLATTEAU INFRASeneffe 430 FTEfinancial year 2025
  5. 5 LITRANGhent 410 FTEfinancial year 2025

Joint committees

from the latest accounts of 287 companies
  • 200 Auxiliary committee for white-collar workers 167
  • 124 Construction 147
  • 149.01 Electricians: installation and distribution 104
  • 209 White-collar workers in metal manufacturing 20
  • 111 Metal, mechanical and electrical engineering 18
  • 149 Sectors related to metal, mechanical and electrical engineering 8
  • 201 Independent retail 6
  • 121 Cleaning 3
Show the 12 others
  • 100 Auxiliary committee for blue-collar workers 2
  • 149.02 Coachwork 2
  • 149.04 Metal trade 2
  • 302 Hotels and catering 2
  • 116 Chemical industry 1
  • 127 Fuel trade 1
  • 130 Printing, graphic arts and newspapers 1
  • 140 Transport and logistics 1
  • 140.03 Road transport and logistics for third parties 1
  • 145 Horticulture 1
  • 207 White-collar workers in the chemical industry 1
  • 226 White-collar workers in international trade, transport and logistics 1

Source: the annual accounts at the National Bank. One filing can name more than one committee.

Division 42: Civil engineering

Related activities

3 other activities
Activity Registrations Starters, 12 months Bankruptcies, 12 months FTE
Civil engineering42219 330 18 5 257
Civil engineering42211 287 28 5 195
Civil engineering42212 262 29 0 345

Bankruptcies per year in division 42

Per year201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Bankruptcies645957426025374458648866
Jobs lost28336036218410335106129138174196203

2026 through September. Every bankruptcy, also of companies that have since left the register. Source: Statbel (Directorate-General Statistics), NACE classification of 2008.

Staff cost per FTE in NACE division 42

569 employers
Median
€63,800
Belgium €61,400
Middle half
€55,300 to €73,100
half of the employers lie between
Place among sectors
48 of 78
sectors with a median staff cost per FTE, highest first
By size class
SizeMedianMiddle halfEmployers
fewer than 10 FTE €59,300 €50,500 to €70,500 225
10 to 49 FTE €64,200 €57,900 to €72,400 231
50 to 249 FTE €66,300 €60,000 to €74,800 89
250 FTE or more €77,600 €68,500 to €81,300 24

Running bankruptcies in the sector

NACE division 42
Number
173
Half have run longer than
16 months
Belgium: 20 months
Longer than three years
24%
Belgium: 31%

Measured nationally: Of 108,562 bankruptcies of legal entities across Belgium, 49% were closed within five years for insufficient assets and 28% after liquidation, 3% were withdrawn. After five years, 20% were still open. Half had ended after 26 months (a quarter after 15, three quarters after 51 months).

This counts companies with this main activity in the register on 6 November 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

16 of the 3,961 companies in NACE division 42 have a parent company abroad. Main parent countries: Switzerland (10), France (4) and Germany (1). Together they employ 1,242 of the division's 33,825 FTE: 3.7%, against 14% for Belgium as a whole.

Subsidies in this sector

per register · legal entities with an enterprise number
  • Flemish subsidies €29.7m awarded 689 recipients · 2022 to 2025 · largest: Schadevergoeding van de overheid
  • Federal transfers 40.4m amount as published 10 recipients · 2023 to 2025 · largest: Samenwerkingsakkoord Beliris - Kapitaalover- drachten Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest
  • Wallonia-Brussels Federation €2.4m paid 1 recipient · 2024 · largest: Infrastructures sportives et IPPJ
  • EU budget €12.2m attributed share 9 recipients · 2021 to 2025 · largest: Security
  • EU research €10.5m EU contribution 7 recipients · 2013 to 2025 · largest: Horizon 2020

Explore every recipient in this sector

Insights on Construction of utility projects for electricity and telecommunications

Balance sheet and result. Return on equity of 23.8% is above Belgium's 15.9%. The median net result of €21,766 is above Belgium's €16,520. 9.5% of the annual accounts show negative equity, against 12.4% in Belgium.

Bankruptcies. The median bankruptcy probability of 1.1% is above Belgium's 0.2%. In 12 months, 20.1 of 1,000 companies went bankrupt, against 6.2 in Belgium. That is more than in 99% of the 88 NACE divisions.

Inflow and structure. 20.3% of the companies are sole traders, against 41.6% in Belgium. Half of the companies are younger than 5.0 years, against 8.1 years in Belgium. Flanders holds 80.2% of the seats, against 64.7% in Belgium.

Staff and filing. 45.7% of the financial year 2024 accounts were filed late, against 38.4% in Belgium. The 5 largest employers hold 6,663 of the 12,963 FTE: 51.4%.

Direction. Median solvency rose from 39.5% in financial year 2020 to 42.1% in financial year 2025. The median net result fell from €28,800 in financial year 2020 to €21,766 in financial year 2025.

The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other divisions is as of 06-11-2026 05:30.

Method and sources

Every company registered today counts under its main activities in the KBO. Establishment units do not count. Staff counts once, under the employer's first main activity, from its latest accounts and only where it fits the staff costs. The count follows the NACE 2025 classification, the version in which code 42220 exists.

The bankruptcies over five years count only companies still registered today, because the activity of a company that left the register is not kept. So they are fewer than the bankruptcies of those years, and the figure is not a probability for the future. Over twelve months the count is nearly complete, because a bankrupt company stays registered while its bankruptcy runs. A company with more than one main activity counts in each of those sectors.

The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other NACE divisions rests on an overview of every division, counted again each night. Each division is counted in the version of the NACE classification in which it exists. A standing such as "more than in 80%" compares with the other divisions that have the figure. A division's bankruptcy probability is the median over its companies with a score. Belgium here counts the 1,276,581 companies with a main activity, because only those belong to a division. The other 698,987 registrations publish no activity.

Each median is the value of the middle company, computed over the annual accounts of financial year 2025, and is shown only from 30 accounts. A share (loss-making, negative equity) counts that year's accounts with that trait. Accounts are late when they are filed after the statutory deadline. The direction per financial year follows the companies still registered today. Missing or 90 days late counts the companies with accounts missing today, or whose latest were filed more than 90 days after the deadline. The dossier follows the same rule.