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Civil engineering

NACE 42990
Current registrations389
Starters, 12 months · division 42
457
Employment (FTE) · division 42
42,986
Median age · division 42
6.8 years

In NACE division 42, 7.8 companies per 100 started in the past twelve months, against 7.5 nationally; that is higher than that of 52% of the 87 NACE divisions with this figure. Comparison: as of 22-10-2026 05:30.

Key figures for NACE division 42

financial year 2025 · median over 2,142 filed annual accounts
Median solvency
42.8%
Median equity
€109,810
Median net result
€19,683
Annual accounts in sample
2,142

Foreign control in NACE division 42

3,960 registered companies

Staff cost per FTE in NACE division 42

571 employers
Median
€63,500
Belgium €61,400
Middle half
€55,100 to €72,900
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 €59,200 €50,400 to €70,500 226
10 to 49 FTE €64,000 €57,600 to €72,200 231
50 to 249 FTE €66,300 €60,000 to €75,000 90
250 FTE or more €77,600 €68,500 to €81,300 24

Bankruptcies

past five years
Bankruptcies (5y)
6
Historical share
1.54%

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 64% of the 88 NACE divisions with this figure. The median bankruptcy probability in NACE division 42 is 0.7%, against 0.2% nationally, over 2,997 scored companies. Comparison: as of 22-10-2026 05:30.

Bankruptcies still running

NACE division 42
Running bankruptcies
169
Half have run longer than
17 months
Belgium: 20 months
Longer than three years
25%
Belgium: 31%

Measured nationally: Of 108,175 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entities across Belgium, 49% were closed within five years for insufficient assets and 28% after liquidation, 3% were withdrawn; 20% were still open after five years.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 22 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 · 324 of 389 enterprises with a registered office on file
Flanders 209 · 64.5%
Wallonia 86 · 26.5%
Brussels 22 · 6.8%
Unknown 7 · 2.2%

Recent bankruptcies in this sector

6
Date Company
04-09-2026 Distributing Smiles
BE 0688.764.435
26-08-2026 Sebahatin, Adile
BE 1022.217.078 · sole trader
29-06-2026 Hawin
BE 0746.884.558
02-04-2025 FAGOT CONSTRUCT & CO
BE 0543.512.378
26-02-2024 MA MAISON AUTREMENT
BE 0720.897.268
07-11-2023 NERO POOLS
BE 0785.503.525

Geographic distribution

by province · based on the registered office
fewer moremax 62

Subsidies in this sector

per register · legal entities with an enterprise number
  • Flemish subsidies €173.0m awarded 694 recipients · 2022 to 2025 · largest: Vlaams Gemeentefonds
  • Federal transfers 41.1m amount as published 12 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

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 42990 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 42, not NACE 42990 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.