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Wholesale of live animals

Current registrations 932division 46: 61,491
Starters, 12 months 212.3 per 100 · Belgium 8.9
Bankruptcies, 12 months 22.1 per 1,000 registrations · Belgium 6.2
Employment (FTE) 66882 employers · latest accounts
Median age 30.4 yearsBelgium 8.1 years
E-invoicing via Peppol 92.8%865 of 932 companies in the Peppol Directory · Belgium 85.0%

Filed accounts

NACE 46231 · financial year 2025 · 411 filed annual accounts
Median solvency
42.3%
division 42.2% · Belgium 46.1%
Median net result
€26,842
division €17,217 · Belgium €16,520
Median equity
€233,637
division €207,401 · Belgium €98,421
Loss-making
26.5%
division 28.8% · Belgium 26.7%
Negative equity
11.9%
division 13.4% · Belgium 12.4%
Median return on equity
12.4%
division 9.9% · Belgium 15.9%
Median liquidity
1.61
division 1.69 · Belgium 1.66
Filed late
37.7%
financial year 2024, 419 filings · division 39.2% · Belgium 38.4%
Missing or 90 days late
5.5%
of 439 companies with annual accounts · division 6.4% · Belgium 5.4%
Per financial year202020212022202320242025
Median solvency 34.8%36.0%35.8%37.9%39.4%42.3%
Median net result €11,157€11,497€10,848€10,510€16,220€26,842

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

Bankruptcies

Bankruptcies, 5 years, still registered
8
0.86% of the registrations · Belgium 1.68%
Running bankruptcies
15
16.1 per 1,000 registrations

Recent bankruptcies

Date Company
23-03-2026 KEMPISCH FOODSERVICE
BE 0425.149.812
28-01-2026 BENELUX MEAT & LIVESTOCK
BE 0768.291.567
06-06-2025 INFINITY INVESTMENT
BE 0525.969.137
26-03-2025 PLEASURE 4 PETS
BE 1009.386.651
12-03-2025 J AND T SPORTHORSES
BE 0597.952.144
05-03-2025 Alterna
BE 0432.881.997
18-11-2022 Celis, Marc
BE 0733.429.767 · sole trader · Bertem
19-07-2022 Sagaert, Jean-Philippe
BE 0524.476.228 · sole trader · Wielsbeke

Every bankruptcy in division 46, last 90 days

Spread across the country

by region and province · 535 of 932 enterprises with a registered office on file · a sole trader has no published seat
  • Flanders 358 · 66.9%
  • Wallonia 149 · 27.9%
  • Brussels 1 · 0.2%
  • Abroad 27 · 5.0%
fewer moremax 131

Largest employers

NACE 46231 as first main activity · staff from the latest accounts
  1. 1 DETRYAubel 245 FTEfinancial year 2025
  2. 2 VANNIEUWENHUYSEKortemark 51.9 FTEfinancial year 2025
  3. 3 NORENCAGeel 49.4 FTEfinancial year 2025
  4. 4 JEAN GOTTAAubel 44.5 FTEfinancial year 2025
  5. 5 SALAISON DU CONDROZ-MARCOTTYAns 42.3 FTEfinancial year 2025

Joint committees

from the latest accounts of 104 companies
  • 200 Auxiliary committee for white-collar workers 52
  • 144 Agriculture 40
  • 119 Food trade 37
  • 201 Independent retail 7
  • 118 Food industry 5
  • 140.03 Road transport and logistics for third parties 4
  • 220 White-collar workers in the food industry 4
  • 100 Auxiliary committee for blue-collar workers 3
Show the 3 others
  • 124 Construction 2
  • 302 Hotels and catering 2
  • 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 46: Wholesale trade

Related activities

9 other activities
Activity Registrations Starters, 12 months Bankruptcies, 12 months FTE
Wholesale of agricultural produce and animal feed, general range46216 682 3 1 2,158
Wholesale trade46220 535 24 2 1,124
Wholesale trade46211 175 9 0 104
Wholesale trade46232 172 4 2 90
Wholesale trade46212 143 8 0 151
Wholesale trade46214 76 4 0 111
Show all 9 activities
Activity Registrations Starters, 12 months Bankruptcies, 12 months FTE
Wholesale trade46240 31 0 0 32
Wholesale trade46213 24 1 0 8
Wholesale trade46215 21 0 1 23

Bankruptcies per year in division 46

Per year201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Bankruptcies803710738687722486417583541625634425
Jobs lost1,6291,6551,3611,2161,2401,0548901,0299351,3831,271931

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 46

9,639 employers
Median
€64,900
Belgium €61,400
Middle half
€51,300 to €84,400
half of the employers lie between
Place among sectors
44 of 78
sectors with a median staff cost per FTE, highest first
By size class
SizeMedianMiddle halfEmployers
fewer than 10 FTE €60,500 €47,700 to €78,600 6,072
10 to 49 FTE €70,000 €57,700 to €89,100 2,910
50 to 249 FTE €84,000 €67,400 to €119,200 558
250 FTE or more €80,100 €64,800 to €98,300 99

Running bankruptcies in the sector

NACE division 46
Number
1,337
Half have run longer than
23 months
Belgium: 20 months
Longer than three years
34%
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

Foreign control in NACE division 46

45,472 registered companies

Subsidies in this sector

per register · legal entities with an enterprise number
  • Flemish subsidies €266.7m awarded 6,714 recipients · 2022 to 2025 · largest: Dienstencheques
  • Federal transfers 21.5m amount as published 14 recipients · 2023 to 2025 · largest: Ondersteuning aan de bijdrage van de organisaties van de civiele maatschappij en institutionele actoren in de realisatie van de doelen van de gemeenschappelijke strategische kaders (cf. art. 2.14.6 en 2.14.10 van de wetsbepalingen)
  • Wallonia-Brussels Federation €1.3m paid 17 recipients · 2021 to 2025 · largest: Conventions et contrats programmes indexés dans le domaine des centres culturels
  • EU budget €531.5m attributed share 96 recipients · 2021 to 2025 · largest: Information and communication technology
  • EU research €52.9m EU contribution 83 recipients · 2007 to 2027 · largest: Horizon 2020

Explore every recipient in this sector

Insights on Wholesale of live animals

Balance sheet and result. The median net result of €26,842 is above Belgium's €16,520. Return on equity of 12.4% is below Belgium's 15.9%.

Inflow and structure. Half of the companies are younger than 30.4 years, against 8.1 years in Belgium. In 12 months, 2.3 of 100 companies started, against 8.9 in Belgium. That is fewer than in 90% of the 87 NACE divisions. Wallonia holds 29.3% of the seats, against 22.7% in Belgium.

Staff and filing. The 5 largest employers hold 433 of the 668 FTE: 64.8%.

Direction. Median solvency rose from 34.8% in financial year 2020 to 42.3% in financial year 2025. The median net result rose from €11,157 in financial year 2020 to €26,842 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 46231 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.