Skip to content

Wholesale trade

NACE 4641
Current registrations1,091
Starters, 12 months · division 46
3,006
Employment (FTE) · division 46
238,301
Median age · division 46
14.9 years

In NACE division 46, 4.8 companies per 100 started in the past twelve months, against 7.5 nationally; that is lower than that of 70% of the 87 NACE divisions. Comparison: as of 28-09-2026 05:30.

Key figures for NACE division 46

fiscal year 2025 · median over 24,708 filed annual accounts
Median solvency
43.6%
lower than 51% of 79 divisions
Median equity
€187,067
higher than 62% of 79 divisions
Median net result
€15,194
higher than 49% of 79 divisions
Annual accounts in sample
24,708

Foreign control in NACE division 46

46,237 registered companies

Bankruptcies

past five years
Bankruptcies (5y)
33
Historical share
3.02%

Nationally, 1.41% of current registrations have a published bankruptcy opening in the past five years. This sector's historical share is higher than that of 92% of the 88 NACE divisions. The median bankruptcy probability in NACE division 46 is 0.6%, against 0.5% nationally, over 39,642 scored companies. Comparison: as of 28-09-2026 05:30.

Bankruptcies still running

NACE division 46
Running bankruptcies
1,337
Half have run longer than
22 months
Belgium: 20 months
Longer than three years
33%
Belgium: 31%

Measured nationally: Of 64,419 bankruptcies of legal entities across Belgium, 46% were closed within five years for insufficient assets and 32% after liquidation, 4% were withdrawn; 18% were still open after five years. Half had ended after 26 months (a quarter after 15, three quarters after 49 months).

Counts companies with this main activity in the register on 29 September 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 · 982 of 1,091 enterprises with a registered office on file
Flanders 635 · 64.7%
Wallonia 173 · 17.6%
Brussels 161 · 16.4%
Unknown 13 · 1.3%

Recent bankruptcies in this sector

8
Date Company
28-09-2026 TWINCO FAMILY FASHION
BE 0887.846.047
23-09-2026 Jes Groep
BE 0563.894.355
17-08-2026 AGRITEX & CO
BE 0474.782.930
13-07-2026 Molben
BE 0533.741.510
21-04-2026 BIBILUX CARPET
BE 0763.887.866
07-04-2026 MEZ CRAFTS BELGIUM
BE 0400.296.531
03-04-2026 MAC FASHION
BE 0680.590.996
01-04-2026 Business Rent Plus
BE 0450.147.603

Geographic distribution

by province · based on the establishment address
fewer moremax 177

Public money in this sector

per register · legal entities with an enterprise number
  • Flemish subsidies €661.5m awarded 6,770 recipients · 2022 to 2025 · largest: Vlaams Gemeentefonds
  • Federal transfers 66.1m amount as published 26 recipients · 2023 to 2025 · largest: Subsidie aan de Centrale Dienst voor Sociale en Culturele Actie
  • Wallonia-Brussels Federation €30.7m paid 30 recipients · 2021 to 2025 · largest: Subventions forfaitaires dans le fondamental
  • EU budget €564.5m attributed share 91 recipients · 2021 to 2025 · largest: Information and communication technology
  • EU research €55.0m eu contribution 85 recipients · 2007 to 2027 · 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 4641 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 46, not NACE 4641 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.