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Wholesale of other household goods

Current registrations 1,144division 46: 61,491
Starters, 12 months 322.8 per 100 · Belgium 8.9
Bankruptcies, 12 months 43.5 per 1,000 registrations · Belgium 6.2
Employment (FTE) 2,223187 employers · latest accounts
Median age 22.0 yearsBelgium 8.1 years
E-invoicing via Peppol 76.9%880 of 1,144 companies in the Peppol Directory · Belgium 85.0%

6 companies file their annual accounts outside the standard format, for example in a sector format. Their figures and staff are missing from the employment, the medians and the largest employers.

Show the 6 companies

Filed accounts

NACE 46499 · financial year 2025 · 711 filed annual accounts
Median solvency
45.2%
division 42.2% · Belgium 46.1%
Median net result
€15,792
division €17,217 · Belgium €16,520
Median equity
€297,019
division €207,401 · Belgium €98,421
Loss-making
32.2%
division 28.8% · Belgium 26.7%
Negative equity
13.0%
division 13.4% · Belgium 12.4%
Median return on equity
7.8%
division 9.9% · Belgium 15.9%
Median liquidity
1.88
division 1.69 · Belgium 1.66
Filed late
38.3%
financial year 2024, 739 filings · division 39.2% · Belgium 38.4%
Missing or 90 days late
5.4%
of 762 companies with annual accounts · division 6.4% · Belgium 5.4%
Per financial year202020212022202320242025
Median solvency 38.8%39.8%40.8%42.9%43.5%45.2%
Median net result €20,161€26,023€23,303€19,797€15,102€15,792

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

Bankruptcies

Bankruptcies, 5 years, still registered
15
1.31% of the registrations · Belgium 1.68%
Running bankruptcies
21
18.4 per 1,000 registrations

Recent bankruptcies

Date Company
17-04-2026 BEWOOD
BE 0874.112.629
06-03-2026 Music Electronics
BE 0423.973.934
02-02-2026 BAHIA TRADING
BE 0502.709.725
19-11-2025 BELEGGINGSMAATSCHAPPIJ KNOKKE
BE 0453.424.421
29-09-2025 IDEAL POOL CORPORATION EUROPE
BE 0446.787.146
12-08-2025 BB CONCEPT
BE 0542.360.256
05-03-2025 CENTRALE MEDICO DENTAIRE
BE 0415.533.944
03-03-2025 Kurkexpert
BE 0692.848.828

Every bankruptcy in division 46, last 90 days

Spread across the country

by region and province · 1,043 of 1,144 enterprises with a registered office on file · a sole trader has no published seat
  • Flanders 645 · 61.8%
  • Wallonia 136 · 13.0%
  • Brussels 70 · 6.7%
  • Abroad 192 · 18.4%
fewer moremax 209

Largest employers

NACE 46499 as first main activity · staff from the latest accounts
  1. 1 THE FASHION SOCIETYMerchtem 238 FTEfinancial year 2026
  2. 2 Dille en Kamille (Belgium)Antwerp 123 FTEfinancial year 2025
  3. 3 ROLAND CENTRAL EUROPEGeel 76.8 FTEfinancial year 2025
  4. 4 Perrigo BelgiumGhent 52.5 FTEfinancial year 2025
  5. 5 PIANO'S MAENEWingene 43.0 FTEfinancial year 2025

Joint committees

from the latest accounts of 340 companies
  • 200 Auxiliary committee for white-collar workers 218
  • 100 Auxiliary committee for blue-collar workers 114
  • 201 Independent retail 32
  • 207 White-collar workers in the chemical industry 29
  • 116 Chemical industry 25
  • 149.04 Metal trade 13
  • 126 Furnishing and woodworking 12
  • 124 Construction 8
Show the 12 others
  • 119 Food trade 7
  • 149.01 Electricians: installation and distribution 7
  • 226 White-collar workers in international trade, transport and logistics 7
  • 209 White-collar workers in metal manufacturing 6
  • 149 Sectors related to metal, mechanical and electrical engineering 5
  • 215 White-collar workers in the clothing and garment industry 4
  • 109 Clothing and garment industry 3
  • 111 Metal, mechanical and electrical engineering 3
  • 140.03 Road transport and logistics for third parties 3
  • 314 Hairdressing and beauty care 2
  • 120 Textile industry 1
  • 125.02 Wood industry 1

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

Division 46: Wholesale trade

Related activities

27 other activities
Activity Registrations Starters, 12 months Bankruptcies, 12 months FTE
Wholesale of pharmaceutical and medical goods46460 1,864 82 7 17,386
Wholesale of clothing, excluding workwear and underwear46423 1,263 50 11 5,432
Wholesale of electrical household appliances and audio-video equipment46431 963 35 10 3,564
Wholesale of perfume and cosmetics46450 774 41 5 2,584
Wholesale of household textiles and bedding46412 667 7 5 1,696
Wholesale of non-electrical household articles46494 661 9 9 2,364
Show all 27 activities
Activity Registrations Starters, 12 months Bankruptcies, 12 months FTE
Wholesale trade46496 567 16 6 3,188
Wholesale trade46480 550 16 1 486
Wholesale trade46442 463 16 4 1,983
Wholesale trade46492 325 6 3 1,490
Wholesale trade46471 323 16 7 787
Wholesale trade46474 266 9 1 477
Wholesale trade46419 231 12 4 244
Wholesale trade46497 226 21 0 336
Wholesale trade46432 222 4 2 1,140
Wholesale trade46495 202 9 4 264
Wholesale trade46425 192 2 0 425
Wholesale trade46421 191 9 0 378
Wholesale trade46493 190 13 1 643
Wholesale trade46411 180 8 4 317
Wholesale trade46491 161 6 1 867
Wholesale trade46472 130 3 1 184
Wholesale trade46498 114 3 2 738
Wholesale trade46424 94 7 1 73
Wholesale trade46473 64 2 1 68
Wholesale trade46441 60 1 0 76
Wholesale trade46422 41 1 1 40

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 other household goods

Balance sheet and result. Return on equity of 7.8% is below Belgium's 15.9%. 32.2% of the annual accounts close with a loss, against 26.7% in Belgium. Liquidity of 1.88 is above Belgium's 1.66.

Bankruptcies. The median bankruptcy probability of 0.2% is above Belgium's 0.2%.

Inflow and structure. Half of the companies are younger than 22.0 years, against 8.1 years in Belgium. 8.8% of the companies are sole traders, against 41.6% in Belgium. In 12 months, 2.8 of 100 companies started, against 8.9 in Belgium. That is fewer than in 90% of the 87 NACE divisions.

Staff and filing. The 5 largest employers hold 534 of the 2,223 FTE: 24.0%.

Direction. Median solvency rose from 38.8% in financial year 2020 to 45.2% in financial year 2025. The median net result fell from €20,161 in financial year 2020 to €15,792 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 46499 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.