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Wholesale of machine tools

Current registrations 815division 46: 61,485
Starters, 12 months 162.0 per 100 · Belgium 8.9
Bankruptcies, 12 months 44.9 per 1,000 registrations · Belgium 6.2
Employment (FTE) 6,035308 employers · latest accounts
Median age 34.3 yearsBelgium 8.1 years
E-invoicing via Peppol 86.1%702 of 815 companies in the Peppol Directory · Belgium 85.0%

Filed accounts

NACE 46620 · financial year 2025 · 625 filed annual accounts
Median solvency
50.9%
division 42.2% · Belgium 46.1%
Median net result
€33,417
division €17,183 · Belgium €16,492
Median equity
€607,344
division €206,973 · Belgium €98,323
Loss-making
25.6%
division 28.8% · Belgium 26.7%
Negative equity
6.3%
division 13.4% · Belgium 12.4%
Median return on equity
7.9%
division 9.9% · Belgium 15.9%
Median liquidity
2.05
division 1.69 · Belgium 1.66
Filed late
30.7%
financial year 2024, 644 filings · division 39.2% · Belgium 38.4%
Missing or 90 days late
3.4%
of 656 companies with annual accounts · division 6.4% · Belgium 5.4%
Per financial year202020212022202320242025
Median solvency 44.7%46.0%44.4%48.3%49.8%50.9%
Median net result €33,843€46,480€54,382€44,749€41,282€33,417

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

Bankruptcies

Bankruptcies, 5 years, still registered
8
0.98% of the registrations · Belgium 1.68%
Running bankruptcies
13
16.0 per 1,000 registrations

Recent bankruptcies

Date Company
01-09-2026 Gerrits, Antoon
BE 0534.545.323 · sole trader · Lanaken
22-07-2026 Castolin Eutectic Benelux
BE 0402.932.258
01-04-2026 VAMATEC
BE 0449.411.292
23-03-2026 KMWE TOOLMANAGERS BELGIË
BE 0899.164.660
24-10-2025 BAKKER MAGNETICS BELGIUM
BE 0431.086.608
23-05-2025 BRICO ALMA
BE 0834.142.887
12-07-2023 KRUEGER SYSTEMS
BE 0420.290.805
04-03-2022 SYNC SOLUTIONS
BE 0438.067.737

Every bankruptcy in division 46, last 90 days

Spread across the country

by region and province · 779 of 815 enterprises with a registered office on file · a sole trader has no published seat
  • Flanders 495 · 63.5%
  • Wallonia 165 · 21.2%
  • Brussels 50 · 6.4%
  • Abroad 69 · 8.9%
fewer moremax 156

Largest employers

NACE 46620 as first main activity · staff from the latest accounts
  1. 1 Pelican RougeBoom 344 FTEfinancial year 2025
  2. 2 DEXIS BELGIUMHasselt 342 FTEfinancial year 2025
  3. 3 SKF LOGISTICS SERVICES BELGIUMTongeren-Borgloon 302 FTEfinancial year 2025
  4. 4 POWER TOOLS DISTRIBUTIONBilzen-Hoeselt 254 FTEfinancial year 2025
  5. 5 KION Intralogistic Solutions BeneluxWijnegem 157 FTEfinancial year 2025

Joint committees

from the latest accounts of 344 companies
  • 200 Auxiliary committee for white-collar workers 218
  • 149.04 Metal trade 143
  • 209 White-collar workers in metal manufacturing 30
  • 111 Metal, mechanical and electrical engineering 24
  • 149 Sectors related to metal, mechanical and electrical engineering 19
  • 201 Independent retail 19
  • 100 Auxiliary committee for blue-collar workers 12
  • 124 Construction 4
Show the 12 others
  • 207 White-collar workers in the chemical industry 4
  • 116 Chemical industry 3
  • 149.01 Electricians: installation and distribution 3
  • 226 White-collar workers in international trade, transport and logistics 3
  • 120 Textile industry 2
  • 140.03 Road transport and logistics for third parties 2
  • 222 White-collar workers in paper and cardboard processing 2
  • 324 Diamond industry and trade 2
  • 101 Mining 1
  • 112 Garages 1
  • 119 Food trade 1
  • 126 Furnishing and woodworking 1

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

Division 46: Wholesale trade

Related activities

11 other activities
Activity Registrations Starters, 12 months Bankruptcies, 12 months FTE
Wholesale of other machinery and equipment46649 2,448 62 10 6,552
Wholesale of electrical equipment, including installation materials46643 1,220 35 12 7,993
Wholesale trade46610 794 21 0 1,947
Wholesale trade46630 383 12 0 2,121
Wholesale trade46646 188 9 0 465
Wholesale trade46644 152 6 2 778
Show all 11 activities
Activity Registrations Starters, 12 months Bankruptcies, 12 months FTE
Wholesale trade46647 144 3 0 670
Wholesale trade46641 130 10 0 89
Wholesale trade46645 116 5 0 245
Wholesale trade46648 69 0 1 65
Wholesale trade46642 56 6 0 161

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

9,634 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 €78,500 6,069
10 to 49 FTE €70,000 €57,700 to €89,100 2,911
50 to 249 FTE €84,000 €67,400 to €119,700 556
250 FTE or more €80,200 €64,700 to €98,300 98

Running bankruptcies in the sector

NACE division 46
Number
1,336
Half have run longer than
23 months
Belgium: 20 months
Longer than three years
34%
Belgium: 31%

Measured nationally: Of 108,651 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 10 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

45,461 registered companies

Subsidies in this sector

per register · legal entities with an enterprise number
  • Flemish subsidies €266.7m awarded 6,710 recipients · 2022 to 2025 · largest: Dienstencheques
  • Wallonia-Brussels Federation €1.3m paid 17 recipients · 2021 to 2025 · largest: Conventions et contrats programmes indexés dans le domaine des centres culturels
  • 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)
  • 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 machine tools

Balance sheet and result. The median net result of €33,417 is above Belgium's €16,492. Return on equity of 7.9% is below Belgium's 15.9%. 6.3% of the annual accounts show negative equity, against 12.4% in Belgium.

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

Inflow and structure. Half of the companies are younger than 34.3 years, against 8.1 years in Belgium. 4.2% of the companies are sole traders, against 41.6% in Belgium. In 12 months, 2.0 of 100 companies started, against 8.9 in Belgium. That is fewer than in 92% of the 87 NACE divisions.

Staff and filing. 30.7% of the financial year 2024 accounts were filed late, against 38.4% in Belgium. The 5 largest employers hold 1,399 of the 6,035 FTE: 23.2%.

Direction. Median solvency rose from 44.7% in financial year 2020 to 50.9% in financial year 2025.

The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other divisions is as of 10-11-2026 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 46620 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 1,276,421 companies with a main activity, because only those belong to a division. The other 699,557 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.