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Wholesale of electrical equipment, including installation materials

Current registrations 1,220division 46: 61,492
Starters, 12 months 352.9 per 100 · Belgium 8.9
Bankruptcies, 12 months 129.8 per 1,000 registrations · Belgium 6.2
Employment (FTE) 7,993258 employers · latest accounts
Median age 26.5 yearsBelgium 8.1 years
E-invoicing via Peppol 85.9%1,048 of 1,220 companies in the Peppol Directory · Belgium 85.0%

Filed accounts

NACE 46643 · financial year 2025 · 901 filed annual accounts
Median solvency
46.6%
division 42.2% · Belgium 46.1%
Median net result
€39,164
division €17,196 · Belgium €16,500
Median equity
€483,224
division €207,129 · Belgium €98,350
Loss-making
25.1%
division 28.8% · Belgium 26.7%
Negative equity
8.8%
division 13.4% · Belgium 12.4%
Median return on equity
10.7%
division 9.9% · Belgium 15.9%
Median liquidity
1.88
division 1.69 · Belgium 1.66
Filed late
34.0%
financial year 2024, 950 filings · division 39.2% · Belgium 38.4%
Missing or 90 days late
5.6%
of 976 companies with annual accounts · division 6.4% · Belgium 5.4%
Per financial year202020212022202320242025
Median solvency 42.0%43.2%43.0%44.1%45.2%46.6%
Median net result €40,799€58,580€63,336€57,201€38,249€39,164

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

Bankruptcies

Bankruptcies, 5 years, still registered
25
2.05% of the registrations · Belgium 1.68%
Running bankruptcies
30
24.6 per 1,000 registrations

Recent bankruptcies

Date Company
19-10-2026 STOCKER INDUSTRIE
BE 0430.092.456
12-10-2026 ENOVA SOLAR
BE 0756.933.956
30-09-2026 Lease or Buy Sun Protection
BE 1010.602.616
14-09-2026 HydrobyCeos4Climate
BE 0755.970.389
04-08-2026 ATON SOLAR
BE 0731.601.912
29-05-2026 CHACON
BE 0417.371.006
30-03-2026 COMDIS EUROPE
BE 0473.375.242
23-03-2026 D.U.A.
BE 0695.624.612

Every bankruptcy in division 46, last 90 days

Spread across the country

by region and province · 1,173 of 1,220 enterprises with a registered office on file · a sole trader has no published seat
  • Flanders 717 · 61.1%
  • Wallonia 241 · 20.5%
  • Brussels 100 · 8.5%
  • Abroad 115 · 9.8%
fewer moremax 215

Largest employers

NACE 46643 as first main activity · staff from the latest accounts
  1. 1 CEBEOWaregem 914 FTEfinancial year 2025
  2. 2 REXEL BELGIUMAsse 774 FTEfinancial year 2025
  3. 3 Schneider ElectricUccle 487 FTEfinancial year 2025
  4. 4 SIGNIFY BELGIUMAsse 448 FTEfinancial year 2025
  5. 5 NTT BelgiumMachelen (Brab.) 423 FTEfinancial year 2026

Joint committees

from the latest accounts of 561 companies
  • 200 Auxiliary committee for white-collar workers 419
  • 149.01 Electricians: installation and distribution 131
  • 149.04 Metal trade 90
  • 149 Sectors related to metal, mechanical and electrical engineering 29
  • 209 White-collar workers in metal manufacturing 29
  • 100 Auxiliary committee for blue-collar workers 26
  • 201 Independent retail 26
  • 111 Metal, mechanical and electrical engineering 21
Show the 12 others
  • 226 White-collar workers in international trade, transport and logistics 4
  • 124 Construction 3
  • 116 Chemical industry 2
  • 106.01 Cement industry 1
  • 112 Garages 1
  • 140 Transport and logistics 1
  • 149.03 Precious metals 1
  • 207 White-collar workers in the chemical industry 1
  • 219 Technical inspection and conformity assessment 1
  • 303 Film industry 1
  • 311 Large retail businesses 1
  • 314 Hairdressing and beauty care 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 2,452 62 11 6,552
Wholesale of machine tools46620 815 16 4 6,035
Wholesale trade46610 795 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

9,636 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 6,070
10 to 49 FTE €70,000 €57,700 to €89,100 2,911
50 to 249 FTE €84,000 €67,300 to €119,500 557
250 FTE or more €80,200 €64,700 to €98,300 98

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 108,642 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 7 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

45,485 registered companies

Subsidies in this sector

per register · legal entities with an enterprise number
  • Flemish subsidies €266.7m awarded 6,711 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 electrical equipment, including installation materials

Balance sheet and result. The median net result of €39,164 is above Belgium's €16,500. Return on equity of 10.7% is below Belgium's 15.9%. 8.8% of the annual accounts show negative equity, against 12.4% in Belgium.

Bankruptcies. In 12 months, 9.8 of 1,000 companies went bankrupt, against 6.2 in Belgium. That is more than in 86% of the 88 NACE divisions. The median bankruptcy probability of 0.2% is above Belgium's 0.2%.

Inflow and structure. Half of the companies are younger than 26.5 years, against 8.1 years in Belgium. 3.8% of the companies are sole traders, against 41.6% in Belgium. In 12 months, 2.9 of 100 companies started, against 8.9 in Belgium. That is fewer than in 90% of the 87 NACE divisions.

Staff and filing. 34.0% of the financial year 2024 accounts were filed late, against 38.4% in Belgium. The 5 largest employers hold 3,045 of the 7,993 FTE: 38.1%.

Direction. Median solvency rose from 42.0% in financial year 2020 to 46.6% in financial year 2025.

The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other divisions is as of 08-11-2026 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 46643 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 1,276,474 companies with a main activity, because only those belong to a division. The other 699,509 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.