Wholesale trade
No starter in the past twelve months.
Filed accounts
NACE 46648 · financial year 2025 · 47 filed annual accounts| Per financial year | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Median solvency | 41.5% | 43.6% | 51.1% | 52.4% | 48.5% | 48.2% |
| Median net result | €26,934 | €32,273 | €67,423 | €31,712 | €22,919 | €68,190 |
Hold your customer's or competitor's figures against them in the Sector benchmark
Bankruptcies
Spread across the country
by region and province · 66 of 69 enterprises with a registered office on file · a sole trader has no published seat- Flanders
- Wallonia
- Brussels
- Abroad
The balance sheets of division 46 on the map, by municipality and down to the address
Largest employers
NACE 46648 as first main activity · staff from the latest accounts- 1 Lectra BeneluxGhent 11.9 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 2 BefrakoZonhoven 8.8 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 3 EUROPLASMAOudenaarde 7.9 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 4 VANDEWIELE GROUPKortrijk 6.3 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 5 HUPICONazareth 4.5 FTEfinancial year 2024
Joint committees
from the latest accounts of 28 companies- 200 Auxiliary committee for white-collar workers 18
- 149.04 Metal trade 9
- 201 Independent retail 2
- 111 Metal, mechanical and electrical engineering 1
- 116 Chemical industry 1
- 126 Furnishing and woodworking 1
- 149 Sectors related to metal, mechanical and electrical engineering 1
- 149.01 Electricians: installation and distribution 1
Show the 2 others
- 207 White-collar workers in the chemical industry 1
- 209 White-collar workers in metal manufacturing 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 of machine tools46620 | 815 | 16 | 4 | 6,033 |
| Wholesale trade46610 | 794 | 21 | 0 | 1,947 |
| Wholesale trade46630 | 383 | 12 | 0 | 2,121 |
| Wholesale trade46646 | 188 | 9 | 0 | 465 |
Show all 11 activities
| Activity | Registrations | Starters, 12 months | Bankruptcies, 12 months | FTE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wholesale trade46644 | 152 | 6 | 2 | 778 |
| Wholesale trade46647 | 144 | 3 | 0 | 670 |
| Wholesale trade46641 | 130 | 10 | 0 | 89 |
| Wholesale trade46645 | 116 | 5 | 0 | 245 |
| Wholesale trade46642 | 56 | 6 | 0 | 161 |
Bankruptcies per year in division 46
| Per year | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bankruptcies | 803 | 710 | 738 | 687 | 722 | 486 | 417 | 583 | 541 | 625 | 634 | 425 |
| Jobs lost | 1,629 | 1,655 | 1,361 | 1,216 | 1,240 | 1,054 | 890 | 1,029 | 935 | 1,383 | 1,271 | 931 |
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
9,635 employers| Size | Median | Middle half | Employers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | €67,400 to €119,700 | 556 |
| 250 FTE or more | €80,200 | €64,700 to €98,300 | 98 |
Employers with the highest staff cost per FTE in this division All sectors by staff cost In the Analysis workbench
Running bankruptcies in the sector
NACE division 46Measured nationally: Of 108,725 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 11 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.
Foreign control in NACE division 46
45,461 registered companiesMain parent countries: Netherlands (206), Germany (128) and France (118).Show on the map by municipality
Subsidies in this sector
per register · legal entities with an enterprise number- Flemish subsidies €266.7m awarded
- Wallonia-Brussels Federation €1.3m paid
- Federal transfers 21.5m amount as published
- EU budget €531.5m attributed share
- EU research €52.9m EU contribution
Insights on Wholesale trade
Balance sheet and result. The median net result of €68,190 is above Belgium's €16,490. 4.3% of the annual accounts show negative equity, against 12.4% in Belgium. Return on equity of 9.9% is below Belgium's 15.9%.
Inflow and structure. Half of the companies are younger than 26.8 years, against 8.1 years in Belgium. 4.3% of the companies are sole traders, against 41.6% in Belgium. Flanders holds 88.1% of the seats, against 64.7% in Belgium.
Staff and filing. 28.0% of the financial year 2024 accounts were filed late, against 38.4% in Belgium. The 5 largest employers hold 39 of the 65 FTE: 60.6%.
Direction. Median solvency rose from 41.5% in financial year 2020 to 48.2% in financial year 2025. The median net result rose from €26,934 in financial year 2020 to €68,190 in financial year 2025.
The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other divisions is as of 11-11-2026 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 46648 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 1,276,472 companies with a main activity, because only those belong to a division. The other 699,781 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.