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Wholesale of other machinery and equipment

Current registrations 2,453division 46: 61,491
Starters, 12 months 632.6 per 100 · Belgium 8.9
Bankruptcies, 12 months 114.5 per 1,000 registrations · Belgium 6.2
Employment (FTE) 6,550405 employers · latest accounts
Median age 22.6 yearsBelgium 8.1 years
E-invoicing via Peppol 79.5%1,950 of 2,453 companies in the Peppol Directory · Belgium 85.0%

Filed accounts

NACE 46649 · financial year 2025 · 1,690 filed annual accounts
Median solvency
44.9%
division 42.2% · Belgium 46.1%
Median net result
€55,635
division €17,217 · Belgium €16,520
Median equity
€540,223
division €207,401 · Belgium €98,421
Loss-making
20.9%
division 28.8% · Belgium 26.7%
Negative equity
8.2%
division 13.4% · Belgium 12.4%
Median return on equity
11.3%
division 9.9% · Belgium 15.9%
Median liquidity
1.79
division 1.69 · Belgium 1.66
Filed late
33.7%
financial year 2024, 1,793 filings · division 39.2% · Belgium 38.4%
Missing or 90 days late
5.5%
of 1,813 companies with annual accounts · division 6.4% · Belgium 5.4%
Per financial year202020212022202320242025
Median solvency 41.2%41.5%41.6%42.1%43.9%44.9%
Median net result €40,658€57,716€66,657€61,351€56,452€55,635

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

Bankruptcies

Bankruptcies, 5 years, still registered
22
0.90% of the registrations · Belgium 1.68%
Running bankruptcies
27
11.0 per 1,000 registrations

Recent bankruptcies

Date Company
16-09-2026 manroland Benelux
BE 0401.870.505
24-08-2026 O25
BE 0744.500.932
22-07-2026 Castolin Eutectic Benelux
BE 0402.932.258
03-07-2026 TekTik
BE 0879.127.331
26-05-2026 Advanced Sales Tactics
BE 0890.554.822
12-03-2026 SYGMA
BE 0459.445.250
06-03-2026 BRIATTE - COELEN
BE 0422.191.213
27-02-2026 ESPACE MEUREE
BE 0878.996.974

Every bankruptcy in division 46, last 90 days

Spread across the country

by region and province · 2,388 of 2,453 enterprises with a registered office on file · a sole trader has no published seat
  • Flanders 1,460 · 61.1%
  • Wallonia 383 · 16.0%
  • Brussels 124 · 5.2%
  • Abroad 421 · 17.6%
fewer moremax 502

Largest employers

NACE 46649 as first main activity · staff from the latest accounts
  1. 1 WURTH BELUXTurnhout 324 FTEfinancial year 2025
  2. 2 BUMACO KOELTECHNIEKRotselaar 269 FTEfinancial year 2025
  3. 3 B-CLOSEMechelen 214 FTEfinancial year 2025
  4. 4 Atlas Copco BelgiumOverijse 193 FTEfinancial year 2025
  5. 5 ESKO - GRAPHICSGhent 143 FTEfinancial year 2025

Joint committees

from the latest accounts of 1,035 companies
  • 200 Auxiliary committee for white-collar workers 707
  • 149.04 Metal trade 296
  • 100 Auxiliary committee for blue-collar workers 88
  • 209 White-collar workers in metal manufacturing 83
  • 149.01 Electricians: installation and distribution 64
  • 111 Metal, mechanical and electrical engineering 63
  • 149 Sectors related to metal, mechanical and electrical engineering 60
  • 207 White-collar workers in the chemical industry 36
Show the 12 others
  • 201 Independent retail 35
  • 116 Chemical industry 25
  • 124 Construction 11
  • 126 Furnishing and woodworking 8
  • 226 White-collar workers in international trade, transport and logistics 8
  • 112 Garages 4
  • 222 White-collar workers in paper and cardboard processing 4
  • 136 Paper and cardboard processing 3
  • 140.03 Road transport and logistics for third parties 3
  • 215 White-collar workers in the clothing and garment industry 3
  • 302 Hotels and catering 3
  • 324 Diamond industry and trade 3

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 electrical equipment, including installation materials46643 1,219 34 12 7,993
Wholesale of machine tools46620 816 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 0 667
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

9,639 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 machinery and equipment

Balance sheet and result. The median net result of €55,635 is above Belgium's €16,520. 8.2% of the annual accounts show negative equity, against 12.4% in Belgium. Return on equity of 11.3% is below Belgium's 15.9%.

Bankruptcies. In 12 months, 4.5 of 1,000 companies went bankrupt, against 6.2 in Belgium. That is more than in 58% of the 88 NACE divisions.

Inflow and structure. Half of the companies are younger than 22.6 years, against 8.1 years in Belgium. 2.5% of the companies are sole traders, against 41.6% in Belgium. In 12 months, 2.6 of 100 companies started, against 8.9 in Belgium. That is fewer than in 90% of the 87 NACE divisions.

Staff and filing. 33.7% of the financial year 2024 accounts were filed late, against 38.4% in Belgium. The 5 largest employers hold 1,142 of the 6,550 FTE: 17.4%.

Direction. Median solvency rose from 41.2% in financial year 2020 to 44.9% in financial year 2025. The median net result rose from €40,658 in financial year 2020 to €55,635 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 46649 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.