Wholesale trade
NACE division 46 had 4.5 starters per 100 companies in the past twelve months, against 7.5 for Belgium as a whole. That is lower than that of 72% of the 87 NACE divisions with this figure. The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other divisions is as of 01-11-2026 05:30.
Key figures for NACE division 46
financial year 2025 · median over 29,712 filed annual accountsForeign control in NACE division 46
45,503 registered companiesMain parent countries: Netherlands (206), Germany (128) and France (118).Show on the map by municipality
Staff cost per FTE in NACE division 46
9,639 employers| Size | Median | Middle half | Employers |
|---|---|---|---|
| fewer than 10 FTE | €60,400 | €47,700 to €78,500 | 6,074 |
| 10 to 49 FTE | €70,000 | €57,700 to €89,000 | 2,909 |
| 50 to 249 FTE | €84,000 | €67,400 to €119,500 | 557 |
| 250 FTE or more | €80,100 | €64,800 to €98,300 | 99 |
Employers with the highest staff cost per FTE in this division All sectors by staff cost In the Analysis workbench
Bankruptcies
past five yearsFor Belgium as a whole, the historical share over the past five years is 1.61%. This sector's historical share is higher than every NACE division. The median bankruptcy probability in NACE division 46 is 0.4%, against 0.2% for Belgium as a whole. It is computed over 39,186 scored companies. The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other divisions is as of 01-11-2026 05:30.
Running bankruptcies in the sector
NACE division 46Measured nationally: Of 108,424 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entities across Belgium, 49% were closed within five years for insufficient assets and 28% after liquidation, 3% were withdrawn.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 1 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.
Regional split
by region · 20 of 21 enterprises with a registered office on fileRecent bankruptcies in this sector
2| Date | Company |
|---|---|
| 29-06-2026 | SOLVER SOLUTIONS
BE 0536.607.562 |
| 03-06-2024 | LIFORY GLOBAL
BE 0794.328.446 |
Geographic distribution
by province · based on the registered officeThis sector's balance sheets on the map, by municipality and down to the address
Subsidies in this sector
per register · legal entities with an enterprise number- Flemish subsidies €349.3m awarded
- Federal transfers 66.3m amount as published
- Wallonia-Brussels Federation €32.0m paid
- EU budget €531.5m attributed share
- EU research €52.8m eu contribution
How these figures are counted
Every company registered today counts under its main activities in the KBO. Establishment units do not count. The count follows the NACE 2008 classification, the version in which code 46734 exists.
The historical share is the share of current registrations for which a bankruptcy opening was published in the past five years. A company with more than one main activity counts in each of those sectors. The historical share is not a future bankruptcy probability.
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 "higher than 80%" compares with the other divisions that have the figure. A division's bankruptcy probability is the median over its companies with a score. Their number is given with the figure.
The key figures cover the whole NACE division 46, not only NACE 46734. There are too few filed annual accounts per five-digit code to compute them separately. Each key figure is the value of the middle company, computed over all filed annual accounts of the division.