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Wholesale of construction materials, general range

Current registrations 1,767division 46: 61,491
Starters, 12 months 432.4 per 100 · Belgium 8.9
Bankruptcies, 12 months 126.8 per 1,000 registrations · Belgium 6.2
Employment (FTE) 11,696528 employers · latest accounts
Median age 26.1 yearsBelgium 8.1 years
E-invoicing via Peppol 86.0%1,520 of 1,767 companies in the Peppol Directory · Belgium 85.0%

Filed accounts

NACE 46831 · financial year 2025 · 1,318 filed annual accounts
Median solvency
46.8%
division 42.2% · Belgium 46.1%
Median net result
€24,686
division €17,217 · Belgium €16,520
Median equity
€539,654
division €207,401 · Belgium €98,421
Loss-making
26.9%
division 28.8% · Belgium 26.7%
Negative equity
8.7%
division 13.4% · Belgium 12.4%
Median return on equity
7.2%
division 9.9% · Belgium 15.9%
Median liquidity
1.77
division 1.69 · Belgium 1.66
Filed late
35.6%
financial year 2024, 1,368 filings · division 39.2% · Belgium 38.4%
Missing or 90 days late
5.5%
of 1,431 companies with annual accounts · division 6.4% · Belgium 5.4%
Per financial year202020212022202320242025
Median solvency 43.1%44.1%45.0%46.4%46.7%46.8%
Median net result €47,240€55,563€55,940€33,836€25,328€24,686

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

Bankruptcies

Bankruptcies, 5 years, still registered
36
2.04% of the registrations · Belgium 1.68%
Running bankruptcies
48
27.2 per 1,000 registrations

Recent bankruptcies

Date Company
09-09-2026 JANSSEN
BE 0414.637.980
17-08-2026 Wetsuit Roofing Solution
BE 0632.715.360
30-07-2026 UNI-BAT
BE 0666.737.121
08-06-2026 EXONET
BE 0541.560.205
01-06-2026 Hilfra
BE 0676.679.522
26-05-2026 B.S.J.
BE 0474.135.802
15-05-2026 stone consulting
BE 0864.860.809
06-05-2026 Borms-Vincent
BE 0640.825.055

Every bankruptcy in division 46, last 90 days

Spread across the country

by region and province · 1,690 of 1,767 enterprises with a registered office on file · a sole trader has no published seat
  • Flanders 1,087 · 64.3%
  • Wallonia 404 · 23.9%
  • Brussels 95 · 5.6%
  • Abroad 104 · 6.2%
fewer moremax 310

Largest employers

NACE 46831 as first main activity · staff from the latest accounts
  1. 1 WIENERBERGERKortrijk 1,175 FTEfinancial year 2025
  2. 2 VAN MARCKEKortrijk 638 FTEfinancial year 2025
  3. 3 DescoWijnegem 528 FTEfinancial year 2025
  4. 4 VERHELST BOUWMATERIALENOudenburg 281 FTEfinancial year 2025
  5. 5 DEFRANCQ BOUWSPECIALITEITENRoeselare 276 FTEfinancial year 2025

Joint committees

from the latest accounts of 704 companies
  • 200 Auxiliary committee for white-collar workers 440
  • 124 Construction 303
  • 201 Independent retail 59
  • 100 Auxiliary committee for blue-collar workers 57
  • 207 White-collar workers in the chemical industry 54
  • 149.04 Metal trade 53
  • 116 Chemical industry 50
  • 106.02 Concrete industry 20
Show the 12 others
  • 209 White-collar workers in metal manufacturing 20
  • 111 Metal, mechanical and electrical engineering 15
  • 149 Sectors related to metal, mechanical and electrical engineering 8
  • 125.03 Timber trade 7
  • 140.03 Road transport and logistics for third parties 7
  • 126 Furnishing and woodworking 6
  • 226 White-collar workers in international trade, transport and logistics 5
  • 140 Transport and logistics 4
  • 119 Food trade 3
  • 142.04 Recovery of raw materials 3
  • 149.01 Electricians: installation and distribution 3
  • 114 Brickworks 2

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

Division 46: Wholesale trade

Related activities

18 other activities
Activity Registrations Starters, 12 months Bankruptcies, 12 months FTE
Wholesale of diamonds and other precious stones46861 1,214 34 15 920
Wholesale of industrial chemicals46851 1,208 39 2 5,339
Wholesale of timber46832 838 18 4 5,118
Wholesale of solid, liquid and gaseous fuels and related products46810 826 44 5 2,871
Wholesale trade46820 718 41 2 1,910
Wholesale trade46841 496 12 2 3,268
Show all 18 activities
Activity Registrations Starters, 12 months Bankruptcies, 12 months FTE
Wholesale trade46842 460 18 2 4,096
Wholesale trade46869 421 16 1 1,477
Wholesale trade46872 407 16 7 899
Wholesale trade46839 379 17 2 982
Wholesale trade46833 231 9 0 925
Wholesale trade46835 165 12 1 317
Wholesale trade46852 163 8 0 308
Wholesale trade46836 156 3 1 470
Wholesale trade46879 124 15 1 126
Wholesale trade46890 58 38 0 6
Wholesale trade46834 28 3 1 101
Wholesale trade46871 18 2 1 8

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 construction materials, general range

Balance sheet and result. Return on equity of 7.2% is below Belgium's 15.9%. The median net result of €24,686 is above Belgium's €16,520. 8.7% of the annual accounts show negative equity, against 12.4% in Belgium.

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

Inflow and structure. Half of the companies are younger than 26.1 years, against 8.1 years in Belgium. 4.3% of the companies are sole traders, against 41.6% in Belgium. In 12 months, 2.4 of 100 companies started, against 8.9 in Belgium. That is fewer than in 90% of the 87 NACE divisions.

Staff and filing. The 5 largest employers hold 2,898 of the 11,696 FTE: 24.8%.

Direction. Median solvency rose from 43.1% in financial year 2020 to 46.8% in financial year 2025. The median net result fell from €47,240 in financial year 2020 to €24,686 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 46831 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.