Skip to content

Wholesale of timber

Current registrations 838division 46: 61,491
Starters, 12 months 182.1 per 100 · Belgium 8.9
Bankruptcies, 12 months 44.8 per 1,000 registrations · Belgium 6.2
Employment (FTE) 5,118258 employers · latest accounts
Median age 26.8 yearsBelgium 8.1 years
E-invoicing via Peppol 85.8%719 of 838 companies in the Peppol Directory · Belgium 85.0%

Filed accounts

NACE 46832 · financial year 2025 · 585 filed annual accounts
Median solvency
50.4%
division 42.2% · Belgium 46.1%
Median net result
€24,799
division €17,217 · Belgium €16,520
Median equity
€605,271
division €207,401 · Belgium €98,421
Loss-making
28.7%
division 28.8% · Belgium 26.7%
Negative equity
10.9%
division 13.4% · Belgium 12.4%
Median return on equity
6.3%
division 9.9% · Belgium 15.9%
Median liquidity
2.00
division 1.69 · Belgium 1.66
Filed late
30.3%
financial year 2024, 603 filings · division 39.2% · Belgium 38.4%
Missing or 90 days late
3.7%
of 620 companies with annual accounts · division 6.4% · Belgium 5.4%
Per financial year202020212022202320242025
Median solvency 42.7%44.2%44.0%45.7%46.8%50.4%
Median net result €46,468€76,311€64,963€32,224€21,979€24,799

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

Bankruptcies

Bankruptcies, 5 years, still registered
11
1.31% of the registrations · Belgium 1.68%
Running bankruptcies
18
21.5 per 1,000 registrations

Recent bankruptcies

Date Company
30-09-2026 ARBO IMPORT & MARKETING
BE 0886.011.757
09-09-2026 STRONX
BE 1002.917.444
07-07-2026 Technique et Protection des Bois
BE 0425.607.690
25-03-2026 TATAR BOUWMARKT
BE 0477.864.956
10-10-2025 CHASSIBAT
BE 0808.274.868
15-01-2025 H.D.M.
BE 0438.115.346
30-10-2024 TATAR BOUWMARKT
BE 0477.864.956
30-10-2024 BRUSSELS TRANSPORT ASSISTANCE
BE 0823.309.868

Every bankruptcy in division 46, last 90 days

Spread across the country

by region and province · 758 of 838 enterprises with a registered office on file · a sole trader has no published seat
  • Flanders 487 · 64.2%
  • Wallonia 194 · 25.6%
  • Brussels 36 · 4.7%
  • Abroad 41 · 5.4%
fewer moremax 142

Largest employers

NACE 46832 as first main activity · staff from the latest accounts
  1. 1 ACTIEFLummen 1,570 FTEfinancial year 2025
  2. 2 I.B.V. & CieVielsalm 264 FTEfinancial year 2025
  3. 3 CRASWaregem 200 FTEfinancial year 2025
  4. 4 BIEMAR BOISSoumagne 125 FTEfinancial year 2025
  5. 5 MARTENS HOUTSchoten 84.8 FTEfinancial year 2025

Joint committees

from the latest accounts of 329 companies
  • 200 Auxiliary committee for white-collar workers 199
  • 125.03 Timber trade 143
  • 126 Furnishing and woodworking 34
  • 125 Wood industry 32
  • 124 Construction 29
  • 125.02 Wood industry 25
  • 100 Auxiliary committee for blue-collar workers 19
  • 201 Independent retail 18
Show the 12 others
  • 125.01 Wood industry 5
  • 145 Horticulture 3
  • 149.04 Metal trade 3
  • 226 White-collar workers in international trade, transport and logistics 3
  • 111 Metal, mechanical and electrical engineering 2
  • 140.03 Road transport and logistics for third parties 2
  • 101 Mining 1
  • 102 Quarries 1
  • 116 Chemical industry 1
  • 119 Food trade 1
  • 142.04 Recovery of raw materials 1
  • 144 Agriculture 1

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 construction materials, general range46831 1,767 43 12 11,696
Wholesale of diamonds and other precious stones46861 1,214 34 15 920
Wholesale of industrial chemicals46851 1,208 39 2 5,339
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 timber

Balance sheet and result. Return on equity of 6.3% is below Belgium's 15.9%. The median net result of €24,799 is above Belgium's €16,520. Liquidity of 2.00 is above Belgium's 1.66.

Inflow and structure. Half of the companies are younger than 26.8 years, against 8.1 years in Belgium. 9.5% of the companies are sole traders, against 41.6% in Belgium. In 12 months, 2.1 of 100 companies started, against 8.9 in Belgium. That is fewer than in 92% of the 87 NACE divisions.

Staff and filing. 30.3% of the financial year 2024 accounts were filed late, against 38.4% in Belgium. The 5 largest employers hold 2,244 of the 5,118 FTE: 43.8%.

Direction. Median solvency rose from 42.7% in financial year 2020 to 50.4% in financial year 2025. The median net result fell from €46,468 in financial year 2020 to €24,799 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 46832 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.