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Other non-specialised retail sale

Current registrations 12,410division 47: 115,448
Starters, 12 months 1,2209.8 per 100 · Belgium 8.9
Bankruptcies, 12 months 574.6 per 1,000 registrations · Belgium 6.2
Employment (FTE) 17,475365 employers · latest accounts
Median age 4.3 yearsBelgium 8.1 years
E-invoicing via Peppol 67.3%8,349 of 12,410 companies in the Peppol Directory · Belgium 85.0%

Filed accounts

NACE 47120 · financial year 2025 · 2,236 filed annual accounts
Median solvency
26.5%
division 35.1% · Belgium 46.1%
Median net result
€4,909
division €11,274 · Belgium €16,520
Median equity
€35,502
division €98,568 · Belgium €98,421
Loss-making
40.1%
division 29.5% · Belgium 26.7%
Negative equity
25.7%
division 16.9% · Belgium 12.4%
Median return on equity
12.9%
division 12.3% · Belgium 15.9%
Median liquidity
1.31
division 1.47 · Belgium 1.66
Filed late
46.4%
financial year 2024, 2,252 filings · division 46.7% · Belgium 38.4%
Missing or 90 days late
7.5%
of 2,528 companies with annual accounts · division 7.5% · Belgium 5.4%
Per financial year202020212022202320242025
Median solvency 29.2%30.8%28.6%27.5%26.3%26.5%
Median net result €11,497€11,724€5,120€4,937€3,936€4,909

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

Bankruptcies

Bankruptcies, 5 years, still registered
154
1.24% of the registrations · Belgium 1.68%
Running bankruptcies
153
12.3 per 1,000 registrations

Recent bankruptcies

Date Company
03-11-2026 STOCK BONNE AFFAIRE
BE 1014.950.491
30-10-2026 HOMESHOP
BE 0821.400.552
30-10-2026 MUSELAB
BE 1009.938.165
21-10-2026 Kaviaaar
BE 1005.514.371
14-10-2026 FVDP
BE 0693.924.637
14-10-2026 De Taaltoren
BE 0776.549.534
12-10-2026 Baqheera
BE 0762.526.995
12-10-2026 AMRA PROJECTS
BE 0806.122.062

Every bankruptcy in division 47, last 90 days

Spread across the country

by region and province · 4,591 of 12,410 enterprises with a registered office on file · a sole trader has no published seat
  • Flanders 2,218 · 48.3%
  • Wallonia 780 · 17.0%
  • Brussels 492 · 10.7%
  • Abroad 1,101 · 24.0%
fewer moremax 792

Largest employers

NACE 47120 as first main activity · staff from the latest accounts
  1. 1 Action BelgiumAsse 3,178 FTEfinancial year 2025
  2. 2 KRUIDVATAntwerp 2,407 FTEfinancial year 2025
  3. 3 MAKRO CASH & CARRY BELGIUMWommelgem 1,827 FTEfinancial year 2021
  4. 4 INNOBrussels 783 FTEfinancial year 2024
  5. 5 Retail ConceptsAntwerp 776 FTEfinancial year 2025

Joint committees

from the latest accounts of 658 companies
  • 201 Independent retail 404
  • 100 Auxiliary committee for blue-collar workers 140
  • 200 Auxiliary committee for white-collar workers 132
  • 119 Food trade 49
  • 202.01 Medium-sized food businesses 19
  • 207 White-collar workers in the chemical industry 16
  • 302 Hotels and catering 16
  • 109 Clothing and garment industry 14
Show the 12 others
  • 149.01 Electricians: installation and distribution 12
  • 149.04 Metal trade 12
  • 311 Large retail businesses 12
  • 116 Chemical industry 11
  • 215 White-collar workers in the clothing and garment industry 11
  • 124 Construction 9
  • 226 White-collar workers in international trade, transport and logistics 8
  • 126 Furnishing and woodworking 7
  • 140.03 Road transport and logistics for third parties 7
  • 202 White-collar workers in food retail 6
  • 118 Food industry 4
  • 112 Garages 3

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

Division 47: Retail trade

Related activities

1 other activity
Activity Registrations Starters, 12 months Bankruptcies, 12 months FTE
Non-specialised retail sale with food, beverages or tobacco predominating47110 10,341 836 186 72,308

Bankruptcies per year in division 47

Per year201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Bankruptcies1,3941,3821,4991,3741,4389317461,0761,1691,2991,294914
Jobs lost2,8933,4682,9132,7132,8924,0882,1122,1254,1563,9333,5112,092

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 47

11,335 employers
Median
€49,800
Belgium €61,400
Middle half
€39,600 to €63,800
half of the employers lie between
Place among sectors
73 of 78
sectors with a median staff cost per FTE, highest first
By size class
SizeMedianMiddle halfEmployers
fewer than 10 FTE €50,500 €39,700 to €64,200 8,071
10 to 49 FTE €46,400 €38,700 to €60,900 2,866
50 to 249 FTE €57,600 €45,000 to €72,100 320
250 FTE or more €58,400 €47,500 to €70,900 78

Running bankruptcies in the sector

NACE division 47
Number
2,272
Half have run longer than
20 months
Belgium: 20 months
Longer than three years
29%
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

177 of the 60,397 companies in NACE division 47 have a parent company abroad. Main parent countries: Netherlands (54), France (51) and Germany (15). Together they employ 30,846 of the division's 222,349 FTE: 14%, against 14% for Belgium as a whole.

Subsidies in this sector

per register · legal entities with an enterprise number
  • Flemish subsidies €389.9m awarded 9,037 recipients · 2022 to 2025 · largest: Erkenning en subsidiëring als maatwerkafdeling
  • Federal transfers 11.7m amount as published 30 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 €31.7m paid 108 recipients · 2021 to 2025 · largest: Subventions aux organisations de jeunesse (décret du 20 juin 1980 et du 26 mars 2009)
  • EU budget €76.1m attributed share 24 recipients · 2021 to 2025 · largest: Information and communication technology
  • EU research €8.6m EU contribution 14 recipients · 2008 to 2026 · largest: Horizon 2020

Explore every recipient in this sector

Insights on Other non-specialised retail sale

Balance sheet and result. 25.7% of the annual accounts show negative equity, against 12.4% in Belgium. The median net result of €4,909 is below Belgium's €16,520. 40.1% of the annual accounts close with a loss, against 26.7% in Belgium.

Bankruptcies. The median bankruptcy probability of 1.1% is above Belgium's 0.2%. In 12 months, 4.6 of 1,000 companies went bankrupt, against 6.2 in Belgium. That is more than in 60% of the 88 NACE divisions.

Inflow and structure. 63.0% of the companies are sole traders, against 41.6% in Belgium. Half of the companies are younger than 4.3 years, against 8.1 years in Belgium. In 12 months, 9.8 of 100 companies started, against 8.9 in Belgium. That is more than in 77% of the 87 NACE divisions.

Staff and filing. 46.4% of the financial year 2024 accounts were filed late, against 38.4% in Belgium. The 5 largest employers hold 8,971 of the 17,475 FTE: 51.3%.

Direction. Median solvency fell from 29.2% in financial year 2020 to 26.5% in financial year 2025. The median net result fell from €11,497 in financial year 2020 to €4,909 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 47120 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.