Retail trade

NACE 472

Current registrations17,628

Starters, 12 months · division 4710,543

Employment (FTE) · division 47239,655

Median age · division 479.4 years

In NACE division 47, 9.0 companies per 100 started in the past twelve months, against 7.5 nationally; that is higher than that of 67% of the 87 NACE divisions. Comparison: as of 27-09-2026 05:30.

Key figures for NACE division 47

fiscal year 2025 · median over 33,231 filed annual accounts

Median solvency

35.5%

lower than 80% of 79 divisions

Median equity

€93,438

lower than 61% of 79 divisions

Median net result

€10,577

lower than 67% of 79 divisions

Annual accounts in sample

33,231

Bankruptcies

past five years

Bankruptcies (5y)

451

Historical share

2.56%

Nationally, 1.41% of current registrations have a published bankruptcy opening in the past five years. This sector's historical share is higher than that of 85% of the 88 NACE divisions. The median bankruptcy probability in NACE division 47 is 0.8%, against 0.5% nationally, over 57,476 scored companies. Comparison: as of 27-09-2026 05:30.

Regional split

by region · 10,694 of 17,628 enterprises with a registered office on file

Flanders 6,284 · 58.8%

Wallonia 3,003 · 28.1%

Brussels 1,368 · 12.8%

Unknown 39 · 0.4%

Recent bankruptcies in this sector

Date	Company
25-09-2026	POISSONNERIE LA CIGALE BE 0738.551.664
25-09-2026	TIMGAD BLDC BE 0762.444.546
23-09-2026	Cisco68 BE 0742.955.365
22-09-2026	SLAGERIJ ASNEE BE 0792.671.924
21-09-2026	POLAK BE 0686.677.549
21-09-2026	Les bons pains BE 0659.681.756
21-09-2026	ALI BABA DELICES BE 0771.857.605
21-09-2026	OBUR 63 BE 0784.302.012

Geographic distribution

by province · based on the establishment address

West Flanders WVL 1,366

East Flanders OVL 1,281

Antwerp ANT 1,826

Flemish Brabant VLB 1,160

Limburg LIM 651

Brussels BRU 1,368

Hainaut HAI 877

Walloon Brabant WBR 375

Namur NAM 487

Liège LIE 905

Luxembourg LUX 359

fewer moremax 1,826

Public money in this sector

per register · legal entities with an enterprise number

Flemish subsidies €417.2m awarded 9,108 recipients · 2022 to 2025 · largest: Erkenning en subsidiëring als maatwerkafdeling
Federal transfers 49.7m amount as published 32 recipients · 2023 to 2025 · largest: Toelagen OCMW's recht op maatschappelijke integratie
Wallonia-Brussels Federation €37.6m paid 113 recipients · 2021 to 2025 · largest: Subventions aux organisations de jeunesse (décret du 20 juin 1980 et du 26 mars 2009)
EU budget €76.7m attributed share 25 recipients · 2021 to 2025 · largest: Information and communication technology
EU research €8.5m eu contribution 13 recipients · 2008 to 2026 · largest: Horizon 2020

Explore every recipient in this sector

How these figures are counted

Current enterprise registrations are counted through their registered main activities; establishment units are excluded. Counted in the KBO's NACE 2025 nomenclature, the one in which code 472 exists.

Share of currently registered companies with a published bankruptcy opening in the past five years. Registered main activities in the selected classification can overlap. This retrospective share is not a future bankruptcy probability.

The comparison with the country and with the other NACE divisions comes from a nightly overview of every division, each counted in the nomenclature in which it exists. A standing such as "higher than 80%" counts the other divisions that have the figure. The bankruptcy probability is the median of our nightly score over the division's companies that have one; the count is stated.

The key figures cover the whole NACE division 47, not NACE 472 on its own: there are too few filed annual accounts per five-digit code to compute them separately. The middle company of the sector, based on all filed annual accounts.