Retail trade
Filed accounts
NACE 47230 · financial year 2025 · 247 filed annual accounts| Per financial year | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Median solvency | 33.6% | 36.5% | 32.9% | 31.2% | 32.6% | 30.0% |
| Median net result | €30,030 | €21,449 | €5,100 | €10,371 | €11,062 | €15,028 |
Hold your customer's or competitor's figures against them in the Sector benchmark
Bankruptcies
Recent bankruptcies
| Date | Company |
|---|---|
| 02-10-2026 | ESIRI
BE 0732.528.855 |
| 25-09-2026 | POISSONNERIE LA CIGALE
BE 0738.551.664 |
| 16-09-2026 | FLTR
BE 0712.686.516 |
| 17-07-2026 | BELMOSCENT
BE 0765.741.655 |
| 08-06-2026 | PRO MARÉE
BE 0713.863.184 |
| 03-06-2026 | WESTHINDER
BE 0417.115.539 |
| 02-06-2026 | ANTARTIQUE
BE 0840.505.592 |
| 30-04-2026 | LA POISSONNERIE D'AGADIR
BE 0698.587.169 |
Spread across the country
by region and province · 354 of 455 enterprises with a registered office on file · a sole trader has no published seat- Flanders
- Brussels
- Wallonia
- Abroad
The balance sheets of division 47 on the map, by municipality and down to the address
Largest employers
NACE 47230 as first main activity · staff from the latest accounts- 1 Poissonnerie NoordzeeBrussels 23.0 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 2 Marché PetitjeanLibramont-Chevigny 18.9 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 3 DELITASNinove 16.9 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 4 E-FISHBornem 16.5 FTEfinancial year 2026
- 5 FESTIN AQUATIQUEBrussels 14.4 FTEfinancial year 2022
Joint committees
from the latest accounts of 101 companies- 201 Independent retail 75
- 119 Food trade 66
- 302 Hotels and catering 9
- 200 Auxiliary committee for white-collar workers 6
- 118 Food industry 2
- 143 Sea fishing 2
- 220 White-collar workers in the food industry 2
- 144 Agriculture 1
Source: the annual accounts at the National Bank. One filing can name more than one committee.
Division 47: Retail trade
Related activities
10 other activities| Activity | Registrations | Starters, 12 months | Bankruptcies, 12 months | FTE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail sale of fruit and vegetables47210 | 3,671 | 122 | 32 | 1,621 |
| Retail sale of meat and meat products, excluding game and poultry47221 | 3,009 | 141 | 28 | 6,931 |
| Other retail sale of food47279 | 2,443 | 325 | 24 | 1,420 |
| Retail sale of bread and pastry (bakery outlets)47241 | 2,352 | 158 | 34 | 2,781 |
| Retail sale of wines and spirits47251 | 2,328 | 292 | 9 | 140 |
| Retail sale of beverages, general range47252 | 1,505 | 163 | 9 | 2,992 |
Show all 10 activities
| Activity | Registrations | Starters, 12 months | Bankruptcies, 12 months | FTE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail sale of chocolate and confectionery47242 | 879 | 89 | 12 | 361 |
| Retail trade47260 | 411 | 19 | 8 | 342 |
| Retail trade47271 | 389 | 31 | 1 | 218 |
| Retail trade47222 | 269 | 26 | 5 | 279 |
Bankruptcies per year in division 47
| Per year | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bankruptcies | 1,394 | 1,382 | 1,499 | 1,374 | 1,438 | 931 | 746 | 1,076 | 1,169 | 1,299 | 1,294 | 914 |
| Jobs lost | 2,893 | 3,468 | 2,913 | 2,713 | 2,892 | 4,088 | 2,112 | 2,125 | 4,156 | 3,933 | 3,511 | 2,092 |
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| Size | Median | Middle half | Employers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
Employers with the highest staff cost per FTE in this division All sectors by staff cost In the Analysis workbench
Running bankruptcies in the sector
NACE division 47Measured 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.
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
- Federal transfers 11.7m amount as published
- Wallonia-Brussels Federation €31.7m paid
- EU budget €76.1m attributed share
- EU research €8.6m EU contribution
Insights on Retail trade
Balance sheet and result. Solvency of 30.0% is below Belgium's 46.1%. Return on equity of 20.8% is above Belgium's 15.9%. Liquidity of 1.19 is below Belgium's 1.66.
Bankruptcies. In 12 months, 24.2 of 1,000 companies went bankrupt, against 6.2 in Belgium. No NACE division counts more. The median bankruptcy probability of 0.7% is above Belgium's 0.2%.
Inflow and structure. Brussels holds 18.9% of the seats, against 12.5% in Belgium. 22.2% of the companies are sole traders, against 41.6% in Belgium. In 12 months, 6.4 of 100 companies started, against 8.9 in Belgium. That is fewer than in 59% of the 87 NACE divisions.
Staff and filing. 49.6% of the financial year 2024 accounts were filed late, against 38.4% in Belgium. The 5 largest employers hold 90 of the 345 FTE: 26.0%.
Direction. Median solvency fell from 33.6% in financial year 2020 to 30.0% in financial year 2025. The median net result fell from €30,030 in financial year 2020 to €15,028 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 47230 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.