Retail trade
Filed accounts
NACE 47271 · financial year 2025 · 154 filed annual accounts| Per financial year | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Median solvency | 32.2% | 30.2% | 30.0% | 27.2% | 24.8% | 28.3% |
| Median net result | €11,503 | €10,043 | €3,719 | €9,487 | €9,539 | €11,602 |
Hold your customer's or competitor's figures against them in the Sector benchmark
Bankruptcies
Recent bankruptcies
| Date | Company |
|---|---|
| 29-07-2026 | LA FROMAGERIE
BE 0737.687.176 |
| 09-04-2024 | LE FROMAGEON-THEWYS PASCAL
BE 0412.675.909 |
| 05-07-2023 | VAN TRICHT - DHAENE
BE 0758.657.289 |
| 23-02-2023 | FROMELIA
BE 0780.736.271 |
Spread across the country
by region and province · 214 of 389 enterprises with a registered office on file · a sole trader has no published seat- Flanders
- Wallonia
- Brussels
- Abroad
The balance sheets of division 47 on the map, by municipality and down to the address
Largest employers
NACE 47271 as first main activity · staff from the latest accounts- 1 BULLE DE VERRESchaerbeek 29.1 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 2 VALFRAISHalle 27.9 FTEfinancial year 2026
- 3 W&A RETAILHalle 19.4 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 4 ELSEN KAASAMBACHTLeuven 17.1 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 5 Saint Octave RetailSint-Gillis (bij-Brussel) 15.6 FTEfinancial year 2026
Joint committees
from the latest accounts of 66 companies- 201 Independent retail 49
- 119 Food trade 29
- 302 Hotels and catering 6
- 200 Auxiliary committee for white-collar workers 3
- 118 Food industry 2
- 220 White-collar workers in the food industry 2
- 100 Auxiliary committee for blue-collar workers 1
- 144 Agriculture 1
Show the 1 others
- 202 White-collar workers in food retail 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 | 3,670 | 122 | 32 | 1,626 |
| Retail sale of meat and meat products, excluding game and poultry47221 | 3,010 | 142 | 28 | 6,931 |
| Other retail sale of food47279 | 2,444 | 329 | 24 | 1,416 |
| Retail sale of bread and pastry (bakery outlets)47241 | 2,353 | 158 | 34 | 2,782 |
| Retail sale of wines and spirits47251 | 2,332 | 294 | 9 | 141 |
| Retail sale of beverages, general range47252 | 1,504 | 164 | 8 | 2,990 |
Show all 10 activities
| Activity | Registrations | Starters, 12 months | Bankruptcies, 12 months | FTE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail sale of chocolate and confectionery47242 | 878 | 90 | 12 | 369 |
| Retail trade47230 | 456 | 29 | 11 | 345 |
| Retail trade47260 | 411 | 19 | 8 | 342 |
| 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
11,341 employers| Size | Median | Middle half | Employers |
|---|---|---|---|
| fewer than 10 FTE | €50,500 | €39,600 to €64,200 | 8,078 |
| 10 to 49 FTE | €46,300 | €38,700 to €60,900 | 2,865 |
| 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 108,725 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 11 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 60,414 companies in NACE division 47 have a parent company abroad. Main parent countries: Netherlands (54), France (51) and Germany (15). Together they employ 30,845 of the division's 222,367 FTE: 14%, against 14% for Belgium as a whole.
Subsidies in this sector
per register · legal entities with an enterprise number- Flemish subsidies €389.8m awarded
- Wallonia-Brussels Federation €31.7m paid
- Federal transfers 11.7m amount as published
- EU budget €76.1m attributed share
- EU research €8.6m EU contribution
Insights on Retail trade
Balance sheet and result. Solvency of 28.3% is below Belgium's 46.1%. The median net result of €11,602 is below Belgium's €16,490. Liquidity of 1.23 is below Belgium's 1.66.
Bankruptcies. The median bankruptcy probability of 0.7% is above Belgium's 0.2%.
Inflow and structure. Wallonia holds 36.2% of the seats, against 22.7% in Belgium. Half of the companies are younger than 12.4 years, against 8.1 years in Belgium. In 12 months, 8.0 of 100 companies started, against 8.9 in Belgium. That is more than in 61% of the 87 NACE divisions.
Staff and filing. The 5 largest employers hold 109 of the 218 FTE: 50.1%.
Direction. Median solvency fell from 32.2% in financial year 2020 to 28.3% in financial year 2025.
The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other divisions is as of 11-11-2026 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 47271 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 1,276,472 companies with a main activity, because only those belong to a division. The other 699,781 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.