Retail trade
Filed accounts
NACE 47526 · financial year 2025 · 112 filed annual accounts| Per financial year | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Median solvency | 33.7% | 34.1% | 35.6% | 37.9% | 37.2% | 38.3% |
| Median net result | €32,354 | €26,992 | €15,024 | €10,319 | €14,740 | €11,514 |
Hold your customer's or competitor's figures against them in the Sector benchmark
Bankruptcies
Recent bankruptcies
| Date | Company |
|---|---|
| 24-11-2025 | De Verfbeurs
BE 0835.194.150 |
| 29-10-2025 | DE VERFCENTRALE
BE 0801.195.947 |
| 28-10-2025 | DE VERFKIOSK
BE 0783.828.294 |
Spread across the country
by region and province · 133 of 161 enterprises with a registered office on file · a sole trader has no published seat- Flanders
- Wallonia
- Brussels
The balance sheets of division 47 on the map, by municipality and down to the address
Largest employers
NACE 47526 as first main activity · staff from the latest accounts- 1 Thiry Paints AntwerpenMechelen 51.0 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 2 COLORA WINKELKRING ANTWERPENWaregem 20.9 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 3 Centrale des Produits chimiques et de peintureGrâce-Hollogne 20.6 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 4 Ets SIMONLiège 14.6 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 5 COLORA WINKELKRING OOSTWaregem 13.1 FTEfinancial year 2025
Joint committees
from the latest accounts of 54 companies- 207 White-collar workers in the chemical industry 36
- 116 Chemical industry 17
- 124 Construction 13
- 201 Independent retail 11
- 109 Clothing and garment industry 6
- 200 Auxiliary committee for white-collar workers 5
- 100 Auxiliary committee for blue-collar workers 3
- 102 Quarries 1
Source: the annual accounts at the National Bank. One filing can name more than one committee.
Division 47: Retail trade
Related activities
18 other activities| Activity | Registrations | Starters, 12 months | Bankruptcies, 12 months | FTE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail sale of household furniture47551 | 2,562 | 120 | 40 | 7,692 |
| Retail sale of hardware, building materials, paint and glass (general range)47521 | 1,680 | 63 | 11 | 8,283 |
| Retail sale of electrical household appliances47540 | 1,489 | 75 | 7 | 4,732 |
| Retail sale of household textiles and bedding47512 | 1,259 | 43 | 4 | 2,037 |
| Retail sale of other household articles47559 | 1,036 | 126 | 5 | 200 |
| Retail sale of lighting equipment47552 | 752 | 24 | 1 | 2,261 |
Show all 18 activities
| Activity | Registrations | Starters, 12 months | Bankruptcies, 12 months | FTE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail trade47530 | 529 | 42 | 1 | 372 |
| Retail trade47553 | 425 | 51 | 2 | 260 |
| Retail trade47529 | 365 | 22 | 5 | 233 |
| Retail trade47525 | 300 | 19 | 0 | 332 |
| Retail trade47554 | 272 | 39 | 1 | 318 |
| Retail trade47519 | 266 | 23 | 1 | 88 |
| Retail trade47511 | 259 | 28 | 3 | 79 |
| Retail trade47522 | 231 | 14 | 2 | 187 |
| Retail trade47513 | 225 | 23 | 0 | 4 |
| Retail trade47527 | 212 | 19 | 5 | 304 |
| Retail trade47523 | 170 | 7 | 2 | 251 |
| Retail trade47524 | 74 | 1 | 3 | 105 |
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
11,340 employers| Size | Median | Middle half | Employers |
|---|---|---|---|
| fewer than 10 FTE | €50,500 | €39,700 to €64,200 | 8,075 |
| 10 to 49 FTE | €46,400 | €38,700 to €60,900 | 2,867 |
| 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 108,642 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 7 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 60,418 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 222,394 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. The median net result of €11,514 is below Belgium's €16,516. Return on equity of 12.5% is below Belgium's 15.9%. Liquidity of 1.33 is below Belgium's 1.66.
Bankruptcies. The median bankruptcy probability of 0.5% is above Belgium's 0.2%.
Inflow and structure. Half of the companies are younger than 14.9 years, against 8.1 years in Belgium. 17.4% of the companies are sole traders, against 41.6% in Belgium. This activity holds 0.1% of the registrations of Retail trade.
Staff and filing. 48.2% of the financial year 2024 accounts were filed late, against 38.4% in Belgium. The 5 largest employers hold 120 of the 164 FTE: 73.2%.
Direction. Median solvency rose from 33.7% in financial year 2020 to 38.3% in financial year 2025. The median net result fell from €32,354 in financial year 2020 to €11,514 in financial year 2025.
The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other divisions is as of 07-11-2026 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 47526 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 1,276,547 companies with a main activity, because only those belong to a division. The other 699,272 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.