Retail trade
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 66% of the 87 NACE divisions. Comparison: as of 01-10-2026 05:30.
Key figures for NACE division 47
fiscal year 2025 · median over 33,890 filed annual accountsForeign control in NACE division 47
61,071 registered companiesStaff cost per FTE in NACE division 47
11,296 employers| Size | Median | Middle half | Employers |
|---|---|---|---|
| fewer than 10 FTE | €50,300 | €39,500 to €63,900 | 8,072 |
| 10 to 49 FTE | €46,300 | €38,500 to €60,600 | 2,833 |
| 50 to 249 FTE | €57,200 | €44,200 to €71,800 | 316 |
| 250 FTE or more | €55,800 | €47,400 to €67,200 | 75 |
Employers with the highest staff cost per FTE in this division All sectors by staff cost In the Analysis workbench
Bankruptcies
past five yearsNationally, 1.61% of current registrations have a published bankruptcy opening in the past five years. This sector's historical share is higher than that of 52% of the 88 NACE divisions. The median bankruptcy probability in NACE division 47 is 0.8%, against 0.5% nationally, over 57,490 scored companies. Comparison: as of 01-10-2026 05:30.
Bankruptcies still running
NACE division 47Measured nationally: Of 107,662 bankruptcies of legal entities across Belgium, 49% were closed within five years for insufficient assets and 28% after liquidation, 3% were withdrawn; 20% were still open after five years. Half had ended after 26 months (a quarter after 15, three quarters after 51 months).
Counts companies with this main activity in the register on 1 October 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.
Regional split
by region · 97 of 171 enterprises with a registered office on fileRecent bankruptcies in this sector
2| Date | Company |
|---|---|
| 03-09-2026 | DANIELS MUSICAL SOUND
BE 0428.369.123 |
| 05-10-2022 | KEY MUSIC
BE 0447.439.719 |
Geographic distribution
by province · based on the establishment addressWhere are this sector's balance sheets registered? By municipality, down to the address
Subsidies in this sector
per register · legal entities with an enterprise number- Flemish subsidies €417.2m awarded
- Federal transfers 49.7m amount as published
- Wallonia-Brussels Federation €37.6m paid
- EU budget €76.7m attributed share
- EU research €8.5m eu contribution
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 2008 nomenclature, the one in which code 47594 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 47594 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.