Retail trade
Filed accounts
NACE 47610 · financial year 2025 · 241 filed annual accounts| Per financial year | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Median solvency | 39.6% | 36.0% | 33.9% | 34.9% | 32.4% | 34.3% |
| Median net result | €10,645 | €10,984 | €3,949 | €3,917 | €7,954 | €7,978 |
Hold your customer's or competitor's figures against them in the Sector benchmark
Bankruptcies
Recent bankruptcies
| Date | Company |
|---|---|
| 10-04-2026 | NA-TAN COMPANY
BE 0507.733.533 |
| 21-01-2026 | CSJ
BE 0783.953.703 |
| 31-12-2025 | COMICS AND FAMILY
BE 0787.808.759 |
| 12-11-2025 | Sarikaya, Mehmet
BE 0737.748.940 · sole trader · La Louvière |
| 24-09-2025 | Mayda Group
BE 0802.440.220 |
| 04-07-2025 | CT DESIGN
BE 0766.881.604 |
| 21-05-2025 | ATELIER 34 ZERO MUZEUM
BE 0561.774.015 |
| 09-01-2024 | Avau, Chantal
BE 0897.994.128 · sole trader · Enghien |
Spread across the country
by region and province · 378 of 607 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 47610 as first main activity · staff from the latest accounts- 1 WH Smith BelgiumAntwerp 50.1 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 2 SBDWWavre 44.3 FTEfinancial year 2026
- 3 Stichting CIVA (Centre d'Information, de documentation et d'exposition de la ville, de l'architecture, du paysage et de l'urbanisme de la Région deIxelles 42.5 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 4 ASKBWaterloo 33.6 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 5 MOLIERE ET COMPAGNIECharleroi 26.2 FTEfinancial year 2025
Joint committees
from the latest accounts of 99 companies- 201 Independent retail 86
- 100 Auxiliary committee for blue-collar workers 18
- 200 Auxiliary committee for white-collar workers 5
- 302 Hotels and catering 4
- 311 Large retail businesses 4
- 119 Food trade 1
- 124 Construction 1
- 145 Horticulture 1
Show the 2 others
- 319.01 Educational and residential institutions 1
- 329.01 Socio-cultural sector 1
Source: the annual accounts at the National Bank. One filing can name more than one committee.
Division 47: Retail trade
Related activities
7 other activities| Activity | Registrations | Starters, 12 months | Bankruptcies, 12 months | FTE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail sale of newspapers and periodicals47621 | 2,280 | 75 | 24 | 1,856 |
| Retail sale of bicycles47632 | 1,448 | 87 | 10 | 1,372 |
| Retail sale of other sporting goods47639 | 1,300 | 101 | 7 | 854 |
| Retail sale of other cultural and recreation goods47690 | 1,277 | 145 | 9 | 202 |
| Retail sale of games and toys47640 | 1,025 | 254 | 5 | 1,069 |
| Retail trade47631 | 127 | 3 | 1 | 49 |
Show all 7 activities
| Activity | Registrations | Starters, 12 months | Bankruptcies, 12 months | FTE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail trade47622 | 33 | 24 | 0 | 6 |
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
11,342 employers| Size | Median | Middle half | Employers |
|---|---|---|---|
| fewer than 10 FTE | €50,500 | €39,600 to €64,200 | 8,079 |
| 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 108,651 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 10 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 60,413 companies in NACE division 47 have a parent company abroad. Main parent countries: Netherlands (54), France (51) and Germany (15). Together they employ 30,842 of the division's 222,368 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. 19.9% of the annual accounts show negative equity, against 12.4% in Belgium. The median net result of €7,978 is below Belgium's €16,492. Return on equity of 10.9% is below Belgium's 15.9%.
Bankruptcies. The median bankruptcy probability of 0.5% is above Belgium's 0.2%.
Inflow and structure. Brussels holds 22.9% of the seats, against 12.5% in Belgium. In 12 months, 11.9 of 100 companies started, against 8.9 in Belgium. That is more than in 87% of the 87 NACE divisions. This activity holds 0.5% of the registrations of Retail trade.
Staff and filing. 43.7% of the financial year 2024 accounts were filed late, against 38.4% in Belgium. The 5 largest employers hold 197 of the 434 FTE: 45.4%.
Direction. Median solvency fell from 39.6% in financial year 2020 to 34.3% in financial year 2025. The median net result fell from €10,645 in financial year 2020 to €7,978 in financial year 2025.
The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other divisions is as of 10-11-2026 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 47610 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 1,276,421 companies with a main activity, because only those belong to a division. The other 699,557 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.