Retail trade
Filed accounts
NACE 47631 · financial year 2025 · 72 filed annual accounts| Per financial year | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Median solvency | 37.1% | 38.0% | 38.8% | 40.2% | 40.8% | 41.7% |
| Median net result | €15,270 | €13,668 | €16,715 | €10,706 | €12,501 | €15,577 |
Hold your customer's or competitor's figures against them in the Sector benchmark
Bankruptcies
Recent bankruptcies
| Date | Company |
|---|---|
| 18-05-2026 | VILLERS
BE 0425.127.244 |
| 31-03-2025 | Coolegem, Johnny
BE 0766.400.859 · sole trader · Rijkevorsel |
| 23-10-2024 | GARTA
BE 0402.125.673 |
Spread across the country
by region and province · 87 of 127 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 47631 as first main activity · staff from the latest accounts- 1 Daniel DEKAISEWavre 7.9 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 2 MIDARMSVisé 6.3 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 3 BELGUNLTDKontich 4.0 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 4 EDGARD GRIMARDAns 3.9 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 5 HUNTING LODGEWavre 3.7 FTEfinancial year 2026
Joint committees
from the latest accounts of 18 companies- 201 Independent retail 10
- 149.04 Metal trade 6
- 200 Auxiliary committee for white-collar workers 4
- 302 Hotels and catering 2
- 100 Auxiliary committee for blue-collar workers 1
- 119 Food trade 1
- 149 Sectors related to metal, mechanical and electrical engineering 1
- 226 White-collar workers in international trade, transport and logistics 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 | 25 | 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 | 1,276 | 145 | 9 | 202 |
| Retail sale of games and toys47640 | 1,025 | 254 | 5 | 1,069 |
| Retail trade47610 | 607 | 72 | 4 | 434 |
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
11,343 employers| Size | Median | Middle half | Employers |
|---|---|---|---|
| fewer than 10 FTE | €50,500 | €39,600 to €64,200 | 8,078 |
| 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 108,621 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 9 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 60,421 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 222,396 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. Liquidity of 2.50 is above Belgium's 1.66. Return on equity of 12.7% is below Belgium's 15.9%. 13.9% of the annual accounts show negative equity, against 12.4% in Belgium.
Bankruptcies. The median bankruptcy probability of 0.4% is above Belgium's 0.2%.
Inflow and structure. Half of the companies are younger than 22.0 years, against 8.1 years in Belgium. Wallonia holds 45.3% of the seats, against 22.7% in Belgium. 31.5% of the companies are sole traders, against 41.6% in Belgium.
Staff and filing. The 5 largest employers hold 26 of the 49 FTE: 52.9%.
Direction. Median solvency rose from 37.1% in financial year 2020 to 41.7% in financial year 2025.
The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other divisions is as of 09-11-2026 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 47631 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 1,276,461 companies with a main activity, because only those belong to a division. The other 699,442 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.