Retail trade

NACE 477

Current registrations40,118

Starters, 12 months · division 4710,543

Employment (FTE) · division 47239,655

Median age · division 479.4 years

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 67% of the 87 NACE divisions. Comparison: as of 27-09-2026 05:30.

Key figures for NACE division 47

fiscal year 2025 · median over 33,231 filed annual accounts

Median solvency

35.5%

lower than 80% of 79 divisions

Median equity

€93,438

lower than 61% of 79 divisions

Median net result

€10,577

lower than 67% of 79 divisions

Annual accounts in sample

33,231

Bankruptcies

past five years

Bankruptcies (5y)

592

Historical share

1.48%

Nationally, 1.41% of current registrations have a published bankruptcy opening in the past five years. This sector's historical share is higher than that of 65% of the 88 NACE divisions. The median bankruptcy probability in NACE division 47 is 0.8%, against 0.5% nationally, over 57,476 scored companies. Comparison: as of 27-09-2026 05:30.

Regional split

by region · 21,506 of 40,118 enterprises with a registered office on file

Flanders 12,204 · 56.7%

Wallonia 6,001 · 27.9%

Brussels 3,231 · 15.0%

Unknown 70 · 0.3%

Recent bankruptcies in this sector

Date	Company
23-09-2026	PIZZA-MATIC BE 0741.874.806
23-09-2026	TKZ Fashion BE 1015.718.870
22-09-2026	Sole trader BE 0712.578.826 · Evergem
22-09-2026	JR GARDEN BELGIUM BE 0536.920.932
21-09-2026	Sole trader BE 0678.687.818 · Anderlecht
15-09-2026	AlterSmoke Belgium BE 0542.570.488
14-09-2026	Sole trader BE 1018.329.952 · Charleroi
09-09-2026	Sole trader BE 0675.344.484 · Antwerpen

Geographic distribution

by province · based on the establishment address

West Flanders WVL 2,501

East Flanders OVL 2,581

Antwerp ANT 3,722

Flemish Brabant VLB 1,851

Limburg LIM 1,549

Brussels BRU 3,231

Hainaut HAI 1,930

Walloon Brabant WBR 965

Namur NAM 855

Liège LIE 1,851

Luxembourg LUX 400

fewer moremax 3,722

Public money in this sector

per register · legal entities with an enterprise number

Flemish subsidies €417.2m awarded 9,108 recipients · 2022 to 2025 · largest: Erkenning en subsidiëring als maatwerkafdeling
Federal transfers 49.7m amount as published 32 recipients · 2023 to 2025 · largest: Toelagen OCMW's recht op maatschappelijke integratie
Wallonia-Brussels Federation €37.6m paid 113 recipients · 2021 to 2025 · largest: Subventions aux organisations de jeunesse (décret du 20 juin 1980 et du 26 mars 2009)
EU budget €76.7m attributed share 25 recipients · 2021 to 2025 · largest: Information and communication technology
EU research €8.5m eu contribution 13 recipients · 2008 to 2026 · largest: Horizon 2020

Explore every recipient in this sector

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 2025 nomenclature, the one in which code 477 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 477 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.