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Postal and courier activities

NACE 53
Current registrations 5,378
Starters, 12 months 1,49327.8 per 100 · Belgium 8.8
Bankruptcies, 12 months 10519.5 per 1,000 registrations · Belgium 6.2
Employment (FTE) 28,684129 employers · latest accounts
Median age 3.2 yearsBelgium 8.1 years

Activities

NACE division 53 · 3 activities
Activity Registrations Starters, 12 months Bankruptcies, 12 months FTE
Other postal and courier activities53200 4,975 1,409 94 4,680
Postal and courier activities53100 408 65 11 24,002
Postal and courier activities53300 35 21 0 2

Filed accounts

NACE division 53 · financial year 2025 · 1,168 filed annual accounts
Median solvency
31.6%
Belgium 46.1%
Median net result
€7,396
Belgium €16,539
Median equity
€39,081
Belgium €98,485
Loss-making
30.6%
Belgium 26.7%
Negative equity
16.6%
Belgium 12.4%
Median return on equity
18.1%
Belgium 15.9%
Median liquidity
1.22
Belgium 1.66
Filed late
56.1%
financial year 2024 · Belgium 38.4%
Per financial year20182019202020212022202320242025
Median solvency --31.8%32.3%34.0%31.8%33.1%33.0%
Median net result --€7,978€6,703€6,235€5,380€6,691€6,147
Filed late 49.3%60.8%58.9%57.6%57.5%55.2%56.1%-

Hold your customer's or competitor's figures against them in the Sector benchmark

Staff cost per FTE in NACE division 53

98 employers
Median
€50,800
Belgium €61,400
Middle half
€42,500 to €60,900
half of the employers lie between
Place among sectors
70 of 78
sectors with a median staff cost per FTE, highest first
By size class
SizeMedianMiddle halfEmployers
fewer than 10 FTE €48,400 €38,000 to €55,200 41
10 to 49 FTE €52,100 €44,200 to €56,500 41

Bankruptcies

Bankruptcies, 5 years, still registered
259
4.82% of the registrations · Belgium 1.68%

Bankruptcies per year in division 53

Per year201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Bankruptcies1019713012313395110147174172196145
Jobs lost193157283290260208260288496480520382

2026 through September. Every bankruptcy, also of companies that have since left the register. Source: Statbel (Directorate-General Statistics), NACE classification of 2008.

Recent bankruptcies

Date Company
30-10-2026 DIM COMPANY
BE 0750.511.368
30-10-2026 DMD LOGISTICS
BE 1024.684.937
26-10-2026 M.F.H TRANSPORT
BE 0766.536.659
21-10-2026 Hamza, Senad
BE 0763.826.005 · sole trader · Kontich
20-10-2026 MBS & CO
BE 0712.687.011
19-10-2026 MPATSIBIHUGU
BE 0699.988.424
16-10-2026 ME&WE
BE 1003.168.852
12-10-2026 Warsame Aden, Mohamed
BE 0792.727.451 · sole trader · Kortrijk

Every bankruptcy in division 53, last 90 days

Running bankruptcies in the sector

NACE division 53
Number
162
Half have run longer than
18 months
Belgium: 20 months
Longer than three years
23%
Belgium: 31%

Measured nationally: Of 108,606 bankruptcies of legal entities across Belgium, 49% were closed within five years for insufficient assets and 29% 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 5 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.

Outcome by court and division

Spread across the country

by region and province · 2,211 of 5,378 enterprises with a registered office on file · a sole trader has no published seat
  • Flanders 1,336 · 60.4%
  • Brussels 558 · 25.2%
  • Wallonia 310 · 14.0%
  • Abroad 7 · 0.3%
fewer moremax 558

Largest employers

NACE division 53 · staff from the latest accounts
  1. 1 bpostBrussels 23,730 FTEfinancial year 2025
  2. 2 FedEx Express BEMachelen (Brab.) 1,198 FTEfinancial year 2025
  3. 3 DHL INTERNATIONALMachelen (Brab.) 754 FTEfinancial year 2025
  4. 4 POSTNL PAKKETTEN BELGIETurnhout 465 FTEfinancial year 2025
  5. 5 Takeaway.com Express Belgium BVBrussels 307 FTEfinancial year 2025

Joint committees

from the latest accounts of 318 companies
  • 140.03 Road transport and logistics for third parties 177
  • 226 White-collar workers in international trade, transport and logistics 134
  • 140 Transport and logistics 73
  • 200 Auxiliary committee for white-collar workers 22
  • 100 Auxiliary committee for blue-collar workers 8
  • 302 Hotels and catering 7
  • 140.04 Airport ground handling 6
  • 149.01 Electricians: installation and distribution 5
Show the 12 others
  • 201 Independent retail 5
  • 119 Food trade 3
  • 124 Construction 3
  • 140.05 Removals 2
  • 145 Horticulture 2
  • 149 Sectors related to metal, mechanical and electrical engineering 2
  • 104 Steel industry 1
  • 112 Garages 1
  • 121 Cleaning 1
  • 140.01 Buses and coaches 1
  • 140.02 Taxis 1
  • 142.04 Recovery of raw materials 1

Source: the annual accounts at the National Bank. One filing can name more than one committee.

10 of the 1,711 companies in NACE division 53 have a parent company abroad. Main parent countries: Netherlands (6), France (3) and United Kingdom (1). Together they employ 2,608 of the division's 28,684 FTE: 9.1%, against 14% for Belgium as a whole.

Subsidies in this sector

per register · legal entities with an enterprise number
  • Flemish subsidies €4.6m awarded 162 recipients · 2022 to 2025 · largest: Subsidies woon-werkverkeer
  • Federal transfers 773.9m amount as published 3 recipients · 2023 to 2025 · largest: Betaling aan bpost in uitvoering van het beheerscontract (cf. art. 2.33.2 van de algemene uitgavenbegroting)
  • EU budget €11.0m attributed share 2 recipients · 2021 to 2025 · largest: Other administrative expenditure
  • EU research €323,031 EU contribution 1 recipient · 2020 to 2024 · largest: Horizon 2020

Explore every recipient in this sector

Insights on Postal and courier

Balance sheet and result. The median net result of €7,396 is below Belgium's €16,539. 16.6% of the annual accounts show negative equity, against 12.4% in Belgium. Solvency of 31.6% is below Belgium's 46.1%.

Bankruptcies. The median bankruptcy probability of 2.7% is above Belgium's 0.2%. In 12 months, 19.5 of 1,000 companies went bankrupt, against 6.2 in Belgium. That is more than in 98% of the 87 other NACE divisions. By size, the median bankruptcy probability is 2.6% at under 10 FTE and 0.7% at 10 to 49 FTE.

Inflow and structure. In 12 months, 27.8 of 100 companies started, against 8.8 in Belgium. No other NACE division counts more. Brussels holds 25.3% of the seats, against 12.5% in Belgium. Half of the companies are younger than 3.2 years, against 8.1 years in Belgium.

Staff and filing. 56.1% of the financial year 2024 accounts were filed late, against 38.4% in Belgium. The median staff cost per FTE of €50,775 is below Belgium's €61,416. The 5 largest employers hold 26,453 of the 28,684 FTE: 92.2%.

Direction. Median solvency rose from 31.8% in financial year 2020 to 33.0% in financial year 2025. The median net result fell from €7,978 in financial year 2020 to €6,147 in financial year 2025. In 2025, Statbel counted 196 bankruptcies and 520 jobs lost, against 95 bankruptcies in 2020.

The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other divisions is as of 05-11-2026 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 53 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 1,275,887 companies with a main activity, because only those belong to a division. The other 699,448 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.