Publishing activities
Activities
NACE division 58 · 6 activities| Activity | Registrations | Starters, 12 months | Bankruptcies, 12 months | FTE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Other software publishing58290 | 1,337 | 267 | 2 | 3,036 |
| Book publishing58110 | 1,108 | 111 | 2 | 1,392 |
| Other publishing activities, excluding software publishing58190 | 707 | 59 | 3 | 617 |
| Publishing activities58130 | 373 | 11 | 5 | 1,686 |
| Publishing activities58210 | 174 | 46 | 1 | 19 |
| Publishing activities58120 | 140 | 6 | 0 | 1,954 |
Filed accounts
NACE division 58 · financial year 2025 · 1,455 filed annual accounts| Per financial year | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Median solvency | - | - | 42.7% | 45.0% | 45.6% | 46.8% | 47.8% | 47.0% |
| Median net result | - | - | €7,812 | €9,786 | €7,466 | €6,556 | €7,873 | €7,976 |
| Filed late | 40.0% | 47.7% | 41.9% | 43.7% | 42.0% | 39.8% | 36.8% | - |
Hold your customer's or competitor's figures against them in the Sector benchmark
Staff cost per FTE in NACE division 58
268 employers| Size | Median | Middle half | Employers |
|---|---|---|---|
| fewer than 10 FTE | €72,000 | €56,800 to €89,600 | 167 |
| 10 to 49 FTE | €81,300 | €70,800 to €95,600 | 80 |
Employers with the highest staff cost per FTE in this division All sectors by staff cost In the Analysis workbench
Bankruptcies
Bankruptcies per year in division 58
| Per year | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bankruptcies | 30 | 25 | 20 | 19 | 19 | 9 | 15 | 13 | 12 | 20 | 24 | 13 |
| Jobs lost | 112 | 596 | 94 | 40 | 34 | 14 | 21 | 21 | 22 | 40 | 29 | 28 |
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 |
|---|---|
| 26-10-2026 | EERSTE KANS
BE 0760.385.869 |
| 21-09-2026 | GLEAN ART
BE 0877.757.651 |
| 14-09-2026 | Game Brewer
BE 0671.586.923 |
| 31-08-2026 | REGIES ET PUBLICATIONS NOUVELLES
BE 0463.218.352 |
| 07-07-2026 | Patientcom
BE 0466.795.474 |
| 07-07-2026 | Health Congress
BE 0889.282.241 |
| 14-04-2026 | GOVRN
BE 0761.625.687 |
| 30-03-2026 | CLEVER TRICKSTER STUDIO
BE 0798.242.593 |
Spread across the country
by region and province · 2,363 of 3,789 enterprises with a registered office on file · a sole trader has no published seat- Flanders
- Wallonia
- Brussels
- Abroad
This sector's balance sheets on the map, by municipality and down to the address
Largest employers
NACE division 58 · staff from the latest accounts- 1 ODOORamillies 1,267 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 2 Roularta Media GroupRoeselare 899 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 3 MEDIAHUISAntwerp 777 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 4 WOLTERS KLUWER BELGIUMMechelen 546 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 5 POLITICOBrussels 317 FTEfinancial year 2025
Joint committees
from the latest accounts of 398 companies- 200 Auxiliary committee for white-collar workers 320
- 100 Auxiliary committee for blue-collar workers 70
- 130 Printing, graphic arts and newspapers 23
- 227 Audiovisual sector 15
- 337 Auxiliary committee for the non-profit sector 15
- 201 Independent retail 13
- 302 Hotels and catering 4
- 329.02 Socio-cultural sector 4
Show the 12 others
- 335 Services and support for business and the self-employed 4
- 124 Construction 3
- 329.01 Socio-cultural sector 3
- 149.01 Electricians: installation and distribution 2
- 119 Food trade 1
- 121 Cleaning 1
- 140 Transport and logistics 1
- 149 Sectors related to metal, mechanical and electrical engineering 1
- 149.04 Metal trade 1
- 207 White-collar workers in the chemical industry 1
- 216 Notaries' employees 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.
21 of the 2,237 companies in NACE division 58 have a parent company abroad. Main parent countries: France (7), Netherlands (6) and United States (2). Together they employ 1,009 of the division's 8,704 FTE: 12%, against 14% for Belgium as a whole.
Subsidies in this sector
per register · legal entities with an enterprise number- Flemish subsidies €51.4m awarded
- Federal transfers 368,421 amount as published
- Wallonia-Brussels Federation €54.1m paid
- EU budget €6.2m attributed share
- EU research €10.4m EU contribution
Insights on Publishing
Balance sheet and result. The median net result of €8,032 is below Belgium's €16,539. 18.6% of the annual accounts show negative equity, against 12.4% in Belgium. 35.6% of the annual accounts close with a loss, against 26.7% in Belgium.
Bankruptcies. In 12 months, 3.4 of 1,000 companies went bankrupt, against 6.2 in Belgium. That is fewer than in 57% of the 87 other NACE divisions. The median bankruptcy probability of 0.1% is below Belgium's 0.2%. By size, the median bankruptcy probability is 0.1% at under 10 FTE and 0.1% at 10 to 49 FTE.
Inflow and structure. Brussels holds 23.3% of the seats, against 12.5% in Belgium. In 12 months, 13.2 of 100 companies started, against 8.8 in Belgium. That is more than in 92% of the 86 other NACE divisions.
Staff and filing. The median staff cost per FTE of €77,214 is above Belgium's €61,416. The 5 largest employers hold 3,805 of the 8,704 FTE: 43.7%.
Direction. Median solvency rose from 42.7% in financial year 2020 to 47.0% in financial year 2025. In 2024, Statbel counted 20 bankruptcies and 40 jobs lost, against 19 bankruptcies in 2019.
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 58 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.