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Literary creation

Current registrations 6,549division 90: 29,114
Starters, 12 months 3545.4 per 100 · Belgium 8.9
Bankruptcies, 12 months 71.1 per 1,000 registrations · Belgium 6.2
Employment (FTE) 467 employers · latest accounts
Median age 6.1 yearsBelgium 8.1 years
E-invoicing via Peppol 73.0%4,783 of 6,548 companies in the Peppol Directory · Belgium 85.0%

Filed accounts

NACE 90111 · financial year 2025 · 381 filed annual accounts
Median solvency
44.4%
division 46.5% · Belgium 46.1%
Median net result
€8,348
division €7,933 · Belgium €16,520
Median equity
€43,852
division €63,546 · Belgium €98,421
Loss-making
33.9%
division 34.0% · Belgium 26.7%
Negative equity
15.5%
division 14.8% · Belgium 12.4%
Median return on equity
20.1%
division 12.6% · Belgium 15.9%
Median liquidity
1.80
division 1.83 · Belgium 1.66
Filed late
44.2%
financial year 2024, 362 filings · division 38.2% · Belgium 38.4%
Missing or 90 days late
6.0%
of 417 companies with annual accounts · division 6.3% · Belgium 5.4%
Per financial year202020212022202320242025
Median solvency 41.1%45.6%45.8%49.5%45.0%44.4%
Median net result €5,009€8,528€7,699€5,969€9,102€8,348

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

Bankruptcies

Bankruptcies, 5 years, still registered
16
0.24% of the registrations · Belgium 1.68%
Running bankruptcies
18
2.7 per 1,000 registrations

Recent bankruptcies

Date Company
05-11-2026 Sancover Music Entertainment
BE 0745.845.272
30-10-2026 JOLIE GARCE RECORDS
BE 0690.887.448
19-10-2026 Vecchiarelli, Riccardo
BE 0684.692.118 · sole trader · Brussels
07-07-2026 The House of Film
BE 1003.660.186
26-06-2026 COUFRA
BE 0466.849.221
05-05-2026 Hermans, Peggy
BE 0731.370.496 · sole trader · Dessel
20-04-2026 ComUnity
BE 0800.101.134
11-02-2026 INTEMPO
BE 0737.845.049

Every bankruptcy in division 90, last 90 days

Spread across the country

by region and province · 965 of 6,549 enterprises with a registered office on file · a sole trader has no published seat
  • Flanders 489 · 50.7%
  • Brussels 279 · 28.9%
  • Wallonia 196 · 20.3%
  • Abroad 1 · 0.1%
fewer moremax 279

Largest employers

NACE 90111 as first main activity · staff from the latest accounts
  1. 1 M-Cube BelgiumAnderlecht 25.8 FTEfinancial year 2023
  2. 2 MazalIxelles 12.6 FTEfinancial year 2025
  3. 3 PROSPEED COMPETITIONZonhoven 5.2 FTEfinancial year 2025
  4. 4 Studio MarkRonse 1.2 FTEfinancial year 2025
  5. 5 SILENT JILLOrp-Jauche 1.0 FTEfinancial year 2025

Joint committees

from the latest accounts of 43 companies
  • 200 Auxiliary committee for white-collar workers 23
  • 100 Auxiliary committee for blue-collar workers 13
  • 201 Independent retail 3
  • 304 Performing arts 3
  • 111 Metal, mechanical and electrical engineering 2
  • 209 White-collar workers in metal manufacturing 2
  • 227 Audiovisual sector 2
  • 303.01 Film industry 2
Show the 7 others
  • 329.02 Socio-cultural sector 2
  • 112 Garages 1
  • 115 Glass industry 1
  • 124 Construction 1
  • 145 Horticulture 1
  • 215 White-collar workers in the clothing and garment industry 1
  • 330 Health institutions and services 1

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

Division 90: Creative and performing arts

Related activities

3 other activities
Activity Registrations Starters, 12 months Bankruptcies, 12 months FTE
Visual arts creation90120 2,030 442 1 194
Arts creation and performing arts activities90130 388 196 0 3
Arts creation and performing arts activities90112 204 101 0 -

Bankruptcies per year in division 90

Per year201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Bankruptcies404544505960318355566958
Jobs lost7385606368725215273928393

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 90

435 employers
Median
€66,300
Belgium €61,400
Middle half
€54,000 to €77,700
half of the employers lie between
Place among sectors
38 of 78
sectors with a median staff cost per FTE, highest first
By size class
SizeMedianMiddle halfEmployers
fewer than 10 FTE €63,100 €49,000 to €77,700 258
10 to 49 FTE €67,600 €59,400 to €75,000 149
50 to 249 FTE €77,000 €70,700 to €83,600 26

Running bankruptcies in the sector

NACE division 90
Number
90
Half have run longer than
19 months
Belgium: 20 months
Longer than three years
23%
Belgium: 31%

Measured nationally: Of 108,562 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 6 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

5 of the 11,227 companies in NACE division 90 have a parent company abroad. Main parent countries: France (2), Germany (1) and Denmark (1). Together they employ 139 of the division's 7,589 FTE: 1.8%, against 14% for Belgium as a whole.

Subsidies in this sector

per register · legal entities with an enterprise number
  • Flemish subsidies €664.0m awarded 1,417 recipients · 2022 to 2025 · largest: Professionele kunsten: Werkingssubsidie voor een kunstenorganisatie voor een periode van 5 jaar (Kunstendecreet 2021)
  • Federal transfers 236.9m amount as published 33 recipients · 2023 to 2025 · largest: Toelage aan de Koninklijke Muntschouwburg.
  • Wallonia-Brussels Federation €644.5m paid 1,212 recipients · 2021 to 2025 · largest: Conventions et contrats programmes indexés dans le domaine des arts vivants
  • EU budget €28.4m attributed share 55 recipients · 2021 to 2025 · largest: Creative Europe
  • EU research €6.6m EU contribution 17 recipients · 2008 to 2027 · largest: Horizon Europe

Explore every recipient in this sector

Insights on Literary creation

Balance sheet and result. The median net result of €8,348 is below Belgium's €16,520. 33.9% of the annual accounts close with a loss, against 26.7% in Belgium. Return on equity of 20.1% is above Belgium's 15.9%.

Bankruptcies. In 12 months, 1.1 of 1,000 companies went bankrupt, against 6.2 in Belgium. That is fewer than in 77% of the 88 NACE divisions. The median bankruptcy probability of 0.1% is below Belgium's 0.2%.

Inflow and structure. Brussels holds 28.9% of the seats, against 12.5% in Belgium. 85.3% of the companies are sole traders, against 41.6% in Belgium. In 12 months, 5.4 of 100 companies started, against 8.9 in Belgium. That is fewer than in 66% of the 87 NACE divisions.

Staff and filing. 44.2% of the financial year 2024 accounts were filed late, against 38.4% in Belgium. The 5 largest employers hold 46 of the 46 FTE: 99.3%.

Direction. Median solvency rose from 41.1% in financial year 2020 to 44.4% in financial year 2025. The median net result rose from €5,009 in financial year 2020 to €8,348 in financial year 2025.

The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other divisions is as of 06-11-2026 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 90111 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 1,276,581 companies with a main activity, because only those belong to a division. The other 698,987 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.