Personal service activities
Activities
NACE division 96 · 15 activities| Activity | Registrations | Starters, 12 months | Bankruptcies, 12 months | FTE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beauty care and other beauty treatments96220 | 24,994 | 3,240 | 64 | 295 |
| Hairdressing and barber services96210 | 21,702 | 1,625 | 120 | 889 |
| Other personal services96999 | 6,928 | 792 | 6 | 5,894 |
| Day spas, saunas and steam baths96230 | 6,646 | 747 | 29 | 417 |
| Pet care services, excluding veterinary services96993 | 3,819 | 508 | 3 | 35 |
| Tattoo and piercing services96992 | 2,178 | 312 | 7 | 4 |
| Pet training96994 | 1,030 | 114 | 1 | 41 |
| Launderettes and laundries for private customers96102 | 973 | 52 | 5 | 1,624 |
| Funeral services96301 | 897 | 46 | 5 | 1,699 |
| Personal service activities96910 | 783 | 31 | 5 | 18,411 |
| Pet boarding96995 | 667 | 74 | 1 | 65 |
| Personal service activities96101 | 418 | 21 | 5 | 3,584 |
Show all 15 activities
| Activity | Registrations | Starters, 12 months | Bankruptcies, 12 months | FTE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal service activities96991 | 98 | 4 | 0 | - |
| Personal service activities96302 | 63 | 6 | 0 | 213 |
| Personal service activities96400 | 38 | 18 | 0 | - |
Filed accounts
NACE division 96 · financial year 2025 · 8,238 filed annual accounts| Per financial year | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Median solvency | - | - | 25.8% | 27.4% | 26.1% | 25.6% | 27.3% | 28.5% |
| Median net result | - | - | €2,578 | €4,152 | €2,250 | €2,846 | €3,870 | €3,273 |
| Filed late | 48.2% | 55.0% | 53.8% | 52.1% | 50.1% | 48.8% | 48.2% | - |
Hold your customer's or competitor's figures against them in the Sector benchmark
Staff cost per FTE in NACE division 96
860 employers| Size | Median | Middle half | Employers |
|---|---|---|---|
| fewer than 10 FTE | €44,200 | €35,400 to €56,400 | 454 |
| 10 to 49 FTE | €37,700 | €33,900 to €47,100 | 261 |
| 50 to 249 FTE | €36,500 | €33,100 to €40,100 | 128 |
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 96
| Per year | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bankruptcies | 271 | 263 | 267 | 301 | 320 | 184 | 194 | 292 | 327 | 333 | 362 | 274 |
| Jobs lost | 585 | 631 | 475 | 646 | 517 | 377 | 469 | 564 | 614 | 635 | 599 | 491 |
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 |
|---|---|
| 12-11-2026 | S.O.Y.
BE 0806.794.332 |
| 12-11-2026 | CINEY COIF
BE 0892.533.028 |
| 10-11-2026 | EDENI
BE 1016.681.051 |
| 06-11-2026 | De Pauw, Christophe
BE 0834.954.521 · sole trader · Wichelen |
| 05-11-2026 | Khanoukaev, Tarlana
BE 0723.980.779 · sole trader |
| 05-11-2026 | Poetsbureau Diana
BE 0799.357.006 |
| 05-11-2026 | Barbershop
BE 0842.346.218 |
| 05-11-2026 | PROPRIUS INDUSTRY
BE 1023.768.187 |
Running bankruptcies in the sector
NACE division 96Measured nationally: Of 108,810 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 14 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.
Spread across the country
by region and province · 13,356 of 70,801 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 96 · staff from the latest accounts- 1 Diensten-aan-HuisBruges 3,079 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 2 FERM DIENSTENCHEQUESLeuven 975 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 3 Ferm HuishoudhulpLeuven 718 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 4 Group-f DienstenchequesKontich 616 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 5 CleanLeaseBeernem 531 FTEfinancial year 2025
Joint committees
from the latest accounts of 2,435 companies- 314 Hairdressing and beauty care 1,309
- 200 Auxiliary committee for white-collar workers 426
- 322.01 Approved companies for local work and services 321
- 320 Funeral directors 259
- 110 Textile care 182
- 100 Auxiliary committee for blue-collar workers 99
- 302 Hotels and catering 78
- 201 Independent retail 46
Show the 12 others
- 322 Temporary agency work and approved local services 45
- 337 Auxiliary committee for the non-profit sector 43
- 124 Construction 18
- 207 White-collar workers in the chemical industry 16
- 121 Cleaning 15
- 330 Health institutions and services 11
- 144 Agriculture 10
- 119 Food trade 7
- 329.01 Socio-cultural sector 7
- 116 Chemical industry 6
- 149.01 Electricians: installation and distribution 6
- 112 Garages 5
Source: the annual accounts at the National Bank. One filing can name more than one committee.
10 of the 12,489 companies in NACE division 96 have a parent company abroad. Main parent countries: Luxembourg (3), Germany (2) and France (2). Together they employ 707 of the division's 33,171 FTE: 2.1%, against 14% for Belgium as a whole.
Subsidies in this sector
per register · legal entities with an enterprise number- Flemish subsidies €1.43bn awarded
- Wallonia-Brussels Federation €430,531 paid
- Federal transfers 17.7m amount as published
- EU budget €81.1m attributed share
- EU research €24.1m EU contribution
Insights on Personal services
Balance sheet and result. 27.2% of the annual accounts show negative equity, against 12.4% in Belgium. The median net result of €3,583 is below Belgium's €16,468. Solvency of 28.2% is below Belgium's 46.1%.
Bankruptcies. The median bankruptcy probability of 0.6% is above Belgium's 0.2%. In 12 months, 3.5 of 1,000 companies went bankrupt, against 6.2 in Belgium. That is fewer than in 55% of the 87 other NACE divisions. By size, the median bankruptcy probability is 0.7% at under 10 FTE, 0.2% at 10 to 49 FTE and 0.3% at 50 to 249 FTE.
Inflow and structure. 81.1% of the companies are sole traders, against 41.6% in Belgium. Brussels holds 15.0% of the seats, against 12.5% in Belgium. In 12 months, 10.7 of 100 companies started, against 8.9 in Belgium. That is more than in 79% of the 86 other NACE divisions.
Staff and filing. The median staff cost per FTE of €39,620 is below Belgium's €61,428. 48.2% of the financial year 2024 accounts were filed late, against 38.5% in Belgium. The 5 largest employers hold 5,920 of the 33,171 FTE: 17.8%.
Direction. Median solvency rose from 25.8% in financial year 2020 to 28.5% in financial year 2025. The median net result rose from €2,578 in financial year 2020 to €3,273 in financial year 2025. In 2025, Statbel counted 362 bankruptcies and 599 jobs lost, against 184 bankruptcies in 2020.
The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other divisions is as of 14-11-2026 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 96 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 1,276,430 companies with a main activity, because only those belong to a division. The other 700,464 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. 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.