In Flanders, more than 5,200 companies were declared bankrupt from January to October. This means that Flanders continues to trend towards a new annual record. Remarkably, in almost half of the cases, the company was less than five years old, says business information company GraydonCreditsafe.
October’s figures confirm the long-term trends emerging in Flanders. The Flemish region is heading towards a record number of bankruptcies, with 5,201 after ten months, which is almost 10% more than in the same period in 2022.
It is striking that the Flemish province of Brabant, especially the Halle-Velvoord region, tops the list with 946 bankruptcies, more than half more than in the previous year. Other provinces also show significant increases compared to 2022, with the exception of Antwerp. GraydonCreditsafe points out that in most cases, the numbers are back to pre-coronavirus pandemic levels, with data comparable to 2018-19.
Especially more young companies
A noteworthy point is the increasing share of start-ups (less than 5 years old) in Flemish bankruptcy statistics. Across Belgium, they accounted for almost a third of bankruptcies in 2021, a trend that will continue this year in Brussels and Wallonia. But in Flanders, this proportion rose to 46.7 percent, a level not previously observed in the past 50 years.
Regarding sectors, GraydonCreditsafe confirms that the construction and transportation sectors are on track to record record numbers of bankruptcies. Ten months later, 1,797 and 540 companies in these two sectors respectively went bankrupt across Belgium.
A total of 8,813 companies were declared bankrupt across Belgium in the period from January to October, almost 8 percent more than the previous year. This is the highest level since 2019 and could put about 17,500 jobs at risk, according to GraydonCreditsafe data.
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