Sharp rise in Brussels bankruptcies and job losses

Almost 2,000 companies in Brussels went bankrupt last year, 15% more than the year before, according to new figures by global business intelligence experts GraydonCreditsafe.

Companies in the transport, construction, retail and wholesale sectors were particularly affected, the study found.

Across Belgium, exactly 11,549 companies went bankrupt in 2024, the third highest figure ever. In Brussels, unlike Flanders, for example, the number of bankruptcies remained far below the level before the coronavirus pandemic hit in March 2020, with 1,711 firms going under in 2023. Before the Covid-19 crisis, between 2,000 and 3,300 companies went bankrupt every year.

Job losses follow this trend. In 2024, 4,233 jobs were lost, an increase of 28% compared to 2023, when there were 3,313.

Here, too, the number of jobs lost is still lower than before the coronavirus pandemic, when between 4,500 and 5,500 jobs disappeared every year.

But the report’s author, Graydon Belgium research and development director Eric Van den Broele, said that this does not mean that Brussels is doing well: “In Brussels, the business courts are even more active in legal reorganisations or judicial dissolutions.”

According to Brussels Fiscality, a judicial reorganisation “offers a second chance to companies in difficulty, enabling them to continue their activities and preserve jobs. It also seeks to strike a balance between the interests of the various economic players, whether third parties or creditors.”

In practice, an attempt is made to save the company, while retaining as many employees as possible. In the second case, the company is dissolved without an “expensive” receiver, because there is nothing left to distribute among the creditors in any case. Such procedures have become more common in recent years.

“These judicial reorganisations and dissolutions are not included in the bankruptcy figures, but they are also linked to job losses,” said Van den Broele. "So there is no reason to cheer in Brussels."

Brussels-based companies with the most job losses last year included fire extinguishing manufacturer Sicli in Uccle (298), cleaning, ironing, shopping and sewing service company CF Proxi in Uccle (100), Intell, the company behind Filigranes book store, in Etterbeek (83), software and business data company Black Tiger Belgium in Anderlecht (81) and Selcuk Transport Service in Ganshoren (75).