The National Institute of Statistics has announced that 657 companies were declared bankrupt in Belgium in November 2006, a rise of over 9% compared with November 2005 figures.

The total for three months, from September to November, was of 2,080. This represents a slight decrease if compared with the same period during the previous year. Of Belgium's three regions, the Brussels-Capital region was the hardest hit, with the number of bankruptcies rising by almost 18%; the total fell slightly in the Flemish and Walloon regions.

The three-month figures for the whole country show a fall in the number of bankrupt companies in the sectors of industry (down by 10.9%), construction (down by 0.7%) and commerce (down by 6%), whereas bankruptcies in the transport and hotel and catering sectors rose by 2% and 3.2% respectively.

The majority of entities in difficulty were companies which employ over 50 people (71.4%), with small and medium-sized enterprises accounting for 16.2%. Bankruptcies were down by 9.6% among independents and by 0.7% among sociétés anonymes (limited liability companies), but rose by 0.4% among sociétés privées à responsabilité limitée (private limited companies) and by 0.9% among cooperative companies.

Yves Brulard, Partner
Hoche Demolin Brulard Barthelemy - Belgium