The biggest Belgian companies will have a turnover of 60 billion euros less in 2020

The 5,000 largest companies in Belgium recorded last year a cumulative turnover of 690 billion euros, down 60 billion over one year, according to the Top 5,000 of the magazine Trends. “In total, 45% of the companies in this Top saw their net profit decline and 52% their turnover”, points out Tommy Browaeys, editor of Trends Top. While in 2019, six companies earned more than one billion euros, together totaling 12.6 billion euros, a year later there are only three, with an amount of 5.2 billion euros .

The cumulative turnover of the 5,000 companies therefore fell by 8% and profit by 48%, to 20.7 billion euros. “The consequences for the economy in general are significant since in 2020 companies paid 1.24 billion in corporate taxes less than in 2019”, notes Trends in its study which will appear in the magazine on Thursday.