Formation and structure·FindingLess often

Companies that change their legal form are less likely to move their registered office

Of the 8,597 companies with a change of legal form, 1.2% also had a move of the registered office within nine months, against 2.4% among similar companies.

Registered office move within nine months of the event

Both measurements combined · 8,597 companies

After a change of legal form1.2%

Similar companies2.4%

0.52×

Less often than among similar companies.

95% interval: 0.43× to 0.63×
Companies: 8,597
Measurements: 2, independent

Source: Hunch Lab, cohort study of 1,141,228 Belgian companies. Compared within sector, size and age, with companies active in the same period.hunchleads.com/en/lab

Does it hold up?

Each measurement uses different companies and a different period. A link only counts if it shows up in both.

Measurement	Period	With the event	Similar	Factor
Measurement 1	event Feb–Jun 2025, outcome Jul 2025–Mar 2026	1.4%	2.5%	0.54×
Measurement 2	event Jul–Dec 2025, outcome Jan–Sep 2026	1.1%	2.2%	0.49×

How often does this happen?

Belgian companies with the event, per month, over the last twelve complete months.

Change of legal form601 a month on average

Registered office move3,570 a month on average

More on change of legal form

1 other finding

FindingWith the eventSimilarFactorResult

Companies that change their legal form are less likely to go through a merger or demerger NewFormation and structure0.63%1.97%0.32×Less often

Technical note

Methodology

Design: Retrospective cohort study
Population studied: 1,141,228 Belgian companies (the full business register)
Comparison group: Companies without the event that had another publication or event in the same entry period (active group), from the same stratum: NACE section, size class and age class; indirect standardisation
Cohorts: event Feb–Jun 2025, outcome Jul 2025–Mar 2026; event Jul–Dec 2025, outcome Jan–Sep 2026
Observed and expected: 106 cases, 205 expected
Factor (95% interval): 0.52× (0.43× to 0.63×)
Multiple testing: q < 0.001 (Benjamini-Hochberg)
Second measurement: p < 0.001
Other comparison groups: economically active companies 0.43× (0.36× to 0.52×); all companies 0.41× (0.34× to 0.49×)
Absolute difference: -1.2 percentage points
Size of the groups: active 120,261, economically active 370,738, all 1,141,228 companies
Strata: 131 strata of at least 300 companies (section × size × age; smaller strata merged)
Data up to: September 2026

Cite this findingFree to reuse with attribution (CC BY 4.0).

Hunch Lab (2026). Companies that change their legal form are less likely to move their registered office. Data up to September 2026. https://hunchleads.com/en/lab/omvorming-zetelverplaatsing

Figures for this finding (CSV)

About Hunch Lab

Hunch Lab is the research programme of Hunch. Every finding is free to reuse with attribution. Questions are welcome.

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