Largest employers in Essen
220 companies registered in 2910 Essen report employees in recent accounts; here are the top 20. Chocolaterie Ickx leads with 139.7 FTE (financial year 2025).
Top 20
Ranked by average headcount (FTE) reported in the latest filed accounts (accounts less than 3 years old).
| # | Company | Total assets | Revenue | Equity | FTE | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chocolaterie Ickx Manufacture of food products | €20.4m | €32.7m | €4.87m | 139.7 | 2025 |
| 2 | Schrauwen Land transport and transport via pipelines | €7.89m | €21.9m | €1.70m | 119.3 | 2025 |
| 3 | Valeron Strength Films Manufacture of rubber and plastic products | €26.0m | €16.9m | €18.1m | 62.6 | 2025 |
| 4 | Innov AD Manufacture of food products | €139.0m | €99.3m | €74.7m | 62.4 | 2025 |
| 5 | AVT Europe Manufacture of machinery and equipment n.e.c. | €10.8m | €15.7m | €2.33m | 60.1 | 2025 |
| 6 | A.C.D. Manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment | €5.42m | €10.2m | €1.80m | 53.5 | 2025 |
| 7 | Meubelfabriek Theuns Manufacture of furniture | €3.64m | — | €1.52m | 40.2 | 2025 |
| 8 | Thermopol Kunststoftechniek Manufacture of rubber and plastic products | €6.51m | €11.8m | 696,785 € | 33.8 | 2025 |
| 9 | Bakkerij VAN Thillo Manufacture of food products | €2.14m | — | 870,217 € | 32.2 | 2025 |
| 10 | Facim Manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment | €4.24m | — | 535,679 € | 27.4 | 2025 |
| 11 | Argentum Cedit Virtuti Activities of head offices and management consultancy | €2.34bn | €6.94m | €2.25bn | 27.3 | 2025 |
| 12 | Muys Reizen Land transport and transport via pipelines | €2.93m | — | 235,105 € | 24.7 | 2025 |
| 13 | ODS Belgium Computer programming, consultancy and related activities | €3.79m | — | €1.35m | 23.5 | 2025 |
| 14 | ML Transport Land transport and transport via pipelines | €1.47m | — | 798,867 € | 23.4 | 2025 |
| 15 | Bouwbedrijf Menbo Construction of residential and non-residential buildings | €2.98m | — | 579,045 € | 22.9 | 2025 |
| 16 | Sportinfrabouw Civil engineering | €6.17m | €15.6m | €3.88m | 22.6 | 2025 |
| 17 | ABBIN natuursteen Manufacture of other non-metallic mineral products | €3.63m | — | €1.73m | 21.1 | 2025 |
| 18 | Cools Tuinaanleg Services to buildings and landscape activities | €1.45m | — | 523,462 € | 21.1 | 2025 |
| 19 | DE Caigny Retail trade | €5.22m | — | €1.65m | 19.4 | 2025 |
| 20 | Innovative Cleaning Equipment Manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment | €4.27m | — | 182,623 € | 18.4 | 2025 |
Headcount reported by the company for all its sites: the jobs may be located elsewhere.
“—”: not published. Small companies (micro and abridged accounts) do not have to publish their revenue.
Frequently asked questions
Who is the largest employer in Essen?
Chocolaterie Ickx, with 139.7 full-time equivalents reported (financial year 2025). These jobs may be located outside the municipality.
How many companies in Essen report employees?
220 out of 1,006, in accounts less than 3 years old.
Analyse companies in Essen
Filter these companies by size, soundness and trend, follow them and get an alert when their accounts or publications change.
Open the full file →Active companies (legal entities) that have filed at least one set of annual accounts, based on the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises and the National Bank of Belgium. The sector is the main activity in the register; the municipality is that of the registered office. Data updated on 11 Nov 2026.