Results of the 1st Quarter 2006 Company Statistics

Information from the Statistics and Census Service shows that in the first quarter of 2006, a total of 748 companies were newly incorporated, with MOP191.27 million in registered capital. Compared with the same quarter of 2005, the number of newly incorporated companies and their registered capital increased 4.9% and 76.7% respectively. These newly incorporated companies engaged mostly in Wholesale and Retail (203), followed by Construction (178), Business Services (147) and Real Estate (64). On the other hand, 58 companies were dissolved in the first quarter of 2006, with MOP647.42 million in registered capital. Among them, most had engaged in Wholesale and Retail (20), followed by Real Estate (11). Among the stockholders of the newly incorporated companies, 59.5% were Macao residents. In addition, the newly incorporated companies with capital of MOP50 thousand or less accounted for 67.0% (501 companies) of the total number, whereas their capital only made up 7.7% of the total. Meanwhile, 693 of the newly incorporated companies were limited companies. Based on the residence of the stockholders, the capital of the newly incorporated companies in the first quarter of 2006 mostly came from Macao (MOP152.59 million), followed by Hong Kong (MOP23.40 million) and Mainland China (MOP8.89 million). Guangdong Province (MOP6.50 million) topped the list of the capital coming from the Pan-Pearl River Delta provinces. According to the combination of the residence of stockholders, 609 of the newly incorporated companies were established by stockholders from a single country/region, the majority of which (364 companies) were established solely by Macao stockholders, followed by those from Hong Kong (153 companies). The number of the newly incorporated companies with stockholders from Macao and other countries/regions was 110, of which 49 were joint ventures of Macao and Mainland China stockholders and 42 were of Macao and Hong Kong stockholders. The newly incorporated companies with stockholders solely from countries/regions other than Macao totalled 29, of which 7 were joint ventures of Hong Kong and the British Virgin Islands and 7 were of Hong Kong and Mainland China.