Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that a total of 1,046 new companies were incorporated in the first quarter of 2020, a decrease of 567 year-on-year. Newly incorporated companies operating in Wholesale & Retail Trade and Business Services totalled 432 and 297 respectively. Total value of registered capital fell by 80.0% year-on-year to MOP249 million. Companies in dissolution totalled 156 in the first quarter, and the value of registered capital of these companies amounted to MOP15 million.
In terms of origin of capital, Portugal contributed MOP120 million (48.3% of total) to the capital of newly incorporated companies, whereas capital from Macao and Hong Kong amounted to MOP75 million and MOP21 million respectively. Capital from mainland China totalled MOP13 million, with 35.6% coming from the Mainland cities in the Greater Bay Area. Analysed by combination of shareholders, 711 new companies were established solely by Macao shareholders, while 93 were joint ventures between shareholders from Macao and other countries or regions.
Analysed by size of registered capital, there were 803 new companies registered with capital under MOP50,000 (76.8% of total), and the total value of capital was MOP21 million (8.3% of total). Meanwhile, 15 new companies were registered with capital of MOP1 million or over, and the total value of capital amounted to MOP195 million (78.4%).
At the end of the first quarter of 2020, number of registered companies in Macao totalled 72,330, an increase of 4,740 from a year earlier.