Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that a total of 1,284 new companies were incorporated in the first quarter of 2023, an increase of 189 year-on-year. Number of new companies operating in Wholesale & Retail Trade and Business Services totalled 515 and 354 respectively. Total value of registered capital of new companies was MOP495 million in the first quarter, which represented a fall of 96.3% year-on-year due to the incorporation of a new company with relatively large capital in Financial Activities in the same quarter last year (the decrease would be 3.9% if that company was excluded from comparison). Companies in dissolution totalled 222 in the first quarter, and the value of registered capital of these companies amounted to MOP257 million.
As regards origin of capital of the newly incorporated companies, Macao and Hong Kong contributed MOP156 million (31.5% of total) and MOP125 million (25.3%) respectively. Capital from mainland China totalled MOP85 million, with MOP34 million and MOP14 million coming from Guangdong and Zhejiang respectively. Capital from the Mainland cities in the Greater Bay Area amounted to MOP33 million, of which Zhuhai accounted for 84.0%. Analysed by combination of shareholders, 869 companies were established solely by Macao shareholders, while 124 were joint ventures between shareholders from Macao and other countries or regions.
Analysed by size of registered capital, there were 937 new companies (73.0% of total) registered with capital under MOP50,000, and the value of capital (MOP24 million) made up 4.9% of the total. Meanwhile, 37 new companies were registered with capital of MOP1 million or over, and the value of capital (MOP415 million) constituted 84.0% of the total.