Results of the 1st quarter 2005 Company Statistics

Information from the Statistics and Census Service shows that in the first quarter of 2005, 713 companies were newly incorporated, with MOP108.28 million in registered capital. Compared with the first quarter of 2004, the number of newly incorporated companies and their registered capital increased 51.7% and 29.5% respectively. These newly incorporated companies were mostly in Wholesale and Retail sector (163), followed by Real Estate (145), Construction (134) and Business Services (132). On the other hand, 61 companies were dissolved in the first quarter of 2005, with MOP10.92 million in registered capital. Among them, most had been in Wholesale and Retail (20), followed by Real Estate (14). Among the stockholders of the newly incorporated companies, 60.8% were Macao residents. In addition, newly incorporated companies with a capital of 50 thousand Patacas or less accounted for 63.5% (453 companies) of the total number, whereas their capital only made up 12.3% of the total. Meanwhile 665 of the newly incorporated companies were limited companies. Based on the place of residence of the stockholders, the capital of the newly incorporated companies in the first quarter of 2005 mostly came from Macao (MOP69.73 million), followed by Hong Kong (MOP19.29 million) and the British Virgin Islands (MOP11.14 million). Guangdong province (MOP 2.35 million) topped the list of capital coming from the provinces within the Pan-Pearl River Delta Region. According to the combination of the place of residence of stockholders, 560 of the newly incorporated companies were established by stockholders from a single country/region, the majority of which (341 companies) were established solely by Macao stockholders, followed by those from Hong Kong (132 companies). The number of the newly incorporated companies with stockholders from Macao and other countries/regions was 137, of which 73 were joint ventures of Macao and Hong Kong stockholders and 40 were of Macao and Mainland China stockholders. The newly incorporated companies with stockholders solely from countries/regions other than Macao totalled 16, of which 8 were joint ventures of Hong Kong and the British Virgin Islands and 3 were of Hong Kong and Mainland China.