Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that a total 674 new companies were incorporated in the fourth quarter of 2009, up by 24.1% year-on-year; the total value of registered capital rose notably by 76.8% to MOP140 million, as the registered capital of new incorporations of the Financial Services recorded a 90-fold increase (MOP53 million). In the fourth quarter of 2009, number of companies in dissolution totalled 123 and the value of registered capital amounted to MOP22 million, of which 33 engaged in Wholesale & Retail trade. For the whole year of 2009, number of new incorporations (2,529) and the value of registered capital (MOP340 million) decreased by 7.6% and 17.6% respectively over 2008. The majority of the new companies were operating in Wholesale & Retail (955), Business Services (440) and Construction (317). Capital from Macao totalled MOP166 million, down by 27.7% over 2008, those from Mainland China and Hong Kong amounted to MOP60 million and MOP42 million respectively; furthermore, capital from Guangdong Province (MOP26 million) took the lead among the Pan-Pearl River Delta provinces. For the whole year of 2009, new incorporations with registered capital under MOP50,000 totalled 1,699 (67.2% of the total) and the value of capital (MOP44 million) made up merely 13.1% of the total. Meanwhile, there were 57 companies incorporated with registered capital MOP1,000,000 or over and the value of capital (MOP199 million) accounted for 58.5% of the total. In addition, more than 80% of the new incorporations were limited companies. Analyzed by place of residence of the shareholders, a total of 1,533 new incorporations were established solely by Macao shareholders, 336 were joint ventures between shareholders from Macao and other countries or regions, 660 were incorporated by shareholders from countries or regions other than Macao. For the whole year of 2009, there were 469 companies in dissolution and the value of capital amounted to MOP1.99 billion, up by 4.9% and 2.8 times respectively over 2008, in which the value of registered capital of Real Estate companies in dissolution accounted for MOP1.91 billion.
