Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that a total of 737 new companies were incorporated in the fourth quarter of 2010, up by 9.3% year-on-year; total value of registered capital decreased by 45.6% to MOP76 million. The majority of new incorporations were operating in Wholesale & Retail (276), with value of registered capital totalling MOP26 million; 125 were in Business Services and 108 in Real Estate. Number of companies in dissolution totalled 119 in the fourth quarter of 2010 and the value of registered capital amounted to MOP119 million, of which 6 were in Transport, Storage & Communications and the registered capital reached MOP102 million (85.8% of total); besides, 35 were in Wholesale & Retail and 23 in Real Estate. In 2010, number of new incorporations increased by 18.3% year-on-year to 2,991 and the value of registered capital rose by 48.8% to MOP507 million. Capital from Macao totalled MOP249 million, up notably by 50.0% over 2009, and that from Hong Kong and Mainland China amounted to MOP124 million and MOP72 million respectively; furthermore, capital originating from the 9 Provinces of the Pan-Pearl River Delta Region amounted to MOP28 million, with that from Guangdong province leading at MOP22 million. The majority of the new companies were operating in Wholesale & Retail (1,139), Business Services (501) and Real Estate (376). For the whole year of 2010, there were 1,910 (63.9% of total) new incorporations registered with capital under MOP50,000 and the value of capital (MOP50 million) made up merely 9.8% of the total; however, there were 79 new companies registered with capital of MOP1,000,000 or over, yet the value of capital (MOP323 million) accounted for 63.8% of the total. In addition, more than 80% of the new incorporations were limited companies. Analyzed by place of residence of the shareholders, 1,881 new companies were established solely by Macao shareholders, and 381 were joint ventures between shareholders from Macao and other countries or regions. In 2010, there were 492 companies in dissolution, up by 4.9% over 2009, while the value of registered capital decreased notably by 89.2% to MOP216 million, of which capital of Transport, Storage & Communications companies in dissolution amounted to MOP156 million.
