Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that a total of 1,455 new companies were incorporated in the first quarter of 2015, an increase of 329 year-on-year; total value of registered capital decreased by 17.8% to MOP157 million. Analysed by industry, the majority of new incorporations were operating in Wholesale & Retail (563) and Business Services (324). Companies in dissolution totalled 158, up by 3 year-on-year; value of registered capital of companies in dissolution decreased by 8.8% to MOP26 million. Analysed by size of registered capital, there were 1,061 new companies registered with capital under MOP50,000 (72.9% of total), and the total value of capital was MOP28 million (17.7% of total); meanwhile, there were 27 new companies registered with capital of MOP1 million or over, and the total value of capital amounted to MOP72 million. In the first quarter of 2015, capital of the new companies came mainly from Macao (MOP86 million) and Mainland China (MOP40 million), including MOP35 million from the 9 Provinces of the Pan-Pearl River Delta Region, with that from Guangdong province sharing MOP28 million. Analysed by combination of the shareholders, there were 980 new companies established solely by Macao shareholders, and 145 joint ventures between shareholders from Macao and other countries or regions. At the end of the first quarter of 2015, number of registered companies totalled 49,926, an increase of 5,202 from a year earlier.
