Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that both number of new incorporations and total value of registered capital registered year-on-year decrease in the first quarter of 2016. Number of new companies dropped by 338 to 1,117 while total value of registered capital fell by 21.8% to MOP123 million. Analysed by industry, most of the new incorporations were operating in Business Services (338) and Wholesale & Retail Trade (323). Companies in dissolution totalled 196, up by 38 year-on-year; value of registered capital of companies in dissolution increased by 101.8% to MOP52 million.

Analysed by size of registered capital, there were 845 new companies (75.6% of total) registered with capital under MOP50,000, and the total value of capital was MOP22 million (18.1% of total); meanwhile, 18 new companies were registered with capital of MOP1 million or over, and the total value of capital amounted to MOP66 million.

As regards origin of capital, the majority of the capital came from Macao (MOP71 million) and Mainland China (MOP40 million), including MOP28 million from Beijing. Capital from the 9 Provinces of the Pan-Pearl River Delta Region totalled MOP8 million (44.6% from Guangdong province), of which companies operating in Wholesale & Retail Trade and Construction accounted for 62.5% and 16.4% respectively. Analysed by combination of shareholders, there were 761 new companies established solely by Macao shareholders, and 103 joint ventures between shareholders from Macao and other countries or regions.

At the end of the first quarter of 2016, number of registered companies totalled 53,978, an increase of 4,052 from a year earlier.