Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that a total of 1,453 new companies were incorporated in the first quarter of 2018, down by 19 year-on-year; total value of registered capital rose by 51.5% to MOP235 million, due to the incorporation of several Transport, Storage & Communications companies with large capital. Analysed by industry, the newly incorporated companies were operating mainly in Wholesale & Retail Trade (582), Business Services (304) and Construction (176). Companies in dissolution totalled 264 in the first quarter, and the value of registered capital of companies in dissolution amounted to MOP117 million.

Analysed by size of registered capital, there were 1,115 new companies (76.7% of total) registered with capital under MOP50,000, and the total value of capital was MOP29 million (12.2% of total); meanwhile, 26 new companies were registered with capital of MOP1 million or over, and the total value of capital amounted to MOP168 million.

As regards origin of capital, the majority of the capital came from Macao (MOP115 million) and Mainland China (MOP71 million), including MOP31 million from Beijing. Capital from the Mainland cities in the Greater Bay Area totalled MOP14 million, of which Zhuhai accounted for 67.3%. Analysed by combination of shareholders, there were 1,063 new companies established solely by Macao shareholders, and 133 joint ventures between shareholders from Macao and other countries or regions.

At the end of the first quarter of 2018, number of registered companies totalled 62,237, an increase of 4,316 from a year earlier.