Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that both number of newly incorporated companies and total value of registered capital increased year-on-year in the first quarter of 2017. Number of new companies went up by 355 to 1,472 while total value of registered capital rose by 26.6% to MOP155 million. Analysed by industry, most of the newly incorporated companies were operating mainly in Wholesale & Retail Trade (413) and Business Services (369). Companies in dissolution totalled 223, up by 27 year-on-year; value of registered capital of companies in dissolution increased by 7.3% to MOP56 million.

Analysed by size of registered capital, there were 1,141 new companies (77.5% of total) registered with capital under MOP50,000, and the total value of capital was MOP30 million (19.6% of total); meanwhile, 26 new companies were registered with capital of MOP1 million or over, and the total value of capital amounted to MOP84 million.

As regards origin of capital, the majority of the capital came from Macao (MOP72 million) and Mainland China (MOP46 million). Capital from the Nine Provinces of the Pan-Pearl River Delta Region totalled MOP22 million (88.8% from Guangdong province), of which companies operating in Wholesale & Retail Trade and Construction accounted for 46.4% and 40% respectively. Analysed by combination of shareholders, there were 873 new companies established solely by Macao shareholders, and 335 joint ventures between shareholders from Macao and other countries or regions.

At the end of the first quarter of 2017, number of registered companies totalled 57,921, an increase of 3,943 from a year earlier.