Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that a total of 1,613 new companies were incorporated in the first quarter of 2019, an increase of 160 year-on-year. The newly incorporated companies engaged mainly in Wholesale & Retail Trade (539), Business Services (470) and the Construction sector (169); total value of registered capital soared by 428.7% to MOP1.2 billion, of which MOP1.1 billion came from Financial Services. Besides, value of registered capital in the Transport, Storage & Communications sector rose by 23.8% year-on-year to MOP65 million, attributable to the incorporation of a number of passenger transport companies with larger capital during the quarter. Companies in dissolution totalled 210 in the first quarter, and the value of registered capital of companies in dissolution amounted to MOP81 million.

Analysed by size of registered capital, there were 1,275 new companies registered with capital under MOP50,000 (79.0% of total), and the total value of capital was MOP33 million (2.6% of total). Meanwhile, 40 new companies were registered with capital of MOP1 million or over, and the total value of capital amounted to MOP1.2 billion.

As regards origin of capital, British Virgin Islands accounted for 80.6% of the total, at MOP1 billion. Macao and Hong Kong contributed MOP177 million and MOP35 million respectively. Capital from Mainland China totalled MOP25 million, with MOP13 million coming from the Mainland cities in the Greater Bay Area. Analysed by combination of shareholders, there were 1,171 new companies established solely by Macao shareholders, and 153 joint ventures between shareholders from Macao and other countries or regions.

At the end of the first quarter of 2019, number of registered companies in Macao totalled 67,590, an increase of 5,353 from a year earlier.