Information from the Statistics and Census Service shows that in the third quarter of 2006, a total of 794 companies were newly incorporated, with MOP125 million in registered capital, down 0.7% and 34.7% respectively over the same quarter of 2005. These newly incorporated companies engaged mostly in Wholesale and Retail (228), followed by Construction (154), Business Services (134) and Real Estate (102). On the other hand, 76 companies were dissolved in the third quarter of 2006, with MOP9.02 million in registered capital. Among them, most had engaged in Wholesale and Retail (19), and Business services (18). Among the stockholders of the newly incorporated companies, 59.6% were Macao residents. In addition, the newly incorporated companies with capital of MOP50 thousand or less accounted for 66.9% (531 companies) of the total number, and yet their capital only made up 12.1% of the total. Meanwhile, 730 of the newly incorporated companies were limited companies. Based on the residence of the stockholders, the capital of the newly incorporated companies in the third quarter of 2006 mostly came from Macao (MOP60.81 million), followed by the British Virgin Islands (MOP26.68 million) and Mainland China (MOP21.66 million). Guangdong Province (MOP7.99 million) topped the list of the capital coming from the Pan-Pearl River Delta provinces. According to the combination of the residence of stockholders, 633 of the newly incorporated companies were established by stockholders from a single country/region, the majority of which (401 companies) were established solely by Macao stockholders, followed by those from Hong Kong (150 companies). The number of the newly incorporated companies with stockholders from Macao and other countries/regions was 124, of which 63 were joint ventures of Macao and Mainland China stockholders and 39 were of Macao and Hong Kong stockholders. The newly incorporated companies with stockholders from countries/regions other than Macao totalled 37, of which 9 were joint ventures of Hong Kong and the British Virgin Islands and 8 were of Hong Kong and Mainland China.
