***************************************************
A record high of 139,530 local companies were newly registered with the Companies Registry in 2010, an increase of 27.51% from 109,424 in 2009, said the Registrar of Companies, Ms Ada Chung, today (January 13).
By the end of 2010, the total number of live local companies registered under the Companies Ordinance was 863,762, up 91,509 from that in 2009.
As regards non-Hong Kong companies that have newly established a place of business in Hong Kong, 737 companies were registered under Part XI of the Companies Ordinance in 2010, an increase of 7.91% from 683 in 2009. The total number of non-Hong Kong companies stood at 8,165 at the end of last year.
On the development of new electronic services, Ms Chung said, "We target to launch electronic incorporation of companies and a one-stop service for electronic company incorporation and business registration soon.
"Upon implementation of the new services, an application for company incorporation and business registration can be completed in one step and the time required will be significantly reduced from four working days to less than one day," she added.
The number of charges on assets of companies received for registration in 2010 was 41,337, an increase of 50.54% from 27,459 in 2009. The number of memoranda of satisfaction and releases received for registration increased by 22.84%, from 24,126 in 2009 to 29,636 in 2010.
In 2010, a total of 195 prospectuses were registered, increased from 168 in 2009.
The total number of documents received for filing last year increased by 11.15%, from 1,695,167 to 1,884,262.
A total of 3,113,758 searches of document image records were conducted through the Registry's Electronic Search Services in 2010, an increase of 7.37% from 2,899,981 in 2009. The number of searches of the computerised Index of Directors in 2010 increased by 13.98%, from 249,576 in 2009 to 284,461 in 2010. Compared with 2009, the number of Reports on Company Particulars issued had increased by 13.78% to 191,005.
The total number of summonses issued by the Registrar of Companies last year against companies for breaches of the Companies Ordinance, mainly for failure to file annual returns, was 5,341, a decrease of 1.07% from 5,399 in 2009.
For details of the statistics, please visit the "Statistics" section of the Registry's website (www.cr.gov.hk).
Ends/Thursday, January 13, 2011
Issued at HKT 14:33
NNNN
