MACAU HAS ONE COMPANY PER 13 INHABITANTS

2014/11/10

From：Macau Business Daily

Local entrepreneurs continue to boost Macau’s economy as they continue to launch a record number of businesses. According to official data, thousands of firms are popping up every quarter, in the main SMEs owned by residents.
In the third quarter of this year, 1,375 companies were incorporated in Macau’s economy. That’s 228 more than a year ago and the second best performance since 2012, Statistics and Census Service figures showed on Friday. The best quarter so far was the second of this year when 1,454 new firms were created here.
Today, Macau is creating companies two times faster than five years ago, data reveals. In the third quarter of 2009, the economy here incorporated 651 firms.
These 1,300 new companies brought to Macau’s economy an additional MOP201 million in investment in the third quarter, a 55.6 percent increase from a year ago.
The majority (951 out of 1,375) of the new firms were SMEs (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises) with a starting capital of less than MOP50,000. The second largest group were new firms (251) that started business with a capital buffer between MOP100,000 and MOP500,000.
The report also revealed that the flow of new companies is driven by local entrepreneurs. The Statistics Bureau says that 69.4 percent of the total capital generated by new incorporations in the third quarter was originated by Macau residents. Mainland Chinese businessmen were accountable for 16.3 percent and British Virgin Islands ones for 4 percent. Of all new companies incorporated between July and September, 905 belonged to local investors.
Following boisterous second and third quarters, Macau’s business sector is going straight for a record year. In the first nine months of 2014, almost 4,000 companies were created here attracting MOP1.5 billion in capital (127 capturing MOP1.3 billion).
According to the Statistics and Census Service, at the end of September, Macau had 47,317 registered companies, 4,643 more than that a year ago. This figure means that Macau has a company for every 13 inhabitants (population today is around 620,000).
The wholesale and retail sector was the most booming last quarter. It incorporated 447 new firms, almost half of the total. But while it generated more companies than others, retail didn’t lead the growth rate – real estate did. In the third quarter, the number of new real estate firms more than doubled, growing by 130 percent to 152. The construction sector also saw the number of new businesses increase by 48.5 percent. Meanwhile, business services firms decreased 11 percent in the third quarter.

Copyright@Macau Business Daily