Press Releases

Number of newly incorporated companies remains high in 2016

The total number of local companies registered under the Companies Ordinance has continued to grow, reaching 1,341,223 at the end of 2016, up 52,557 from the corresponding figure at the end of 2015, according to the statistics released by the Companies Registry today (January 8).

In 2016, a total of 144,883 local companies were newly registered with the Companies Registry, among which 36,166 were incorporated online at the e-Registry ( www.eregistry.gov.hk) via the one-stop electronic company incorporation and business registration service.

The Registrar of Companies, Ms Ada Chung, said, "We continued with our efforts to facilitate business in the year. The Registry launched a full-scale Company Search Mobile Service at the mobile platform ( www.mobile-cr.gov.hk) in May 2016. Members of the public can now conduct all types of company searches using their smartphones and mobile devices anytime and anywhere."

According to the World Bank's Doing Business 2017 report, Hong Kong's ranking in "starting a business" went up to third internationally.

In 2016, 874 non-Hong Kong companies that have newly established a place of business in Hong Kong were registered under the Companies Ordinance, a slight decrease of 2.24 per cent from 894 in 2015. The total number of registered non-Hong Kong companies reached 9,983 by the end of 2016, down 0.46 per cent year on year.

The number of charges on assets of companies received for registration in 2016 was 19,226, 6 per cent down from 20,470 in 2015. The number of notifications of payments and releases received for registration decreased by 7.3 per cent, from 23,220 in 2015 to 21,532 in 2016.

In 2016, a total of 209 prospectuses were registered, a decrease of 15 per cent from 246 in 2015.

The total number of documents received for registration last year increased from 2,625,056 to 2,681,445.

A total of 4,027,025 searches of document image records were conducted using the Registry's electronic search services in 2016, an increase of 2.87 per cent from 3,914,633 in 2015.

For details of the statistics, please visit the "Statistics" section of the Registry's website ( www.cr.gov.hk).