SECP registered 470 companies in May

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) registered 470 companies during the month of May 2012 as compared to 422 and 370 in April and March respectively. New in-corporations have been on the rise which is a positive sign for growth and development of the corporate sector.

The private companies have the highest share in new incorporations, i.e., 450, followed by 13 single-member companies, 2 public unlisted companies, 3 non-profit associations and 2 foreign companies.

Two foreign companies, belonging to Oman and South Korea, were registered in Karachi and Islamabad. Foreign investment by nationals from the U.S., China and Panama has been witnessed in three local companies each registered in Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi, in mining, trading and communication sectors respectively.

The hajj and umra services sector has the highest new incorporations of 157 companies, followed by services with 45 companies, trading with 42 companies, tourism with 22 companies, communications with 20 companies, I.T. with 19 companies, textile with 15 companies, construction with 12 companies and pharmaceutical with 10 companies.

The Lahore Company Registration Office (CRO) registered 149 companies, followed by the Islamabad and Karachi CROs registering 116 and 94 companies respectively. The remaining CROs of Peshawar, Quetta, Multan, Faisalabad and Sukkur registered 42, 41, 16, 10 and 2 companies respectively.

The authorized capital and paid-up capital of 470 companies, is Rs3.19 billion and Rs1.42 billion respectively. During the month, 720 companies increased their authorized capital with the aggregate authorized capital increment of Rs4.76 billion and 179 companies raised their paid-up capital with the total paid-up capital increment amounting to Rs4.36 billion.