August 8, 2002	Thursday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 28,1423

ISLAMABAD, Aug 7: Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has stated that it maintains an up-to-date record of addresses of registered offices of companies and residential address of company directors, etc.

The number of companies registered with SECP, according to a press release, was 43,977. Out of these, 685 are listed companies, 2,277 unlisted public companies and 39,906 private limited companies.

After the establishment of SECP, it was noticed that the rate of compliance with the provisions of Companies Ordinance, 1984, was not up to the desired level, and that most of the companies were not regular in filing the statutory returns with the registrars’ offices of the SECP.

The Commission, therefore, launched “Companies Regularisation Scheme” and “Easy Exit Scheme” for non-listed public companies and private companies. During the scrutiny of the records, it transpired that 26,877 companies were not regular in filing of their statutory returns and therefore notices were issued to all such companies. However, 22 per cent of the notices sent to companies were returned undelivered, according to the SECP press release.