ISLAMABAD, June 7: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan registered 366 companies in May this year as compared to 207 companies registered during the corresponding month last year, showing an increase of 77 per cent.

According to official figures released by the SECP here on Tuesday, of the total registered companies, 357 were limited by shares, including 13 public unlisted companies, 340 private companies and four single-member companies. Apart from these, eight foreign companies and one not-for-profit association were also registered during the month under review.

The Company Registration Office (CRO) at Lahore registered the highest number of 142 companies, followed by Karachi and Islamabad CROs registering 107 and 65 companies, respectively. The CROs at Faisalabad, Multan, Peshawar, Quetta and Sukkur registered eight, 12, 28, three and one companies, respectively.

Total authorized capital and paid-up capital of the 357 companies limited by shares amounted to Rs6.813 billion and Rs2.769 billion, respectively. Out of these, 340 were private companies with an authorized capital and paid-up capital of Rs3.654 billion and Rs668.14 million, respectively, four single-member companies with an authorized capital and paid-up capital of Rs2.1 million and Rs101,000, and 13 public companies with an authorized capital and paid-up capital of Rs3.156 billion and Rs2.101 billion, respectively.

Fifty-five companies have raised their authorized capital last month with an increment of Rs2.676 billion. The most flourishing sector in terms of number of new registrations was the services sector in which 67 companies were registered, followed by 43 companies registered in trading, 31 in real estate development, 23 in construction, 22 in information technology, 20 in communications and 19 in the textile sector.

The new incorporations brought the commission’s total portfolio of registered companies to 45,804 as on May 31, 2005, comprising 2,794 public companies, 41,654 private companies, 229 single-member companies, 287 not-for-profit associations, 56 limited by guarantee companies, 175 trade organizations, 604 foreign companies and five companies with unlimited liabilities. This is an increase of seven per cent as compared to 42,838 companies registered up to 31 May 2004.