ISLAMABAD, Nov 25: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has registered 264 companies during October 2005 as compared to 202 companies registered during the corresponding month last year indicating an increase of 31 per cent.

According to a statement issued here on Friday, of the 264 companies, 258 were limited by shares including nine public unlisted companies, 244 private companies and five single member companies.

Apart from these, two non-profit associations, three foreign companies and one company limited by guarantee were also registered.

The Company Registration Office (CRO) at Lahore registered highest number of 93 companies which was followed by Karachi and Islamabad with 83 and 60 companies each.

CRO Faisalabad registered 14 companies, Peshawar, 8, Multan, 4, Quetta and Sukkur one each.

Out of the total, 51 companies were registered in the services sector followed by 26 in communications, 21 in real estate development sector, 20 in trading and 19 in information technology sector.

Total authorized and paid-up capital of the 258 limited by shares companies registered during the month amounted to Rs3,517.95 million and Rs314.51 million.

A total of 22 companies had also raised their authorized capital during the month of October 2005, with an increment of Rs1,363.8 million.

The statement said that the month of October saw a slight decline in registration mainly due to the overall sluggish activity in Ramazan and due to the October 8 earthquake.