ISLAMABAD, Jan 5: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) registered 913 companies during the last quarter of the calendar year 2006. Progressing forward from the new incorporation of 249 and 319 companies during the months of October and November, 2006 respectively, the new incorporation during the month of December, 2006 reached 345 companies.

Of the 913 companies registered during the quarter, 877 companies were limited by shares, comprising 23 public unlisted companies, 815 private companies and 39 single member companies.

In addition, 22 foreign companies, 13 associations not for profit and a company limited by guarantee were also registered.

Total authorized capital and paid-up capital of the 877 companies limited by shares registered during the quarter amounted to Rs15,141.05 million and Rs1,002.20 million respectively.

Of the total 913 companies registered during the quarter, Company Registration Office (CRO) Lahore registered the highest new incorporation of 321 companies, followed by CRO Karachi registering 250 companies and CRO Islamabad with 241 companies. CRO Peshawar, Faisalabad, Multan, Quetta and

Sukkur registered 34, 26, 24,

10 and seven companies, respectively.

The highest number of 184 companies was registered in the services sector, followed by 112 in trading sector, 68 in communications sector, 57 in information technology, 53 in real estate development sector, 46 in textile sector, 44 in construction and 42 in fuel and energy sector.

During the year between Jan 1, 2006 and Dec 31, 2006, a total of 5,539 companies were registered which may be seen in comparison with the previous number of 942, 1,048, 1,120, 1,373, 1,736, 2,583 and 4,234 companies registered during the calendar years of 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005, respectively. —APP