ISLAMABAD, Oct 20: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan registered 319 companies in September 2005, as compared to 236 companies registered in the same month last year, indicating an increase of 35 per cent.

A statement issued here on Wednesday said that of the registered entities, 309 were limited by shares, comprising of six public unlisted companies, 287 private companies and 16 single-member companies.

Besides, six non-profit associations, one foreign company, one company limited by guarantee, one trade organization and one private unlimited company were also registered.

The Company Registration Office (CRO) in Lahore registered the highest number of 117 companies, followed by CROs in Karachi, Islamabad and Peshawar that registered 106, 70 and 16 companies, respectively. CROs in Faisalabad and Multan registered four companies each, while in Quetta and Sukkur, one company each was registered.

The highest number of 68 companies was registered in the services sector, followed by 30 in communications, 28 in trading, 19 in information technology and 17 in real estate development sectors.

Total authorized capital and paid-up capital of the 309 limited by shares companies registered during September 2005 amounted to Rs4,386.25 million and Rs426.64 million, respectively. In addition, 28 companies raised their authorized capital during the month by Rs9111.1 million.

The statement said that there had been a growing trend in the registration of companies. This owed to the efforts of the SECP to facilitate promoters and create an environment conducive to corporatization.