The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan registered 353 companies in February as compared to 356 companies during previous month. Private companies have the highest share in the new incorporations of 319, followed by 21 single-member companies, five public unlisted companies, three non-profit association and five foreign companies. Of the five foreign companies from the US, France, UK, Spain and South Korea, four were registered in Islamabad while one was registered in Lahore. Nationals from Qatar, Lebanon, Australia, Portugal, Italy, North Korea, Ukraine and Panama invested in seven new local companies.
Sector-wise breakdown shows that services sector had the highest share with 46 companies, followed by trading with 44, hajj and umrah services with 30, construction with 22, IT with 23, food and beverages with 16, tourism with 20, communication with 18 and broadcasting and telecasting with 10 companies. The Company Registration Office in Lahore registered 115 companies, followed by in Karachi and Islamabad offices registering 93 and 92 companies respectively. The remaining in Peshawar, Multan, Faisalabad, Quetta and Sukkur registered 19, 18, 10, 4 and 2 companies respectively.
