There were 39,807 new local companies registered under the Companies Ordinance in the first six months of the year, up 5.88% on the same period last year, the Companies Registry says.

Statistics the registry released today showed the number of new overseas companies that had established a place of business in Hong Kong and registered under the Companies Ordinance was 281, up 2.18% on the same period last year.

The total number of companies registered at the end of June was 567,186, up 17,954 on the end of 2005. The total number of overseas companies registered stood at 7,548, up 60 on last year's total.

The number of charges on the assets of companies received in the first six months fell 22% to 13,841. The number of satisfactions and releases received fell 17.32% to 10,209.

From January to June, 124 prospectuses, including 46 mutual funds, were registered, compared with 135 and 50 in the same period last year.

Summonses double

Summonses issued against companies breaching the ordinance grew by almost 100% to 2,834, compared with 1,420 in the same period last year.

There were 1,115 convictions, up from 581. Of these, 753 cases have yet to be heard by the court, up from 487.