Cyprus company registrations keep on tumbling

New company registrations fell by a whopping 50% to 1,296 in February 2009 compared to 2,574 in the same month a year ago. This saw the total registrations in the first two months of the year fall 52.4% to 2,372 from 4,983 in the same period in 2008. All registrations reached 24,453 last year.
Reports indicate that the bulk of the decrease is due to a sharp decline in registration of companies by Russian nationals, but there are no official figures to prove this.
“This is pure speculation and you cannot put the decline on any one country,” an informed source told the Financial Mirror, who pointed out that a decline is also noted among Cypriots.
Company registrations were already down 20-25% at the start of the year, due mainly to inefficient services, according to lawyers and auditors, who say that this business is being directed to Malta and Luxembourg.
With a growing number of bankruptcies expected later in the year, the workload at Company House should still be the same, which does not justify the 3-4 weeks required to issue certified copies and documents, an exercise that hampers the work of professionals trying to attract new foreign investments to the island.
The number of new international business companies registered at Company House had reached a mere 11 at the end of February, a slowing pace from the 95 last year and 117 in 2007.
On the other hand, filings of annual reports were reported for 37,513 companies last year, indicating the number of active companies, a number which, too, is expected to decelerate.
Bankruptcies are still at low or year-earlier levels, with 20 declared in January-February, compared to 135 for the whole of 2008. Bankruptcies of individuals stood at 42 persons, compared to 1083 for the whole of 2008.