Cyprus company registrations surge

Cyprus is on track to record a substantial rise in new company registrations during 2006, with the total number very close to breaking the 150.000 mark.

The Registrar of Companies reported that until end of July 2006 the number of companies registered in Cyprus reached 146.628, of which 10.514 are new registrations in 2006 compared to a total of 14.494 registrations in 2005, 11.586 in 2004, 9.080 in 2003 and 8.496 in 2002.

Applications for name searches in the Cyprus company register in the first seven months of 2006 reached 27.814 compared to total name searches of 38.003 in 2005, 34.218 in 2004, 28.625 in 2003 and 26.213 in 2002.

The Registrar of Companies however, noted that during the first seven months of this year, the number of annual returns filed reached 22.715, which is very low compared to the total number of registrations.

Bankruptcies

The Registrar of Companies revealed that until end of July 2006 there were 387 applications for individual bankruptcies compared to 540 in 2005 and 430 in 2004 while there were 86 applications for company dissolutions compared to 143 for the whole of 2005 and 149 in 2004.