Company registrations reach pre-crisis levels

The number of applications for new company registrations rose in July to the pre-crisis levels (of March 2013), following an upward trend for the 11th consecutive month.

According to data from the Registrar of Companies, the number of applications for new company registration increased in July to 1,287, compared to 1,079 last July, an increase of 19.3%. Of the last 28 months, 22 saw an increase in applications for new registrations.

Compared to June, the number of applications in July saw a significant increase of 26.7%.

In the January - July period, the number of new company registration applications reached 7,653, compared with 6,301 in the corresponding period of 2015, an increase of 21.4%.

The number of applications for name in July reached 2,244, compared with 2,235 last July, showing a marginal increase of 0.4%.

The total for registered companies the end of July stood at 205,864. In July, 1,181 new companies were registered, bringing the total number of new registrations in the first seven months of 2016 to 7,448 from 6,267 in the first six months of this year. Throughout 2015, total new registrations were 11,270.

New additional registrations relating to foreign companies amounted in the first seven months of 2016 at 31, while for the entire 2015 were 71.

he total number of company bankruptcies in the first seven months of 2016 amounted to 73, from 66 at the end of the previous month. The total number of companies that went bankrupt during 2015 was 80.

The number of insolvent persons (receiving orders) were 34, compared to 27 at the end of June 2016, while the total number for 2015 was 136.

Voluntary liquidations at the end of July reached 1,180 from 1,011 at the end of June.

Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Cyprus said that the value of bounced cheques in July fell to EUR 43,389, the lowest level since 2003.

July saw also a significant decrease in the number of persons registered in the Central Information Register for bounced cheques, the lowest number since February 2003.

The total value of bounced cheques in the first seven months of 2016 was EUR 1,309,113, compared to EUR 1,163,876, in the same period last year.

The number of persons, legal and natural, registered in the CIR in July dropped to 16, compared to 55 in July 2015.

In total, 230 persons were registered in the CIR in the first seven months of 2016, compared with 362 in the corresponding period of 2015.