ISLAMABAD, Sept 14: Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) registered 274 companies in August 2012.

The new incorporations include 257 private, 16 single-member, two public unlisted companies and two non-profit associations.

Trading sector has the highest incorporations of 44 companies, followed by services 28 companies, construction 21 companies, power generation 18 companies, information technology 17 companies and textile 16 companies.

The highest incorporation was witnessed at Company Registration Office (CRO), Lahore of 89 companies followed by CROs Karachi and Islamabad registering 76 and 72 companies, respectively. Remaining CROs of Peshawar, Multan, Faisalabad and Quetta registered 14, 12, 8 and 3 companies respectively.

Authorised capital and paid-up capital of 274 companies was Rs1.89 billion and Rs482 million, respectively. During the month, 56 companies increased their authorised capital with the aggregate authorised capital increment of Rs2.99 billion and 52 companies raised their paid-up capital with the total paid-up capital increment amounting to Rs3.20 billion.