Company registration to go electronic

Hong Kong’s Companies Registry plans to launch electronic incorporation of companies and a one-stop service for electronic company incorporation and business registration in the 2010-11 financial year.

On September 21, Registrar of Companies Ada Chung said Hong Kong is moving full steam ahead in developing Phase II of the Integrated Companies Registry Information System (ICRIS II) to launch electronic incorporation.

“With the new electronic services in place, the time required to incorporate a company online will be significantly reduced from four working days to less than one day,” Ms. Chung said.

Ms. Chung also plans to streamline the company name registration system. Her proposal, apart from further expediting the incorporation process, would empower the Registrar to substitute the names of companies that fail to comply with directives to change names with their respective company registration numbers.

“In collaboration with the Inland Revenue Department, we will also take the opportunity to implement a one-stop service for company incorporation and business registration,” said Ms. Chung. “This will allow applicants to incorporate companies and obtain business registration certificates at the same time. The whole process will be completed within the same day for online applications.

“Legislative amendments to the Companies Ordinance and the Business Registration Ordinance are required before the new initiatives can be implemented. We hope the amendments can be enacted next year,” Ms. Chung said.

The legislative amendments to the Companies Ordinance also cover other initiatives, including introducing provisions to allow local companies to communicate with their members through the companies' Web sites; providing a statutory basis for multiple statutory derivative actions and removing statutory restrictions to pave the way for scripless shareholding and paperless transfers.

As of August 31, 751,159 live local companies were registered under the Companies Ordinance. A record high of 20,251 companies were incorporated in March, and another record of 12,594 companies incorporated in August.

Cathay Pacific sells HAECO shares

On September 16, Cathay Pacific Airways agreed to sell 12.45% of Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company’s (HAECO) shares to Swire Pacific — a transaction valued at approximately US$243.71 million.

In accordance with Stock Exchange Listing Rules, the transaction is subject to the approval of Cathay Pacific’s independent shareholders. If approved, Cathay Pacific’s direct interest in the issued share capital of HAECO will decrease from 27.45% to 15%, while Swire Pacific’s stake in the maintenance provider will rise from 33.52% to 45.96%. The sale will involve 20,700,958 shares at US$11.77 per share.

Separately, Cathay Pacific confirmed that it has signed an agreement with BOC Aviation for the sale and leaseback of six of the 19 Boeing 777-300ER aircraft the airline has on order. The aircraft are scheduled to be delivered between the fourth quarter of 2009 and the second quarter of 2011. This is the first time Cathay Pacific and BOC Aviation have worked together.

Cathay Pacific has 39 aircraft on order for delivery before 2013. Currently, there are 122 aircraft in its fleet, 25 of which are leased; the remainder are owned by the airline.

Airline passenger traffic increases

The combined Cathay Pacific and Dragonair traffic figures for August show an increase in passengers compared with August 2008, although cargo and mail tonnage showed another year-on-year drop.

Cathay Pacific and Dragonair carried a total of 2,210,068 passengers in August, up 3.8% year-on-year, while capacity for the month, measured in available seat kilometers (ASKs) fell 5%. The month’s load factor was up 5.7 percentage points to 84.1%. The number of passengers carried year to date is 4% less compared to a capacity decline of 3.2%.

The two airlines carried a total of 131,732 metric tons of cargo and mail in August, down 6.3% year-on-year, while the cargo and mail load factor rose 6.1 percentage points to 72%. Capacity for the month, measured in available cargo/mail tonne kilometers, fell 14.1%. Tonnage for the year to date is down 13.1% against a capacity drop of 13.9%.

Airport numbers on the rise

Hong Kong International Airport's (HKIA) traffic figures continued to improve in August, with passenger throughput growing 2.8% from the same period last year to 4.3 million. Meanwhile, the decline in cargo volume slowed to a single-digit figure of 5.2%, recording 295,000 metric tons, while air traffic movements decreased 6.7% to 23,710.

Though cargo exports and transhipments still experienced volume declines in the range of 7% to 8% year-on-year, imports grew approximately 4%, the first sign of positive growth since June 2008. A number of export markets, including Europe, North America and Japan, continued to record double-digit drops; Taiwan was the only transhipment market to register a double-digit decline. On the passenger side, Hong Kong residents and transfer/transit passengers showed year-on-year growth of 12% and 1%, respectively. Visitor numbers, however, fell 1%.

Chief Executive Officer of Airport Authority Hong Kong Stanley Hui said August’s performance was in line with the stabilization trend noted in recent months.

“Looking ahead, we expect to see further improvement in air cargo demand and load factor as a result of reduced freighter capacity supply and a seasonal demand increase in the market,” said Mr. Hui. “Meanwhile, although August saw mild growth in passenger traffic, we maintain a cautious outlook on the performance, as global economy and aviation are only in the very early stage of a slow and possibly volatile recovery.”