There were 11,621 new businesses registered in Malta in 2017, an increase of 6.9 per cent over 2016, according to the National Statistics Office (NSO).
On the other hand, 3,989 businesses closed down during 2017, which means that the net gain of companies for Malta was 7,632 businesses.
This brings the total number of registered business units in Malta as of end December 2017 up to 103,458 from 96,816 in 2016.
Registered units in wholesale and retail trade amounted to 18 per cent of total registered units, followed by financial and insurance activities (15.8 per cent), professional, scientific and technical activities (12 per cent), and administrative and support service activities (8.2 per cent).
In 2017, 46,4 per cent of registered business units were sole owners or partnerships, 49.8 per cent were limited liability or public limited companies, while 3.8 per cent had other types of legal organisation. The number of LLC or PLCs has increased over the years – in 2017, the increase was of 6.9 per cent over 2015.
In terms of employment, 97.3 per cent of registered units were micro-entities as they employed less than 10 persons. On the other hand, only 112 registered units in Malta employ more than 250 persons and are hence classified as large undertakings.