New Bermuda company registrations hit a five-year high

Today the Minister of Education and Economic Development, Dr. the Hon. Grant Gibbons JP MP, announced that the Registrar of Companies’ full-year 2013 results revealed the largest number of new company incorporations since 2008 and a very healthy increase over the 2012 results.

“The good news is incorporations continue to rise and this trend was consistent throughout the year,” Dr. Gibbons said. “It’s one more sign that Bermuda is moving in the right direction after years of decline. In this case, the strong increase in registrations is an indicator of renewed confidence in Bermuda. We can expect that these new companies will make a very positive contribution to job creation and economic growth.

“We saw a strong upward trend of local and international company formation in 2013, in contrast to the decline from 2011 to 2012,” said Dr. Gibbons. “The total number of new company registrations for the year was 1,200, which is the highest number since 2008 and a 16% increase over the 1,035 reported in 2012. The increase was represented by 180 new local registrations, a 22% increase over the 147 in 2012; and 1,020 new international companies and partnerships, a 15% increase over the 888 in 2012.

“In the fourth quarter alone, 336 new companies registered in Bermuda – 41 local companies and 295 international companies.  This can be compared to the fourth quarter of 2012 which saw 293 new companies register in Bermuda and of those 37 were local and 256 were international.

“At the end of Q4 2013, there were a total of 18,827 local and exempt entities on the Register – a 2% increase over the corresponding Q4 2012.”

 Dr. Gibbons concluded, “Over the next few months we will continue to build upon this positive momentum through the combined efforts of the government ministries, the BMA and our partnership with the Bermuda Business Development Agency (BDA). Overall, this is encouraging news for Bermudians and Bermuda business, it demonstrates quantitative evidence of growth and that Bermuda is back in business.”