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Notwithstanding these reminders eighteen companies failed to file documents, and in consequence eighteen prosecutions were instituted. Fines ranging from $10 to $1,200 were imposed on fourteen of the com- panies concerned or their directors. On the incorporation of every new company the Companies Registry supplies it with a pamphlet entitled 'Notes on certain provisions of the Companies Ordinance with special reference to documents which have to be filed in the Companies Registry'. A copy is also supplied free of charge to any company that asks for one. 78. 306 companies increased their nominal capital by amounts total- ling $578,622,500, on which fees of $1,157,245 were paid. 74 companies changed their names by special resolution and with the approval of the Governor given by the Registrar of Companies under delegated powers. One licence to keep a branch Share Register was granted under Section 103 of the Ordinance.
79. 901 charges were registered by companies securing a total of $713,400,159 and 449 certificates of satisfaction were submitted in respect of charges totalling $276,558,841. There was therefore an increase of nearly $437,000,000 in the amounts of charges subsisting. This does not necessarily mean that the amount actually owed by companies and secured by charges increased by that sum, because in many cases charges are granted to secure banking facilities, which may not be utilized up to the full amount for which the property is charged. Over the last three years the apparent increase in the amounts of charges subsisting has been $1,120,000,000.
Companies incorporated outside the Colony
80. 52 companies incorporated outside the Colony established a place of business within the Colony and complied with the provisions of Part XI of the Ordinance. At the end of the year there were 521 such companies registered as compared with 493 the year before. Table XI shows the countries in which these 521 companies are incorporated. The United States leads with 122 companies, and is followed by the United Kingdom with 83, Japan 61, Federation of Malaysia 55, Panama 29, China 26, and Switzerland 21.
81. It is interesting to compare these figures with the corresponding figures for Great Britain for 1962, the latest year for which these are available at the time of writing this Report. Although the total number of registrations of British companies was at 413,175 some 56 times as great as the number of Hong Kong companies (7,354), the number of foreign companies with places of business in Great Britain was at 2,193
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