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The Ministry of Economy and Commerce has recently released the Business Progress Report of the Commerce Sector for September 2016. The report indicated the registration of 1,097 new companies in September 2016, with the total number of new key commercial records reaching 742 and the total number of new subsidiary commercial records reaching 355.
Furthermore, the percentage of the limited liability companies has reached 60%, where 24% of the companies were registered in the category of Single-Person Company and 15% of the companies were registered in the category of Individual Corporations.
Contracting companies topped the list of the most commonly used activities, with 259 commercial records issued in this field. Regarding the field of construction materials trading, 112 commercial records were issued, and 124 commercial records were issued for restaurants and groceries.
The report pointed out that 4,304 total commercial licenses were issued, amended or renewed during the month of September 2016, as the ministry  issued 876 commercial licenses, around 432 commercial licenses were modified and 2,996 commercial licenses were renewed.
For closures, the total number of closed companies in September 2016 reached 203, representing 18.5% of the newly registered companies.
Regarding the most write-off activities, contracting companies topped the list with 24%, restaurants and groceries came in second with 22%, and construction materials trading companies came in third with 20%.
In the area of intellectual property rights, the report indicated that there were 60 new patent applications during September 2016 .The ministry granted 25 patents in the fields of pharmacology, chemistry, mechanics, electricity and 101 patent applications were renewed.
In addition, 2,291 trademarks have been recorded during September 2016, while 12 certificates were issued in the field of copyright and related rights.