In 2011, the number of registered business units rose by 2.8 per cent to 64,933 from 63,139 in 2010 (see note below). By legal organisation, 64.3 per cent of all business units were ‘sole ownerships/partnerships.’ These amounted to 41,739 registered units.
Limited liability companies, which represented 32.2 per cent of all business units in 2011, registered an increase when compared to 2010. By NACE category, the number of business units in wholesale and retail trade except that of motor vehicles amounted to 20.4 per cent of all business units.
Furthermore, registered business units in crop and animal production, specialised construction activities, food and beverage service activities and activities of head offices; management consultancy activities amounted to 5.0, 5.9, 4.7 and 4.6 per cent respectively of the total registered units in 2011.
By size class, 97.0 per cent of business units (Table 4b) have less than 10 employed persons. Comparatively, only 81 enterprises in Malta have more than 250 employed persons.
Note: On 1 January 2011, the Value Added Tax (Exemption from Registration) Regulations, 2010, came into force, as notified in Legal Notice 524 of 2010. The Regulations state that the VAT Commissioner shall not register any taxable person established in Malta whose turnover does not exceed €7,000 in a calendar year. Therefore births for 2011 may not be strictly comparable to those for previous years and should be treated with caution.
This information is supplied by the National Statistics Office.