Hong Kong company statuses explained
The status on a company record is the single most important field for understanding whether a company still exists. This guide explains each status you will encounter, what it means, and how a company moves from one to another.
Active
An Active company is currently on the register. This is the normal status for a company that exists and has met its filing obligations. Note that Active describes registration, not trading — a company can be Active on the register while also being dormant, meaning it has declared that it is not carrying on business.
Dissolved
A Dissolved company has been removed from the register and no longer exists as a legal entity. A company can reach this status by several routes, recorded as its dissolution mode: it may have been struck off by the Registrar (typically for failing to file annual returns), voluntarily deregistered by a defunct solvent private company, or dissolved at the end of a winding-up.
A dissolved company's record remains permanently searchable. In some cases a struck-off or dissolved company can be restored to the register by court order or, in limited circumstances, administratively.
Ceased Registration and Amalgamated
Ceased Registration applies to a registered non-Hong Kong company that has stopped having a place of business in Hong Kong and has ended its local registration. The underlying overseas company may well continue to exist in its home jurisdiction; only its Hong Kong registration has ceased.
Amalgamated marks a company that has merged with one or more others. In a Hong Kong amalgamation two or more companies combine into a single surviving company, and the companies that do not survive are recorded as Amalgamated.