UK company search

What you can search for

You can search by registered company name, by trading name as it appears on an invoice or website, or by company registration number. If you are not sure of the exact spelling, type the first distinctive word of the name and compare the results.

The register covers private limited companies, public limited companies, limited liability partnerships, community interest companies, limited partnerships and other bodies that must register with Companies House in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

• Registered company name, in full or in part
• Company registration number, including SC and NI prefixes
• Former names a company traded under before it was renamed
• Companies that are active, dormant, in liquidation or dissolved

What company information you can view free

Selecting a result opens a company summary. Every item below is free to view, as many times as you like, with no account and no sign-up.

• Registered company name
• Company registration number
• Company status, such as active or dissolved
• Incorporation date
• Company type
• Jurisdiction
• Registered office address
• Previous company names
• Nature of business and SIC codes

Where the information comes from

Every company registered in the UK appears on a single public register maintained by Companies House, the UK registrar of companies. This site retrieves that information through the official Companies House public data service and presents it in a readable layout.

Company Search UK is an independent service. It is not Companies House, not part of the UK Government, and not affiliated with or endorsed by either. The same underlying public data is available directly from Companies House free of charge. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

The register records what companies have filed. Companies House does not verify most of it, so information can be incomplete, filed late or occasionally wrong. Treat a search as confirmation of what is recorded, not as proof that a business is trustworthy.

Searching by name or by company number

Searching by company registration number is the most reliable route, because numbers are unique, never change and are never reused. Numbers registered in Scotland begin with SC and those registered in Northern Ireland begin with NI.

Searching by name is useful when all you have is the trading name from an invoice, website or email footer. Many similar names exist, and a company can change its name at any time, so check the registered office address and incorporation date before assuming you have the right entity. Our guide to a UK company number search explains the number formats in more detail.

Why people need UK company information

Most searches come down to one question: is this business what it says it is? Confirming the registered name, number and status before money changes hands takes seconds and prevents a surprising number of problems.

• Suppliers confirming the legal entity they are about to invoice
• Customers checking a business is registered before paying a deposit
• Overseas buyers verifying a UK counterparty exists on the register
• Contractors, tradespeople and freelancers checking a new client
• Accountants, bookkeepers and advisers gathering company details for a file
• Landlords, tenants and agents checking the entity named on a lease
• Researchers and journalists mapping corporate structures

Reading your results

• Status: active means the company is on the register; dissolved means it no longer exists as a legal entity
• Registered office: the official address for correspondence, which is not necessarily where the business trades
• Incorporation date: how long the entity has existed, though a young number does not make a business unreliable
• Previous names: useful when an invoice or contract names a company you cannot find
• SIC codes: the activity the company itself declared, which can be broad or out of date

When a downloadable PDF report helps

The free summary answers most questions on screen. If you need to attach company details to an email, a tender, an application or a client file, the optional UK Company Information Report gathers the wider register sections — officers, persons with significant control, filing position, charges and insolvency — into one dated PDF you can download, print, email and keep.

You are paying for retrieval, formatting and a permanent copy, not for access to information that is otherwise withheld. If you only need to confirm a name, number or status, the free summary is enough.

Free website search compared with the paid PDF report

Searching this site and viewing a company summary is free. The optional PDF report is paid, and what you are paying for is convenience: retrieval, formatting, a dated snapshot and a document you can download and keep. The underlying information is public and is also available directly from Companies House at no charge.

Frequently asked questions

Related pages

• Companies House SearchSearch company information from the Companies House public register by name or company number. Independent service with free company summaries and an optional formatted PDF report.
• Company Number SearchSearch by UK company registration number to find the exact company on the public register free of charge, including SC numbers for Scotland and NI numbers for Northern Ireland.
• Check Company StatusWhat UK company status values mean, including active, dissolved, liquidation, administration and proposal to strike off, and how to check the status of a company.
• UK Company Information ReportSee exactly what the UK Company Information Report contains, how it compares with the free company summary, and when a dated downloadable PDF of register information is worth ordering.
• Data Sources and UpdatesWhere Company Search UK gets its company information, how often it is refreshed, the licensing that applies and the known limits of public register data.
• Sample Company ReportSee the structure of the UK Company Information Report PDF section by section, page by page, so you know exactly what you receive before you order one.
• Free UK Company SearchSearch any UK registered company free of charge. View company status, registration number, registered office, incorporation date and SIC codes with no account and no sign-up.
• Search by Company NameSearch UK companies by name. Handle partial names, similar names, changed names and trading names, and confirm you have the right registered entity before you deal with it.