Find a UK company. Understand the details.
Search company records, understand SIC codes and check filing dates in one place.
What a record contains
- Registered name and numberStable identifier, exact legal name
- Status and company typeAs reported by the register
- Registered officeCorrespondence address, not a trading location
- SIC codesRecorded activities with readable descriptions
- Filing datesAccounts and confirmation statements, kept separate
Every company page shows the time we checked the data and links to the official record.
Supplier finder
Find UK suppliers by what they do
Describe the supplier you need in plain English. We match it to official SIC activity codes and suggest active registered companies, each linked to its official record, officers and filed documents.
Try the supplier finderExample
“An electrician for office refits in Manchester”
Matched to SIC 43210 Electrical installation, then active companies with a registered office in Manchester, ordered by how well the registered facts fit.
Or browse the company profiles directory.
Research tools
Free to use, with no account required. Each tool explains what its data can and cannot tell you.
Company search
Search the register by company name, or look up an exact registration number.
SIC code finder
Search the official condensed SIC list by code, description or everyday business terms.
Filing deadlines
Read the accounts and confirmation statement dates a company's record reports, and export them.
Company number lookup
Find a registered company number, and see how it differs from a VAT number or UTR.
Compare companies
Put two or three companies side by side on the same sourced fields and check dates.
SIC code reference
Explainers for the codes people ask about most, with official descriptions kept separate.
Where our information comes from
Company details are retrieved from the Companies House Public Data API. SIC descriptions come from the Companies House condensed SIC code list (SIC 2007). We record the source and the time of each check, and we say plainly when a field is not available or when a refresh has failed.
We do not add credit scores, risk ratings or financial estimates, because the public register does not contain them.
What we will not do
- Publish invented company records, reviews or user numbers.
- Infer turnover, solvency or trustworthiness from a registration status.
- Suggest that we are an official service or connected to GOV.UK.
- Present a paid offer as a filing action you are required to take.
The UK company register, in plain English
Short answers to the questions we are asked most, each linked to a fuller guide with its sources.
What is Companies House?
Companies House is the UK registrar of companies. It incorporates companies, receives the information they must file by law and publishes most of it on a free public register. It is a registrar, not a regulator of trading conduct, and it does not rate or approve businesses.
What is on the registerIs this the official register?
No. companies.house is an independent research site. We read company details from the Companies House Public Data API, show the time of each check and link every company page to the official record. To file documents or sign in, use the official GOV.UK service.
Open the official registerHow do I find a company number?
Search the registered name, then confirm the match on the registered office and the incorporation date. The number is 8 characters, and leading zeros and prefixes such as SC or NI are part of it.
Search tips that avoid the wrong companyWhat do the filing dates mean?
Annual accounts and the confirmation statement are two separate obligations with separate dates. We show the dates a company's record reports, kept apart, rather than calculating a deadline ourselves.
Check a company's filing datesSIC codes people ask about
Official description first, then a plain-English reading and the codes commonly confused with it.
Business and domestic software development
Writing software to order, or building and maintaining a software product, for business or consumer use. This is the usual choice for development work where the deliverable is the software itself.
62020Information technology consultancy activities
Advisory technology work: recommending systems, planning migrations, reviewing security or architecture, and guiding delivery. Many IT contractors and consultants use this code.
47910Retail sale via mail order houses or via Internet
Selling goods to customers online or by mail order, where you hold or arrange the stock and there is no shop.
70229Management consultancy activities other than financial management
Broad business advice: operations, strategy, marketing planning, HR, change and project management, where the work is not financial management and not covered by a more specific code.
68209Other letting and operating of own or leased real estate
Letting property the company owns or leases, including residential buy-to-let and commercial letting, where no more specific letting code applies.
69202Bookkeeping activities
Recording and reconciling transactions, running payroll and preparing records for accounts, without carrying out statutory audit work.
Selected guides
All guidesHow to find a UK company registration number
Three reliable ways to find a UK company registration number, and how to confirm you have the right company before you rely on it.
Reviewed 2026-09-17 · companies.house editorial team
Company number vs VAT number vs UTR
The three reference numbers UK businesses are asked for most often, what each one identifies and where to find it.
Reviewed 2026-09-17 · companies.house editorial team
How to choose a SIC code
A practical method for picking a SIC code from the official Companies House condensed list, including what to do when two codes both look right.
Reviewed 2026-09-17 · companies.house editorial team
How to read a company profile
What each field on a UK company record means, in the order it usually matters, and which fields are frequently misread.
Reviewed 2026-09-17 · companies.house editorial team