Who is a partner

Dodgysailor

Hi all,

Is there any way I can find out who are the partners or shareholders of a business? is there a directory kind of thing somewhere?
Thanks

Malthusian

Companies House (http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk) is the official source. All UK companies are required to submit accounts to Companies House.

I usually use www.duedil.com rather than the official Companies House website - it uses the same database but provides more information without having to place an order. Other websites are available.

The directors of a company can be viewed for free, for the shareholders you will have to pay a small charge for the last annual return. (Duedil.com apparently has a free trial but I have no idea what the terms and conditions are or what they charge you after the trial, so make sure you read them in full before signing up.)

EdGasket

Try this also:

https://www.gov.uk/get-information-about-a-company

bowlhead99

Note that the accounts do not have to say who owns the company. Being a director is not the same as being a beneficial owner. If it is an LLP rather than a company the members will be listed in the accounts (and also their names will be on companies house). But there isn't a central register of beneficial ownership.

The government intends to create such a register next year listing the 'persons with significant control'. After a consultation stage about how it would work in practice, responses are being reviewed.

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/company-ownership-and-control-register-implementation

Apodemus

Malthusian wrote: »

Companies House (http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk) is the official source. All UK companies are required to submit accounts to Companies House.

I usually use www.duedil.com rather than the official Companies House website - it uses the same database but provides more information without having to place an order. Other websites are available.

The directors of a company can be viewed for free, for the shareholders you will have to pay a small charge for the last annual return. (Duedil.com apparently has a free trial but I have no idea what the terms and conditions are or what they charge you after the trial, so make sure you read them in full before signing up.)

The new Beta version of the Companies House website gives all the info for free and in an easier format then Duedil (which I used to use). Not sure if it will remain free once the testing is finished, but for now it is a great resource.

EarthBoy

Not all businesses are listed at Companies House. Ordinary partnerships and sole traders aren't isted, so there is no way of finding out the information except by asking the business.

MDMD

If you read the annual return (which is not the same as an annual report), you can get a list of shareholders at that date (although note that a lot of shareholdings in public companies are likely to be held in nominee names). This is available on the beta site mentioned above.

As an example, if you read the annual return for William A Bong Limited (Elton John's company, number 981411) you can see that Elton John owns 100% of the shares but is not a director. The director is David Furnish.

On the companies house beta site it should give LLP members under officers.