There are three possible search fields - company name, registered number or parent registered number. You can only search using one of these fields at a time.

Company Name - By selecting this field it is possible to search a registered company name against the Companies House register. The inclusion or exclusion of dissolved or name change matches can be selected by clicking on the relevant box at the bottom of the screen. In entering a search both spaces and punctuation are ignored e.g. 'Old Swan' will return Old Swan Limited.

• Please note: At least two letters are required within this field in order to initiate a search.
• Tip: If you search for a company such as Benstan Civil Engineers, it is far more practical to search for Benstan on its own. This is because Benstan is a very uncommon word, but both civil and engineers will return lots of hits.
  

Registered Number - Searching by registered number will display an exact match as all companies have a unique registration number. The search field is eight characters in length. Where a company number has preceding zeros, Company Searches will automatically search for an eight digit number. For example, registration number 0180000 can be entered as 1800000. However,Companies House alpha-numeric fixes, such as SC for Scottish must be entered.

Parent Company Registered Number - This field identifies all subsidiaries of the company whos registered number is entered. It will retrieve results from both the holding company number and the ultimate holding company number. As in the registered number field, leading zeros need not be entered.

The following check boxes allow you to more closely specify the companies you are interested in.

IInclude Dissolved Companies - When searching by company name, the search automatically searches live companies on the database. However it is possible to include dissolved companies as well, by selecting the Include Dissolved box. This will then return with all live and dissolved matches relating to the company name search. This option is only available when searching by company name.

IInclude Previous Names - In order to ensure that you identify companies who have previously operated under the company name you are searching, select Include Previous Names. This search option is only available when searching by company name.

Exact Name Match - Exact name match will try to retrieve exactly what you have entered in the name field. For example, if you were searching a name such as Whitbread PLC, you need to put the whole name in, including the 'PLC' and you will only be returned one hit. Also, for limited companies you will need to specify the 'Ltd' at the end of the name in order to retrieve hits back. This option is only available when searching by company name.

Unincorporated Businesses- Checking this box will make Company Searches search the Unincorporated database for the company name you are looking for as well as the Limited company database. Please note that this is only relevant when searching by company name.