This page covers PLCs, companies
limited by guarantee, property management
companies, community interest companies
and offshore companies.
Partnerships and
Limited Liability
Partnerships (LLPs) have separate pages.
We can attend to all your company formation needs, including non-standard provisions in memorandum and articles, special share capital arrangements, public limited companies, companies limited by guarantee and all company law and company secretarial matters.
Public limited companies
A PLC must be registered with a name which ends in the words 'public
limited company' or the letters 'PLC' and must have a share capital of at
least £50,000. Only a PLC may offer shares or other securities to the public,
and a company must be a PLC to be listed on the Stock Exchange or Alternative
Investment Market (AIM). Some aspects of the Companies Acts apply a stricter
regime to such companies. A PLC should only be registered on advoce from
an accountant or solicitor. We offer a standard service but find that, in
practice, most such companies involve some special drafting or other service.
Our charges for forming a PLC are £181.75 (including registration
fee and VAT) for a standard service and £89.75 (including registration
fee and VAT) for a basic service. The specifications for the standard and
basic services are the same as for private companies (see
company formations). You cannot presently order a PLC on-line, so please
contact us to place your order.
We can also convert private companies to PLCs and vice versa. Please contact us for details.
Companies limited by guarantee
A company limited by guarantee does not have a share capital but
is controlled by its members. Apart from rules affecting shares, the Companies
Acts generally apply to a company limited by guarantee as to any other private
company. The main uses for such companies are for charities, voluntary bodies,
clubs, societies, etc. For more details, visit the companies
limited by guarantee page of this website.
Property management companies
Where a property is divided into units (e.g. a large house divided
into several flats) a company is often set up to own the freehold (or superior
lease) of the property and to maintain the common parts, effect repairs,
etc. Such a company may be limited by shares or by guarantee and special
memorandum and articles are required. For more details, visit the property
management companies page of this website.
Community Interest Companies (CICs)
A CIC is one formed for the benefit of the community. The two main features
are the asset lock and the Community Interest Statement and Report. Under
the asset lock provisions, the assets and profits must be permanently retained
within the CIC, and used solely for community benefit, or transferred to
another organisation which itself has an asset lock, such as a charity or
another CIC.With every application to form a CIC, a Community Interest Statement
must be lodged. This must certify that the company is formed to serve the
community rather than private profit motives and must describe the activities
of the CIC. A CIC may be limited by shares or guarantee. The registration
fee is £35. They cannot be registered electronically as each company
has to be vetted by the CIC Regulator. We have formed a number of CICs and
can advise on them.More advice is available on the CIC
Regulator's website.
Please contact us for further details.
Other Company Law Matters
We can attend to all such matters as special share capital requirements,
changes of company names, drafting special articles, printing memorandum
and articles, etc. Please contact us to discuss your requirements. We are
here to help.
Foreign and offshore companies
We can secure the formation of a company in most jurisdictions,
including the commonly used offshore locations of Isle
of Man, Channel Islands, British Virgin Islands, Nevis,
Panama, Cayman Islands, etc. Please contact us for further
details.