Companies available to take over now

Why buyers take over a company instead of forming one

Forming a company at Companies House is fast, and nobody pretends otherwise. What costs time is everything that follows the certificate: the Corporation Tax reference, a VAT registration where your turnover or your trading partners call for one, a business account that a bank is actually willing to open, and the first accounting reference date. Six weeks between incorporation and the first invoice that can safely go out is an ordinary experience, not a bad one.

A company that already exists has been through all of that. It carries its own registration number, it has a filing record behind it, its tax references are issued, and in a good many cases it holds a bank account that cost somebody else the waiting. You step into a working structure, and you can act in its name from the day the shares change hands.

That argument only holds if what sits underneath is clean. Everything else on this page describes how we establish that before an entry ever appears in the list above.

How to read the entries above

Each card shows a reference, the country of registration, the company type, the year of registration, the share capital and a row of markers for the paperwork that exists. Company names and registration numbers are deliberately absent — sellers depend on that discretion, and you receive the full data sheet the moment you quote a reference to us. Two labels carry most of the meaning:

	Ready-made company	Dormant company
Trading so far	has never traded	traded once, dormant today
Risk out of the past	none to inherit	possible — which is what our checks are for
Age on the register	from formation, usually young	frequently ten years and more
Filing record	short, dormant accounts only	full, with figures behind it
Papers handed over	register extract, incorporation documents, statutory registers	the same, plus clearances and the filed accounts
Price	lower and easy to predict	follows age, standing and paperwork
Earlier losses	none exist	seldom of any use to a new owner

On that last row, a word of warning: losses from earlier trading rarely survive a change of ownership that comes together with a change of activity, in any of the five countries represented here. Treat them as worth nothing when you compare prices. Age, a clean filing record and a working bank connection are the things that genuinely add value — and if you believe your own case is the exception, put it to your accountant before you bid.

Five countries, and which of them concerns you

The list mixes companies registered in England, Ireland, Austria, Germany and Liechtenstein. That looks broader than it is, because the two groups answer two quite different questions.

An English private limited company, or an Irish one, is the straightforward case for a buyer based in Britain. You stay with the register you already deal with, every document is in English, and the transfer itself is done in writing. One person may hold all the shares and be the only director.

The continental entries answer a different question: how to appear as a domestic company in the German-speaking market. Since the United Kingdom left the European Union, a British company no longer enjoys freedom of establishment there, and an English limited that wants to trade in Austria or Germany needs a registered branch before it can. An Austrian or German GmbH, or a Liechtenstein entity, skips that step altogether — it is domestic from the outset, it invoices under a local VAT number, and banks, public bodies and customers treat it as one of their own. Where your plan is a European subsidiary rather than a branch of a British parent, this is usually the shorter road.

Ireland sits between the two and is often the compromise nobody regrets: English-speaking, inside the single market, and familiar to every British accountant. If none of the five fits, we will say so — there is more on the company types themselves under shelf companies.

What we establish before a company is listed

You are buying shares in a legal person, and its liabilities travel with it whoever caused them. Nothing goes into the list above until the following is on our desk:

• a current extract from the relevant register, showing the full chain of shareholders
• identity and address verification for every shareholder, every director and every person with significant control
• confirmation from the tax authority that nothing is outstanding — HMRC for the English companies, Revenue for the Irish ones, the equivalent clearance for the continental entities
• the filing record: accounts and confirmation statements filed on time, or a written explanation of every gap
• the Corporation Tax reference and, where one exists, the VAT registration number
• the PSC register, or the beneficial ownership register of the country concerned, in its current state
• banking details, the balance on the account and any standing commitments
• no insolvency proceedings, no proposal to strike the company off, no disqualified director

Where a point is missing, either the price reflects it or the company never reaches the list. The markers on each card tell you what exists before you spend a telephone call finding out.

From reference number to your own company

• 1. Quote the reference. Tell us which entry interests you. You receive the complete data sheet — company name, registration number, register extract, filing history and price — usually on the same working day.
• 2. Put it on hold. On request we mark the company as reserved for a few working days at no charge and with no commitment on your side, so that nobody buys it out from under you while you are still reading.
• 3. Read the papers, or have them read. Everything we hold goes to you, and you are welcome to put it in front of your own accountant or solicitor. We would rather answer their questions than have you buy on trust.
• 4. Transfer the shares. For an English or Irish company this is done in writing — a stock transfer form, a board resolution and an updated register of members — and it can be completed at a distance in a single day. Shares in an Austrian or German GmbH require a notarial deed instead; we arrange the notary, prepare the agreement and can hold the appointment remotely. The money moves through the notary's client account or an equivalent escrow, and the shares move only once it has arrived.
• 5. Register the changes. Company name, registered office, directors, shareholders and the persons with significant control are filed with the register, and the beneficial ownership entry is renewed. From then on the company trades under your name and at your address.

What you can have done at the same time

Change of name	Your own name in place of the existing one, checked against the register beforehand at no charge
Registered office	Moved to your address, or to ours if you would rather keep your home off the public record
Directors and secretary	Resignation and appointment filed together, so the company is never without a director
Tax references	Notification to the tax authority, and the VAT application where one is wanted
Bank account	A new account, or the paperwork to keep the existing one running under new signatories
Mail and telephone	Business address, post handling and a telephone service under the company name
Accounts and filings	Bookkeeping, annual accounts and deadline monitoring through our partner practices
Branch abroad	Registration of a branch where a company from one of the five countries is to trade in another

Our standing charges for these items are set out on the price pages: prices for shelf Ltds and prices for ready-made GmbHs.

What comes on top of the purchase price

Alongside the price of the company itself you should allow for the filing fees of the register for each change, the notary's fee where a continental company is involved, and any duty that the transfer of shares attracts in the country of registration. Which of these apply to your case, and roughly what they amount to, you get from us in writing before anything is signed — and your own accountant should confirm the tax side of it. If the company owns land or property anywhere, say so early: that changes the picture and we would rather look at it before than after.

Frequently asked questions