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For non UK residents without Bank/Payment Account

A limited company may be "private" or "public". A private limited company's disclosure requirements are lighter, but for this reason its shares may not be offered to the general public (and therefore cannot be traded on a public stock exchange). This is the major distinguishing feature between a private limited company and a public limited company. Most companies, particularly small companies, are private.

Private companies limited by shares are required to have the suffix "Limited" (often written "Ltd" or "Ltd.") as part of their name. In the Republic of Ireland "Teoranta" ("Teo.") may be used instead, largely by Gaeltacht companies. "Cyfyngedig" ("Cyf.") may be used by Welsh companies in a similar fashion.

If you are not sure of any aspects of UK private limited companies, at Trade Formation we can help you to understand all the requirements and aspects of this type of company. To register a company, to help you to start up your business, to form proper company structure, to understand tax requirements and legislation. All of these and much more can be done with our help.

Share capital of only £1 is needed to start up a private limited company. Limited Companies are formed with both an authorised share capital and an issued share capital. The authorised share capital is the total number of shares existing in the company multiplied by the nominal value of each share. Not all such shares may have been issued. The issued share capital is the same calculation in respect of all the issued shares.

A company incorporated in England and Wales can be created with any number of shares of any value, in any currency. Unissued shares can be issued at any time by the directors, subject to prior authorisation by the shareholders. If you need to increase your share capital, talk to one of our advisers or e-mail us and we can help you to do it quickly and seemlesly. We will also help you to understand different types of shares including Ordinary, Special, Bearer shares and their differences.

Shares in a private company are usually transferred by private agreement between the seller and the buyer, as shares in a private company may not by law be offered to the general public. A stock transfer form is required to register the transfer with the company. The articles of association of private companies often place restrictions on the transfer of shares. if you are not sure hoew to transfer shares to other individuals or redistribute your share capital among existing shareholders, just get in touch with us and we will explain you the pocedure and, if required, help you to prepare all paperwork for share transfer.

Additional Info

Certified and Appostiled documents

If you need to use your documents to open a branch outside of the UK or to open a bank account in a foreign bank you will need your documents to be appostiled. Please, specify on the order form if any of the documents need to be appostiled at a time of the order to avoid delays in future. You may, however order appostiled copied of any of your company documents any time after registration of the company.

About Nominee services

By using nominee shareholder and nominee director you will exclude your name from appearing as Company Director and Company Shareholder. Instead, the name of the nominee will be displayed as a director, shareholder or/and secretary. You will get General Powers of Attorney that will enable you to conduct business on behalf of your company and sign any documents as you would do if you were director/shareholder yourself.

However, please, note that, depending on circumstances, even if you use Nominee Officers, your name may appear visible to public under PSC (Persons of Significant Control) section.

The use of Nominee Officers is not intended to conceal your name from public access but merely to satisfy UK residential requirements (if needed, i.e. for the bank) and/or to separate you from company assets.

Some questions that you might have before registering a company

Is there a minimum age under which an individual is barred from acting as a company director?

A director can not be appointed unless they are at least 16 years old.

Are company directors permitted to give a corporate address or PO Box number as an address?

A company officer is required to give both their usual residential address (URA) which will not be displayed on the public record and their service address which will be. The service address may be a corporate address.  In either case the addresses given must be a physical location, a PO Box number is unacceptable unless it forms part of a full address.

Can a PO Box be used for the Registered Office address?

Yes, provided the full address is given, including the postcode, and it is validated by the Royal Mail.

Is there a requirement that subscribers or officers of British limited companies be resident in the UK?

No. Subscribers or officers may be resident outside the UK.

What are the objects of a company?

The objects are what the company does.  New companies are considered to have unrestricted objects unless they specifically insert a clause in their articles detailing them.

Where can I find a set of Memorandum & Articles of Association?

Your copy of Memorandum and Articles will be provided by us without extra charge. These will be our standard documents with objects as discribed above. However, if you require specific objects to be inserted in your Memorandum and Articles we can arrange this to be done for additional charge of 50 GBP. Please, contact us with regards to this matter.

Are certificates given by the Registrar of Companies accepted for the purpose of issuing legalisation certificates?

Certificates issued by Companies House are stamped or electronically signed but they will not be accepted by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office for the purpose of issuing legalisation certificates.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office require that documents must have the original signature or seal of a British public official (solicitor).

We can arrange those documents to be certified and/or appostiled for you. Please, specify in the order form if you require this service.

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