Types of Business Entity - United Kingdom

United Kingdom

• CIC or community interest company
• CIO or Charitable Incorporated Organisation
• Industrial and Provident Society, e.g. a Co-operative (which does include Ltd. at the end of its name) or charity
• Partnerships:
  • General partnership
  • LLP or Limited liability partnership
  • LP or Limited partnership
• Companies:
  • Ltd. or Cyf (Limited, or Welsh Cyfyngedig): a private company limited by shares, the shares not being traded publicly
  • plc or Ccc (public limited company, or Welsh Cwmni Cyfyngedig Cyhoeddus): a company whose shares may be traded publicly. Requires an authorized minimum share capital of £50,000; of which it must have allotted shares to the value of at least £50,000 and a minimum of 25% must be fully paid up prior to starting business.
  • Private company limited by guarantee. Such a company must include Limited or Ltd. at the end of its name (so cannot readily be distinguished from a private company limited by shares), unless it cannot distribute its profits. Guarantee companies are commonly used by not for profit organizations, which may omit Ltd. at the end of their names.
  • Unlimited company (or Welsh Anghyfyngedig). A company either with or without a share capital whose members or shareholders do not benefit from limited liability should the company ever go into formal liquidation. It is not a requirement under company law to add or state the word or designation Unlimited or its abbreviations (Unltd., or Ultd.) at the ending of its legal company name, and most unlimited companies do not. Unlimited companies are exempted from filing accounts with the Registrar of Companies for public disclosure, subject to a few exceptions (unless the company was a qualified subsidiary or a parent of a limited company during the accounting period).
• Sole proprietorship/sole trader