What we filter out

NewcoHunter leaves out two kinds of company so your results are more useful: companies whose address is a formation agent's, in location searches and alerts, and, if you choose, companies that look like shells.

Formation-agent addresses

Many companies use a company formation agent's address as their registered office. That address says nothing about where the owner lives or works. Left in, a search for your town would fill with companies that have no real presence there.

So these addresses are left out of location searches and alerts. The "Contactable by post only" filter leaves them out as well. This always applies and there is no switch for it.

Likely shell companies

Some registrations look set up to hold something, such as property or shares, rather than to trade. You decide whether to hide them:

• When you save a search, tick Exclude likely shell companies from digests.
• On a matches page, tick Hide shells.

See Hide shell companies for the steps. Exports include a Likely Shell column, so you can still see which companies were flagged.

What this means for you

• A company can be missing from a location search because its registered office is a formation agent's address, even if the owner is local.
• A company flagged as a likely shell is a guess, not a finding. If you think a real business is being left out, tell us (see below).
• Nothing is deleted. The companies are still on the register and can be found through company search or their profile page.

Think we have got it wrong?

Send us the company number through /contact or [email protected] and say what you expected. See Report wrong data.