E-Commerce Business About the Company Business Set Up and Corporate Practice E-Commerce American Corporations Page 81 Page 82 UK Banking Accounts Lithuania Banking Accounts
 
Thinking of starting a public company? Why not go forward with Coddan and start-up your business in the UK within 6–8 hours?

Welcome to Coddan, UK limited companies incorporation agent. Our company offers companies formation services in England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland for clients from all over the world. We are pleased to provide you with information, guidance, and advice about setting-up a small business in the UK. Do you want to incorporate your business in Edinburgh, London, or Liverpool? Are you looking for information and guidance regarding limited company registration and small business start-up? Why should you bother with registering a company? Leave this complicated process to the professionals!

We will give you any assistance or advice related to limited company registration matters from the moment you choose to move forward with us, and for as long after incorporation as you may require. We provide one of the highest-rated companies incorporation services to our clients around the world, particularly for UK residents. Our expertise ranges from local to international affairs, thus giving our clients an edge over others in accessing the international market.
Important Note:

We offer electronic public company registration and electronic filing of documents. Have your new UK public company limited by shares started within only 6–8 business hours. We also offer Nominee Secretary and registered office facilities in addition to public company formations. We supply expert advice in navigating English legal and business systems helping you set-up in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and/or the Republic of Ireland. If you have an idea for a business, we can also assist you in starting-up your new business directly in the UK from the ground up.

For more information about the public company limited by shares incorporation service available from Coddan, please visit the public company in the UK section of our main website.
Public Companies Formation
Prior to the 1985 UK Companies Act, the only way that a company could offer its shares to the public to raise capital was by admission to one of the official stock markets. This was limited to a relatively small number of substantial companies and excluded the small to medium-sized enterprises in need of capital. The 1985 Act created the public limited company (plc) and made the procedure to acquire public company status much simpler. A UK public limited company is a company which is registered as such and complies with the following:

It is mandatory that the name of the public limited company should end with the abbreviation indicating its status – “public limited company” or “plc” (or if it is a Welsh company, the Welsh equivalents “cwmni cyfyngedig cyhoeddus” or “ccc”). The status and type of company (public limited company) should also be included in the company’s Memorandum and Articles of Association. The Memorandum must be in the form specified. The company must have an authorised share capital of at least £50,000. Before it can start business, it must have allotted shares to the value of at least £50,000.

A PLC must have an issued share capital of not less than £50,000 of which a minimum of 25 per cent must be fully paid-up. Shares cannot be issued for an undertaking to do work or perform services; payment for shares may only be by “cash” or a “non-cash” consideration. A plc is not obliged to float its shares or offer them for sale; it can remain as private as the shareholders wish; and, as with private limited companies, if the shares have been fully paid there is no shareholder liability.

A PLC enjoys increased status because of the larger capital base. English and Scottish public limited companies require two shareholders and two Directors – one of whom may also be the Company Secretary. If you are interested in learning more about the UK public company limited by shares incorporation service, please feel free to visit the public limited company formation section of our main website.
The UK public company formation process has never been easier. We offer public company registration with a full set of company documents for as little as £120. We have a public company formation service to suit everyone's needs, requirements, and budget. Using Coddan as your incorporation agent, you can be sure that you'll be ready to trade usually within the same day (subject to Companies House but guaranteed within 24 hours), and our formation service is free of forms, so we don't have to send you statutory paperwork to sign. We offer ongoing business support via our Company Secretarial, legal, accounting, business information, and intellectual property protection services.

Running your company on the stock market represents an important change for your business – with a whole new range of responsibilities. Once you've done it successfully, every action you take will be in the public arena, with a whole new group of people to keep happy, including: shareholders, the financial markets, regulators, and the financial press. In many ways, going public involves a permanent change in how you run your business. These changes will affect almost every aspect of how your business operates.

By becoming publicly quoted, you and your company have now taken on a whole range of new responsibilities that will have a profound effect on how you run your business. It's more than likely that you now have a much larger number of external shareholders, to whom you and your fellow Directors are accountable. You will also have responsibilities to the market as a whole, in terms of informing them of all news likely to have an impact on your company's share price, and explaining the key decisions and actions taken by the company and its senior office-holders.

For more details about the registration process, activities, restrictions, and purposes of public companies limited by shares, please visit why incorporate a public company in the UK? .
UK public limited company business start-up: legal requirements

There are many sound reasons for wanting to become publicly quoted. Public companies have had extra measures introduced for their formation. A Certificate of Trading is required as well as a Certificate of Incorporation. The Certificate of Trading is needed before the public entity can start any kind of trade or financing activities. Certain key share capital requirements also have to be met relating to the minimum amounts both issued and paid for.

Before you decide to go forward with the formation of a public company in the UK, you should be aware of the legal requirements that you need to comply with:
Company subscribers may be residents outside the UK.
The company must appoint a minimum of two Directors, but the maximum number of Directors is not limited. Directors can be corporate bodies or private individuals.
A Director can be of any nationality and need not be formally trained.
All companies must appoint a Company Secretary.
Secretaries can be corporate bodies or private individuals, and a Secretary can be of any nationality.
Authorised share capital requirements must be met – usually £50,000 of which a minimum of 25 per cent must be fully paid up.
The company is required to have a registered office in the UK.

If you are thinking about starting a public limited company in the UK, and want more information, the advantages of a public company section will help you to find out more.