Company
A company is a legally-recognised group or association of people who have a common goal and who use their respective talents to achieve that goal. In the UK, companies must be registered under the Companies Acts (or other similar legislation).
Companies can take various forms, including:
- Voluntary organisations
- Partnerships
- Private limited companies
- Public limited companies
- Limited liability companies.
- Unlimited companies.
- Franchises
- Workers cooperatives
In the UK, when a company’s name is followed by the letters ‘Ltd’, it denotes that the company is a private limited company. In other words, in the event of the company being liable say, for a misdemeanour or economic misadventure, the shareholders or subscribers of that company are liable only for the amount of their investment or what they have guaranteed to the company, ie, they have limited liability. For example, if an investor owns £10,000 worth of shares and the company becomes bankrupt (or ‘goes bust’), the investor is only liable for the value of the shares even if the company’s debts run into millions.
If a limited company is guaranteed by shares (as opposed to limited by guarantee), it may be a private or public company. A private company limited by shares is denoted by Ltd; a public company limited by shares is denoted by PLC (or Plc) after its name. In a Plc, the shares are available to be purchased by the public.
Companies may also be classified according to whether they are public (ie owned by the state) or private.
Suffixes used in various countries to denote whether a company is public or private:
Country | Public limited company | Private limited company |
UK | PLC | Ltd |
France | S.A | s.a.r.l |
Germany | AG | GmbH |
Italy | S.p.A | s.r.l |
Spain | S.A | s.r.l |
Czech Rep | a.s | s.r.o |
Greece | S.A (AE in Greek) | EPE |
Hungary | Zrt | kft |
Romania | S.A | s.r.l |
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki
- Business.
- Business model.
- Cash flow.
- Consortium
- Investment.
- Joint venture.
- Leverage.
- Limited liability partnership.
- Limited company.
- Managing the procurement process.
- Organisation.
- Overheads.
- Partnering and joint ventures.
- Personal service company.
- Private sector.
- Relevant cost.
- Special purpose vehicles.
- Succession planning.
Featured articles and news
Myths and top tips.
CLC plans to ease impact of construction inflation.
BG 50 & VDI 2035 – your questions answered.
Types of domestic heating systems.
Will the way we heat homes change when winter comes ?
Extended reality in a post-pandemic world.
Can XR technology be leveraged in design & construction?
Or are you capping.
STEM ambassadors needed for ICE CityZen award.
Digital gaming competition for UK students aged 16 to 18.
Heritage protection in England vs Australia.
Fire doors and the Fire Door Inspection Scheme.
Three-quarters of fire doors fail inspections
UN International Day for Biological Diversity, May 22.
The role of geoparks, biospheres and world heritage sites.
BSRIA conference 2022, June 23.
Just one month to go ! Find out more here.
Restoring Broadbent’s Bath House
A new gallery for the University of Huddersfield.
Corruption in the construction industry.
What will it take to stop it ?
To celebrate world bee day 2022 !
Just one month until the changes to part L come into effect.
Not forgetting part F and the new part overheating part O.
Heat Pump demand rises by one quarter.
As energy prices jump up in cost.
With people in the UK from Ukraine.
Industry leader Steve Murray takes on role.
An abundant and versatile building material.
How overheating complicates ending gas in the UK.
600,000 heat pump installations targeted per year by 2028.
Cost planning, control and related articles on DB.
Helping prevent those unwanted outcomes.