Finance: Company Information

During your course, you may need to find out information about companies.  This guide will help you to find some of the key resources to use, but please do ask us for help if you need to!  The type of things you might want to find out include:

• Company details - where they are, what they do, who the directors are?  What is the structure of the company (e.g. parent companies, subsidiary companies)
• Financial data - is the company making a profit?  What is their turnover?  Where is their most recent annual report and accounts
• Industry analysis - how does the company compare to its peers?  Who are the competitors?  What is the market like for this industry?

For a quick search you can often start by looking at the company's website.  They may provide their report & accounts, press releases and some key personnel information.  All companies vary as to how much information they provide on their websites, and sometimes you might need to look at a company's parent to find anything useful.

We have lots of useful databases that provide a huge amount of current and historical data & analysis for companies.  Have a look below.

Your key financial databases

Company websites
Company websites are good places to start for financial information on a specific company. 

• You can find their annual reports via links called "Investor Relations", "Company Information" or "About Us"
• You might need to look for the Holding Company website to find the annual report section

Public Register Online
Create a user profile to view over 5,000 online annual reports or 10-K presentations. Your name and address may be forwarded to the company you review. The company may choose to send you additional financial information. Please read their privacy policy.

Annual Reports.co.uk
A free Service allowing users to review an annual report in an easy and convenient manner. Boasting the most complete and up-to-date listings of annual reports on the internet, AnnualReports.co.uk provides instant access to annual reports in their actual format in one single location.