# UK Company Lookup: Profile, Directors, Owners & Filings (`best_actors/uk-company-lookup`) Actor

Look up any UK company on Companies House: status, industry, accounts and confirmation statement due dates, directors, owners (PSC), recent filings and charges. Also search companies by name and see every company a person is a director of.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/best_actors/uk-company-lookup.md
- **Developed by:** [Lewis O'Rorke](https://apify.com/best_actors) (community)
- **Features:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $20.00 / 1,000 company profiles

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## UK Company Lookup: Profile, Directors, Owners & Filings

**Look up any UK company on Companies House and get everything useful in one
row: status, industry, when accounts and the confirmation statement are due
(and whether they're overdue), the current directors and how many other
companies each runs, the owners (persons with significant control), recent
filings and outstanding charges. Also search companies by name, and see every
company a person is a director of.**

***

### Who it is for

- **Sales and lead-gen teams** qualifying a prospect before calling
- **Accountants and bookkeepers** checking deadlines for clients and prospects
- **Due diligence, KYC and credit checks** on suppliers, customers and partners
- **Journalists and researchers** mapping who runs what
- **AI agents** that need a reliable company lookup tool

***

### Three ways to use it

| Input | You get |
|---|---|
| **Company numbers** (e.g. `00445790`) | A full company profile per number |
| **Company names** (e.g. `acme plumbing`) | The best matches with their company numbers |
| **People's names** | Every company each matching person is or was an officer of |

#### A company profile includes

`company_name`, `status`, `company_type`, `incorporated_on`, `office_town`,
`office_postcode`, `sic_codes` with plain-English `industries`,
`accounts_last_made_up_to`, `accounts_next_due`, `accounts_overdue`,
`confirmation_statement_next_due`, `confirmation_statement_overdue`,
`officers` (name, role, appointed, occupation, nationality, country, and
`other_active_appointments`), `owners` (name, kind, nature of control),
`recent_filings` (last 10), `charges` (total and outstanding),
`has_insolvency_history`, `has_been_liquidated` and a Companies House link.

```json
{
  "companyNumbers": ["00445790"],
  "companyNames": ["acme plumbing"],
  "officerNames": ["Jane Smith"]
}
```

***

### Good to know

- Data comes live from the **official Companies House API**.
- **Privacy:** no dates of birth and no street addresses for people are
  returned. A company's registered office is shown as town and postcode only.
- Common names match several people: you choose how many to return.
- You're only charged for results: unknown numbers and empty searches are free.

# Actor input Schema

## `companyNumbers` (type: `array`):

e.g. 00445790 or SC123456. Returns a full profile for each.

## `companyNames` (type: `array`):

e.g. acme plumbing. Returns the best matches with their numbers.

## `officerNames` (type: `array`):

A person's name. Returns every company they are or were an officer of.

## `activeOnly` (type: `boolean`):

Skip dissolved companies in name search results.

## `maxResultsPerName` (type: `integer`):

You're charged per match returned.

## `maxPeoplePerName` (type: `integer`):

Common names match several people; you're charged per person returned.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "companyNumbers": [
    "00445790"
  ],
  "activeOnly": true,
  "maxResultsPerName": 10,
  "maxPeoplePerName": 3
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `companies` (type: `string`):

No description

## `officers` (type: `string`):

No description

## `all` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "companyNumbers": [
        "00445790"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("best_actors/uk-company-lookup").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "companyNumbers": ["00445790"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("best_actors/uk-company-lookup").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "companyNumbers": [
    "00445790"
  ]
}' |
apify call best_actors/uk-company-lookup --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,best_actors/uk-company-lookup"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/VKSCxuuQMPVMwKTeE/builds/9gKva7o9NDAHjOSeL/openapi.json