A name is the 'same as' another name appearing on the index of company names if it is either identical to an existing name or would be deemed to be essentially the same because the name differs only by minor elements which the law requires us to disregard when comparing the two names. For example, Companies House would disregard plurals or certain types of punctuation marks when comparing names.
Examples of what Companies Registrar will disregard or ignore when comparing names are: -
In addition, Companies House will treat certain words and expressions as if they were the same, for example, "and" and "&", "plus" and "+", "1" and "one", "6" and "six", "€" and "euro", "$" and "dollar", "%" and "percent", "@" and "at".
Please note, the "same as" rules do not prevent someone else trading under a name that is the same as a company's registered name in all respects excepting only the designator (e.g. "ltd).
Yes. Where two companies are in the same group, they may have names that differ only by certain specified words and expressions (such as "biz", "co", co uk", "co.uk", "com", "company", "UK", "United Kingdom", "Wales", "Cymru", "net", "GB", "Great Britain", "org.uk", "services" and "international"). This is permitted only if the member of the group whose name is already on the registrar's Index of company names gives its consent to the other company adopting the name that differs from its own in this way. The application for the proposed name must include a copy of a statement in which the existing company consents to the other company adopting the proposed name and confirms it will be part of the same group.
If 'Hands Limited' is already registered Companies Registrar would reject the following applications: -
Similarly, if 'Catering Limited' is already a registered company Companies House would reject the following applications unless the application is for a company in the same group as "Catering Limited" and Catering Limited has given its consent: -