Company Information for Business

• BBC
  A source of news on companies and business trends.
  
  
• Corporate Information
  This is a subscription site but basic information is available for major companies.

• British Library
  Links to their business collections, catalogue and specialist Business & IP centre.
  
  
• EDGAR
  This database contains the electronic filings of US public companies to the Securities and Exchange Commission. There is a quick EDGAR tutorial to get users started.
  
  
• Financial Times
  Their annual reports service is free. Search for companies by name or by sector and request reports online. An alerting service is also provided to notify users when a new report is issued.
  
  
• Individual Companies & Products
  Cass business school guide on where to find information on individual companies or products.
  
  
• Intute Business
  Provides a selection of useful free access site and includes a section on Company information.
  
  
• Northcote
  This site enables you to link to financial results published by listed companies and links to annual reports on the internet.

• BT
  Online version of the telephone book for business or residential.
  
  
• Kellysearch
  Basic contact details and weblinks.
  
  
• Kompass
  Basic contact details and weblinks. Free to join.
  
  
• Legal information
  
  
• Online Directories
  
  
• Yellow Pages

• Business Link (UK)

• Europa
  A portal for european SMEs.

Advice for businesses in the UK on Mergers & Acquisitions is provided by Business Link.

• Competition Commission
  UK mergers are regulated by these, which replaced the Monopolies and Mergers Commission in 1999. The website includes an archive of inquiry reports since 1950.
  
  
• Directorate-General
  In the European Union the European Commission's directorate-genaral, is responsible for approving or rejecting mergers between large companies.
  
  
• Nexis UK
  (formerly LexisNexis (Business and News) - is a global database containing news, business and industry information. It holds a wide range of company information, including Mergers and Acquisitions Journal and Mergers and Acquisitions Reports. Access via the library catalogue link; select Companies from the Search tab and click on Mergers & Acquisitions under Company searches in the top right-hand corner.
  
  
• The Office for National Statistics (ONS)
  Collects statistics on UK companies.
  
  
• A limited amount of M&A information is available from Datamonitor (via Business Source Complete), GMID and Orbis databases.

This is the definition given on the BERR (formerly DTI's) Better Business Framework site which includes useful sections on corporate governance and corporate governance research, as well as covering all aspects of company law.

The regulation of corporate behaviour and company law is largely carried out within the framework of the European Union's Internal Market and a major source of information is the European Commission (DG Internal Market) site.

This contains the text of all EU law and proposals for legislation as well as important documents including a Comparative Study of Corporate Governance Codes relevant to the European Union and its Member States (under the heading Other documents).

In the UK corporate governance is regulated by

• legislation, particularly the Companies Act 2006,
• listing rules for listed companies maintained by the Financial Services Authority
• the Financial Reporting Council's Combined Code on Corporate Governance 2003
• the Combined Code was reviewed in 2007

Useful sites for further research include:

• The Corporate Library
  
  
• Corporate Governance
  
  
• European Corporate Governance Institute
  This is an international discussion forum of academics, practitioners and business people which publishes extensively on corporate governance. the ECGI working papers in finance and law are available free from the site or from the Social Sciences Research Network (SSRN).
  
  
• Corporate governance research on the free web: a selected annotated guide by Sophie Bury and Richard Blanc was published in Reference Services Review Volume 35, Number 3, 2007 , pp. 497-514(18). Available via library catalogue.

• Europa
  Europa's site has all EU policy documents, including the 2001 Green paper.
  
  
• CSREurope is the leading European business network.