Starting a parent company

[$aluki]

Hello,

So this post isn't going to be anything giant but it will be a bit of a help request which will hopefully get me set up.

Basically, I want to set up a parent company corporation that would not do anything major on itself but would be able to create and buy/sell subsidiaries quite easily whenever it wanted. These subsidiaries could be destroyed (in some way) or disconnected from the parent if they ever got out of control. To start off with they would just be part of a big project for me to find out how everything works , so nothing majorly profitable - at least to start off with. If this seems like something I could do well or as a hobby then I might adapt this into something that could become profitable.

The main question:
How could I set something like this up in the UK?

I will be around to answer questions if that isn't specific enough.

Thanks in advance,
$aluki

 

[Mr D]

Multiple companies the costs can add up. Its not that uncommon within a group to have one company own the property - renting it to another company in the group - and one company doing some service work perhaps, transporting maybe.

It can be made to work - more of a headache for one person running things than one company doing everything though if different staff / directors in charge of different companies within the group it appears it can work pretty well. Have a look at some group companies and see how they interconnect.

Not sure how something would get out of control unless you let it, commonly you buy, create or retain sufficient shares to control. Though of course a company that cannot pay its bills becomes insolvent.

 

[$aluki]

Multiple companies the costs can add up. Its not that uncommon within a group to have one company own the property - renting it to another company in the group - and one company doing some service work perhaps, transporting maybe.

It can be made to work - more of a headache for one person running things than one company doing everything though if different staff / directors in charge of different companies within the group it appears it can work pretty well. Have a look at some group companies and see how they interconnect.

Not sure how something would get out of control unless you let it, commonly you buy, create or retain sufficient shares to control. Though of course a company that cannot pay its bills becomes insolvent.

Alright thanks. Any ideas on how I can actually make my company legal and then manage it correctly?

 

[Scalloway]

You can register a company with Companies House very easily. More information on running a company here.

https://www.gov.uk/running-a-limited-company

 

[$aluki]

Thanks for the replies!

Further questions:


- Do parent companies have to be set up differently to a normal limited companies?

- What's the best way to manage subsidiaries?

- Is it worth paying an agent to set up a company or is it better value to use the government company house system? (Example of an agent: Quality Company Formations)

I really appreciate the fact that you guys are taking the time to help me out now , it's really nice.

 

[Mark T Jones]

The fact that you are asking these questions suggests that you are far from ready to go into buying/selling/running businesses.

 

[$aluki]

I am aware , and am not planning on actually running a profitable business for a few years yet , just trying to find out how everything works so that I can run one in the future.

 

[Mark T Jones]

Setting up a company is very easy indeed, until you have specific personal requirements on structure, shares etc you might as well just do it directly with Companies House

You need to keep it compliant by filing accounts and returns annually in the allotted time

 

[$aluki]

Setting up a company is very easy indeed, until you have specific personal requirements on structure, shares etc you might as well just do it directly with Companies House

You need to keep it compliant by filing accounts and returns annually in the allotted time

Alright. I've found the application to become a limited company there , is that what I should use to do this or is there something else you think I should do?

And do you think that something like this would be better?:
Image blocked - not enough posts :/ (ignore for now or check Quality Company Formations plans)

Thanks again,
$aluki

 

[Mark T Jones]

is there something else you think I should do?

$aluki

I think you should have some kind of plan before you bother registering a company - it takes a few minutes and is the easy part.

 

[$aluki]

OK. I'll come up with something , thanks.