Business sector lists
Information on business and industry sector mailing lists that can be ordered from the ICAEW Library & Information Service's company research services.
Information on business and industry sector mailing lists that can be ordered from the ICAEW Library & Information Service's company research services.
If you would like to discuss your requirements or make a request, please contact the enquiry team by phone on +44 (0)20 7920 8620 or by email at library@icaew.com and we will be pleased to help.
Data for our mailings lists is supplied by FAME, a company and financial database. It provides detailed company information, including addresses and contacts, on UK and Irish public and private companies.
FAME is updated daily and can be used to create mailing lists for a marketing strategy, to generate comparative lists of companies that you can use to benchmark an organisation or to obtain company reports. Please see the note below about addresses.
We provide reports free of charge to ICAEW members and ACA students. This service is not available to members of the public.
What information is in a mailing list?
We can produce mailing lists using a wide range of criteria, including business activity and Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code, providing listings for specific business or industrial sectors in specified counties, towns or postcode areas.
Depending on the data available, the following information may be given in our mailing lists:
- name of firm
- turnover
- contact name (first named director)
- telephone number
- registered office address
- trading address
- type of business.
The results will be sent to you in Excel format.
Important note about addresses
The only address available for many small companies is a registered office address, which in some cases may actually be the address of an agent (such as a firm of accountants). Additionally, in some instances where no trading address is available, the suppliers of the data may have assumed that the registered and trading addresses are the same including cases where this turns out to be that of an agent.
For this reason, the service we offer provides both the registered office address and a trading address for each company (matching the specified geographic area) to assist you in identifying any such instances, for instance where several unrelated companies have the same address in the list.
Our service is restricted to the information in the public domain and/or available through the database we use to produce the reports and the address data is the responsibility of the database provider. Please consider the information above in deciding whether a list will meet your requirements.
Search options
-
Business activity or SIC code
-
Using this option you can specify a business activity (e.g. brewery), words that may appear in the trade description (e.g. cask ales) or a specific UK SIC code/description (e.g. 11050 - Manufacture of beer).
How do I choose SIC codes?
SIC codes are used to group and classify business types and industry sectors and you can use them to produce more accurately targeted lists of relevant companies. You can browse or search the UK Standard Industrial Classification of Economic Activities 2007 (SIC 2007) or download the full classification (PDF 1.26mb/246 pages) is available from the Office for National Statistics. Please note that the FAME database currently uses UK SIC (2007) codes.
-
Location
-
The FAME database covers the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Using the option for location you can specify the area you would like to search - this can be a town, a postal area, a postcode range, a county, a country or the entire database.
-
Turnover
-
Using these optional fields you can specify a minimum and/or maximum turnover to help restrict the range of your search. If you do not need to restrict your search leave these fields empty.
-
Company ownership
-
The default option for our mailing lists excludes companies with a global ultimate owner (GUO) or domestic ultimate owner (DUO) to improve the chances of retrieving a list of independent companies (and substantially reduce the number of well-known high street chains that appear in your list where they have a trading address in your area of interest). However, this default setting may have the effect of excluding small groups.
Available options:
O1. Exclude all with a corporate GUO/DUO
This is the default option and will exclude all companies with a corporate global or domestic ultimate owner. If you select this option your list will still include companies where the ultimate owner is an individual, a family or an employee/manager/director.O2. Exclude all with a listed GUO/DUO
This will exclude any company with a publicly listed global or domestic ultimate owner. It will not exclude as many companies as the default option, but should ensure that unlisted groups remain in your list.O3. Include all with an ultimate owner
This will include all companies – whether they have an ultimate owner or not. -
Listed or unlisted
-
Our mailing lists include only unlisted companies, to improve the chances of retrieving a list of independent companies. However, if you would prefer to see only listed companies or a combination of both listed and unlisted companies please select the appropriate option from the dropdown menu.
Available options:
L1. Unlisted companies only
L2. Listed and unlisted companies
L3. Listed companies only -
Estimates
-
The rise in the audit thresholds for small and medium-sized enterprises and the subsequent increase in the number of companies filing abbreviated accounts means that little or no data is available for many smaller companies. It is still possible to search for companies below the audit threshold by using estimates of turnover, although only limited financial data will be available for these companies.
The estimated turnover is not included in your report as it is produced only for the purpose of the search strategy as an indicator of company size, not as an estimate for the purpose of financial analysis.
The searches we use to construct mailing lists are based on estimates. If you do not wish to use estimates you can specify this using the options in the form below.
Please note: If you choose not to use estimates you will exclude most companies below the audit threshold, including almost all small companies.
How can I customise my mailing list?
Mailing lists can be created using a variety of different criteria and it is possible to create a bespoke mailing list report using data from company accounts filed at UK Companies House. Please see our page on customising your mailing list for further information or contact our enquiry team by phone on +44 (0)20 7920 8620 or email us on library@icaew.com to discuss your requirements.