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Our operating address definition has changed. In our June 2026 release, a location can now be both a registered office and an operating address — companies that operate from their registered office are no longer excluded. We’ve also introduced a data-driven blacklist to filter virtual offices and formation agents, with exemptions for companies with website evidence of genuine presence.

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Where location data comes from

Our location data comes from three sources:
  • Companies House (registered address)
  • Company websites
  • Creditsafe (external provider)

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Companies House

For the overwhelming majority of companies, a registered address is provided via Companies House. We use this postcode as the registered address. Companies are required to keep their own addresses up-to-date.

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Company websites

We extract additional postcodes from the text on company websites. We only look for postcodes on specific pages that are likely to contain correct location information, such as www.example.com/locations. The postcodes extracted from websites must match a standard UK postcode format. We then validate these against the ONS Postcode Directory.

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Creditsafe

We use additional postcodes provided by Creditsafe. Creditsafe use an external provider for trading addresses.

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Operating addresses

A location is classified as an operating address when there is evidence that a company conducts business from that site, as opposed to it being purely a registered office or correspondence address. A single location can be both the registered office and an operating address. Many companies, particularly SMEs, operate out of their registered office. Our system recognises this and does not exclude a location simply because it is also the registered address.

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How we filter non-genuine operating addresses

Some postcodes, particularly those associated with virtual offices, serviced address providers, and professional formation agents, contain an unusually high number of registered companies. To prevent these from appearing as genuine operating locations, we apply a blacklisting rule. A postcode is a candidate for blacklisting if it is an operating address and meets one of the following criteria:
  • High density: The postcode falls within the top 0.5% by registered company frequency.
  • Professional services: The postcode is flagged by Creditsafe as associated with solicitors or accountants, and the company’s SIC code matches a relevant professional services classification.

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Exemptions

Even if a postcode is blacklisted, an operating address is retained if:
  • Website evidence: The company explicitly lists the address on its own website.
  • SIC self-evidence: The company is itself a solicitor or accountant operating from its registered office.
For the most extreme outlier postcodes, website evidence alone is not sufficient to override the blacklist — the address must also be the company’s registered office.

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Important notes

If multiple companies are matched to the same website, they will have the same postcodes extracted from that website. A registered address is not necessarily the location of a company’s head office — but it can be, and our system now correctly identifies these cases.
Last modified on June 1, 2026