• Biz/ed - This "primary provider of Internet-based learning materials for the economics and business education community" offers financial data on 38 U.K. companies.
• BritishExporters - Website database of over 18,500 verified UK Exporters. Includes 2,500 catalogue pages. CD-ROM database of 1.1 million UK companies. (Registration is required.)
• Business Environment - Brief overview from UK Trade and Investment Services.
• Carol - This site offers annual reports free of charge. (Registration is required.)
• Corporate Reports - [Fee-based] service that claims to be "the definitive site for UK Company Annual Reports and Accounts."
• FT.com - Website for one of the premier financial newspapers in the world (Financial Times). Much of the data provided is free but many of the articles and reports require a subscription to FT.com.
• FT500 - From Financial Times, the 2006 list of the top 500 companies in the UK based on market capitalization. (Requires Adobe Acrobat.)
• Hemscott - Information on publicly-traded British companies. Information provided includes address, sales, profit, business lines, officers and excerpts from annual reports. (Registration is required.)
• InvestEgate - Claims to be "the most comprehensive online source of announcements from UK quoted companies, allowing you to view all regulatory and other published information in one place."
• London Stock Exchange - Website for the London Stock Exchange. Provides free market data and [fee-based] company profiles.
• Merger & Acquisition Headlines - This page contains a long list of one or two-lined synopses of recent British acquisitions. This is a good place to go if you need to find out what acquisitions a British firm has recently undertaken.
• MoneyExtra - Market data, company annual reports and business news is provided free of charge on this comprehensive website.
• Northcote - Links directly to the section of a company's home page where you can get financial information, so this site carries no data itself (well, they do have SEDOL numbers): just links. I normally don't link sites like this, but they've done a pretty good job: you can search, and they also have alphabetical and sector indices.
• TrustNet - This company's "service is aimed at private investors and Independent Financial Advisers and covers UK collective investment funds. They offer completely free access." Price and performance data is provided daily for all funds, where available (sourced from Financial Express and Thomson Financial Datastream). Fund profile pages are filled with information collected and collated directly from fund management companies by TrustNet's own Data Team. News feeds are supplied by Incisive Media.
• UK Company News - Has a variety of features, including information about IPOs in the UK (most IPOs are listed on the Alternative Investment Market, or AIM). They also have information about upcoming IPOs (name, sector, estimated value, sponsor, date, method of issue). The Alternative Market Review contains news about some smaller companies on AIM. This site also has summary information about some of the larger British firms.
• Yahoo Finance - Yahoo now offers quotes for all UK stocks, including bid, ask, open, close and volume. It also offers a profile of the company.

Regional Sites
• eBusinessDirectories - Website provides online access to numerous Local Authority business directories.
• Made in Cumbria - Profiles (brief) of manufacturers in the Cumbria region.
• Manchester Company Database - Database of 1600 companies in and around Manchester: name, address, phone, fax, contact, activity, turnover, parent company, year established, and registration number.
• Northern Ireland's Top 100 Companies - Provided by the Belfast Telegraph, this page provides the address, sales, profit, number of employees, General Manager and a description of the activities for each of the top 100 in Northern Ireland.
• Ulster Business Top 100 - Another page with the top 100 in Northern Ireland, but this list seems to have little resemblance to the list at the abovementioned site. This site provides the address, number of employees, date founded, turnover and pre-tax profits, and ownership information.

Sidebar
• Daily USD/GBP 1971-1989 - Data provided by the Federal Reserve.
• Daily USD/GBP 1990-1999 - Data provided by the Federal Reserve.
• Daily USD/GBP 2000-August, 2006 - Data provided by the Federal Reserve.
• FAO Brief - Country profile by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (Adobe Acrobat Required.)
• FTSE 100 Index Quote - Data provided by Yahoo Finance.
• International Comparison of R&D Expenditures - Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.
• Key Performance Indicators - The Department of Trade and Investment provides economic data for the manufacturing sector.
• Owens OnLine Reports - Numerous [Fee-based] business and government reports.
• Rates and Bonds - Yield curve information provided by Bloomberg Marketdata.
• TradePort Country Data - Information provided by World Trade Press.
• U.K. Law Links - Website for LawMoose World Legal Resource Center.
• US State Department - Background Note: United Kingdom - Profile provided by the Bureau of Public Affairs division.

Useful Information
• GAAP 2000: UK Financial Reporting and Accounting - [Book -- Amazon]. Details of the accounting standards in use in the United Kingdom. The main stock market indicator in the UK is the FTSE 100 index, which is short for the Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index. As its name implies, there are 100 companies in the index, which are weighted according to their market capitalisation. The basis for this index is 1,000, for December 31, 1983. This index was established by the Financial Times, the London Stock Exchange and the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries. A list of the companies in the index is available
• Office of National Statistics: 2005 Year Book - The definitive overview of the United Kingdom in text, tables, charts, maps and (in the hardcopy version) colour photographs. The latest edition covers government, international relations, defence, education and training, the labour market, social protection, health, crime and justice, religion, culture, communications and the media, sport, environment, housing, planning and regeneration, transport, the economy, public finance, international trade and investment, science, engineering and technology, agriculture, fishing and forestry, manufacturing and construction, energy and natural resources, and financial services. Information on England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland is included throughout, and in separate introductory chapters. (Adobe Acrobat Required)
• Trade Association Forum - Directory of Trade Associations in the UK.

Other Industry Research Links for United Kingdom
• Advertising • Aerospace • Apparel • Automotive • Chemicals • Computers • Construction • Electrical • Electronics • Energy • Financial • Food • Furniture • Glass • Health • Machinery • Media • Metal • Paper • Railroads • Recreation • Restaurants • Retail • Rubber • Services • Shipping • Steel • Telecommunications • Tobacco • Trucking •

General Industry Research Links for Other Countries
• Argentina • Australia • Austria • Bahrain • Belgium • Bermuda • Br. Virgin Islands • Brazil • Canada • Cayman Islands • Chile • China • Colombia • Czech Republic • Denmark • Egypt • Finland • France • Germany • Greece • Hong Kong • Hungary • Iceland • India • Indonesia • Ireland • Israel • Italy • Japan • Jordan • Korea (South) • Luxembourg • Malaysia • Mexico • Morocco • Netherlands • New Zealand • Norway • Pakistan • Peru • Philippines • Poland • Portugal • Russian Federation • Saudi Arabia • Singapore • Slovakia • Slovenia • South Africa • Spain • Sri Lanka • Sweden • Switzerland • Taiwan • Thailand • Turkey • United States • Venezuela • Zimbabwe •