UK B2B prospecting glossary
The words behind UK lead generation, in plain English. Register terms, compliance terms, deliverability terms. 31 of them, updated July 2026.
SIC code
A 5-digit code that says what a UK company does. SIC is short for Standard Industrial Classification. Each company picks up to four SIC 2007 codes at incorporation. It can change them on any confirmation statement. Companies House does not check the choice. SIC codes are the main way to split the public record by industry.
SIC 2007 (SIC07)
The 2007 revision of the UK Standard Industrial Classification, still the version in force. SIC 2007, SIC07 and UK SIC all name the same list. It nests five tiers: section (a letter, A to U), division, group, class and the five-digit subclass a company actually files. Companies House accepts the condensed list of about 730 codes.
Companies House
The UK government's registrar of companies. Every limited company, LLP and PLC in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland sits on its public register. So do their filings, officers, registered address and status. The public record is public data. It is the base of UK B2B prospecting.
Company number (CRN)
The number Companies House gives a company at incorporation. It is usually 8 characters long. A company name can change. This number never does. So it is the safe key for matching UK company records and spotting doubles.
Incorporation date
The date a company was registered at Companies House. It is a strong buying signal. A new company needs an accountant, a bank, insurance and a website in its first few weeks. The public record publishes new incorporations every day.
Confirmation statement (CS01)
A yearly filing that confirms the details Companies House holds are correct. It is due within 14 days of the end of the company's 12-month review period. Filing late brings no automatic fine. But keep missing it and the company can be struck off and the director taken to court.
Annual accounts
The accounts every UK limited company must file with Companies House. They are normally due within 9 months of the accounting reference date. File late and the fine is automatic. It starts at £150 and rises to £1,500. It doubles if you are late two years running.
Accounting reference date (ARD)
The last day of a company's financial year. By default it is the last day of the month, one year after incorporation. Accounts are due 9 months after the ARD. That is what makes filing deadlines easy to predict and worth prospecting on.
Filing deadline
The date a company's accounts or confirmation statement must reach Companies House. A deadline that is close is a timing signal. It suits accountants and company secretarial services. A firm near its deadline is picking who does the work.
Active charge
A security a lender holds over a company's assets, such as a mortgage or debenture. It is recorded at Companies House. A company with an active charge has borrowed against what it owns. That is a useful signal for commercial finance brokers and refinancing services.
Company status (active vs dissolved)
The public record marks each company as active, dissolved, in liquidation or in administration. There are other states too. Only active companies are prospects. A dissolved company no longer exists in law. Status changes are signals as well. Strike-off often follows missed filings.
Strike-off
Removal of a company from the public record, after which it stops existing. Voluntary strike-off is the company applying to close itself. Compulsory strike-off is Companies House removing a company that stopped filing, and it starts with missed confirmation statements or accounts. A live strike-off notice is public, and it is one of the clearest closing-down signals the public record carries.
Registered office
A company's official address on the public record. Statutory post is served there. It is often an accountant's office or a formation agent, not the trading site. So targeting by this postcode alone can mislead. Cross-check it against the company's website.
Registered-office service (virtual office)
A paid service that supplies a compliant registered office address, so a company's official mail goes somewhere staffed while the business runs from anywhere. Lawful and very common: some London service addresses are the legal home of tens of thousands of companies. It is why a registered address says where paperwork goes, not where a company trades.
Person with significant control (PSC)
Someone who owns or controls more than 25% of a company's shares or votes. It also covers anyone else with significant control. The PSC register is public. It names the real decision-makers behind small companies.
Micro-entity / small company accounts
Size bands for filing accounts. Micro-entities and small companies may file cut-down accounts. So the band a company files under is a public clue to its size. A change of band between years is a growth signal, or a shrinking one.
Catch-all SIC code
A code ending in 'n.e.c.' (not elsewhere classified), such as 82990 or 74990. Companies pick one when nothing else fits. Lists built on catch-all codes are noisy and mixed. So they need extra checks before you write to anyone.
Open Government Licence (OGL)
The licence covering most UK public-sector data, including the Companies House register. It allows free reuse, including commercial reuse, on one condition: attribute the source. It is why register data can power products and statistics, and why every Leadistry page that shows register figures carries the attribution line.
Basic Company Data snapshot
The free file Companies House publishes monthly with every live company on the public record: name, number, registered office, status, incorporation date and SIC codes. It is the raw material behind bulk register analysis, including our formation statistics, and the honest caveat that comes with it: it lists companies alive today, so long-ago months undercount by the companies that have since dissolved.
Website quality grade
A grade Leadistry gives every verified company website. We fetch the site and check the HTML. We look at mobile layout, HTTPS, page count, stale copyright lines and old site builders. Sites come back modern, dated or poor. Filter to dated or poor and you get prime prospects for web designers and marketing agencies. Every lead still arrives with a verified business email.
Buying signal
A dated, public event that says a company is about to need something. It could be an incorporation, a filing deadline coming up, a new charge or a change of size band. Outreach built on signals beats cold lists. The timing gives you the reason to write.
Legitimate interest (UK GDPR Article 6(1)(f))
The lawful basis most B2B prospecting uses. You can process data if a real business need is not outweighed by the person's rights. The ICO sets a three-part test for this. Write your answers down. Give an easy opt-out. You do not need consent.
PECR
The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations. These are the UK rules for marketing by email, phone and text. PECR lets you email corporate subscribers with no prior consent. That means limited companies and LLPs. You must say who you are. You must honour every opt-out. PECR bans cold marketing calls to TPS-registered numbers.
TPS (Telephone Preference Service)
The UK's official do-not-call register. Under PECR, a cold marketing call to a TPS-registered number is unlawful. That is why lawful UK prospecting is email-first. It is also why we never sell phone numbers.
Corporate subscriber
PECR's word for a subscriber that is a company, not a person. Email to a corporate subscriber's addresses falls under PECR's B2B rules. That includes a named employee's work address. Consumers and sole traders get the stricter consent rules instead.
Email verification
Checking that an address can really take mail before you send. We check the format. We look up the DNS MX record. Where we can, we ask the mailbox itself over SMTP. Keep bounces under 2 to 3 percent. That protects your sender name and your inbox placement.
SPF, DKIM and DMARC
The three DNS records that prove your email is really yours. SPF lists the servers that may send for a domain. DKIM signs each message. DMARC says what to do with mail that fails both. Mailbox providers now expect bulk senders to pass all three.
Mailbox warm-up
Raising how much you send from a new mailbox or domain, slowly. A few emails on day one, then more each week. Providers learn the sender is real. Skip warm-up and your cold email lands in spam fast.
Pipeline
Leadistry's canvas for a whole lead journey. Three source boxes feed it: Search, Signals and the Browser extension. You can paste leads in by hand too. Leads move through enrich and verify steps. Then email steps send from your own mailbox. A two-minute chat with your AI lead-gen employee can build one. Or you can build it by hand. Drafts only. Nothing sends until you say so.
Flow (legacy term)
The old name for Leadistry's canvas. It is now part of Pipelines. Same canvas, plus the Search, Signals and Browser source boxes. An AI can build the whole journey from a short chat.
Delivered lead
Leadistry's billing unit. One credit buys one lead. A lead is a UK company from the Companies House register. It comes with the director's name, a verified website and a verified business email, every time. LinkedIn and socials are add-ons at 1 credit each, up to 5. A failed lookup never counts and never charges. That is the real difference from paying per seat.
See also: SIC codes · FAQ · How we compare · Data sources
The public record is public data. It is the base of UK B2B prospecting.