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What is a public limited company?
A company limited by shares whose name ends in "public limited company" or "plc", which is permitted to offer its shares to the public, and which has to hold at least £50,000 of allotted share capital to do business at all. It is a legal form on the Companies House register. It is not a stock market listing, and most public limited companies are not listed anywhere.
The requirements, with the sections they come from
All of these are in the Companies Act 2006. Each row links to the section itself, so you can check rather than trust.
| Requirement | What it means | Section |
|---|---|---|
| Share capital | At least £50,000 of allotted share capital, or the prescribed euro equivalent. This is the "authorised minimum". | s.763 |
| Paid up | Each share must be paid up to at least one quarter of its nominal value, plus the whole of any premium. So at least £12,500 has to be real money, not a promise. | s.586 |
| Trading certificate | A company incorporated as a PLC must not do business or exercise borrowing powers until the registrar issues it a trading certificate confirming the minimum capital. | s.761 |
| Directors | At least two. A private company needs only one. | s.154 |
| Company secretary | Required. A private company has not needed one since 2008. | s.271 |
| Filing accounts | Six months after the accounting reference date, against nine months for a private company. | s.442 |
| Annual general meeting | Must be held within the six months following the accounting reference date. | s.336 |
There is one more that does not fit in a table. A public limited company cannot use the small companies audit exemption (s.478), so it is audited every year whatever its size. For a business with a turnover of a few hundred thousand pounds that is a real annual cost attached to a form it may have taken for the name.
PLC and Ltd, side by side
| Private limited (Ltd) | Public limited (plc) | |
|---|---|---|
| Offer shares to the public | Prohibited | Permitted |
| Minimum allotted capital | None | £50,000 |
| Directors | One | Two |
| Company secretary | Not required | Required |
| Can trade from day one | Yes | Not until the trading certificate is issued |
| Accounts filing deadline | Nine months | Six months |
| AGM | Not required | Required |
| Small company audit exemption | Available | Not available |
Should you become one?
Almost certainly not, and it is worth saying plainly because most of what is written about this subject is written by people who are paid when you incorporate.
The form exists to let a company raise capital from the public. If you are not doing that, you are buying the obligations without the reason for them: a second director, a secretary, £12,500 of capital actually paid in, a mandatory audit, three months less to prepare accounts and an AGM to hold. The usual honest answer is a private limited company, and a re-registration later if you ever do raise publicly, which the Act provides for.
The market appears to agree. 152 public limited companies were incorporated in the whole of 2024-25, down from 406 a decade earlier, and the number on the register has fallen every year for ten years. Of the 4,506 that remain, 713 are in liquidation, administration or facing strike off.
Where the "plc" in a name can mislead. The suffix is sometimes read as a mark of size or of being publicly traded. It is neither. It says the company has at least £50,000 of allotted capital and is allowed to offer shares publicly. Whether it ever did, and whether it is solvent today, are separate questions, and the register answers both.
Common questions
Is a PLC the same as a listed company?
No. Listing is admission to trading on an exchange, with its own rules and its own regulator. Every listed British company is a PLC; the reverse is nowhere near true.
Can a PLC be owned by one person?
There is no minimum number of shareholders for a public company. There is a minimum of two directors, and the capital requirement still applies.
Can a private company become a PLC later?
Yes. The Companies Act provides for re-registration, subject to meeting the capital requirement and passing a special resolution. It is the usual route: incorporate privately, re-register if and when you raise publicly.
Do the shares of every PLC trade?
No, and this is the most common misreading of the form. A public limited company may offer shares to the public. Many never have.
This page describes the law as it stands in the Companies Act 2006 and links to the sections. It is general information, not legal or financial advice, and it is not a substitute for advice on your own circumstances.