agents.research-company·version 1.0.0·draft2 to verify
Research any European company
A dossier exists with verified registry identity, ownership, financial signals, risk flags and a confidence statement — every fact traceable to a source and a date.
When to use
Someone needs to know who a company really is before the company acts on it. Not for monitoring a company already in the registry watch — use company.registry-watch, which fires on changes instead of answering once. Not for checking whether a specific claim about a company is true — use agents.verify-claim, which starts from the claim, not the company.
Before you start
- The question is written down: "can we sell to them", "can they pay us", "who is behind them". A dossier
- The identifier is pinned in S1 before anything else is gathered.
- Paid extracts or credit reports cost money — they happen only after the approval in S7 if needed.
What a run requires1
- Approval · S7 · ownerthe run stops until a named person records the decision
Any step can wait until a date and reopens by itself; every closed step leaves evidence (a note, a link, a number).
The trail8 steps
Pin the identityagent
Search the company register of the country the company claims to be in. Match on registration number, not name.
Done when the dossier has one record: full legal name, registration number, country, legal form, status (active / liquidating / struck off), registered address and the date the register shows.
⛔ Two companies with the same name in one country is common. If the number cannot be confirmed, stop and ask the owner — do not pick the best-looking match.
Record the registry factsagent
From the same register: incorporation date, board members and their roles, share capital where published, filing history (last annual report filed).
Done when each fact has the register and the date it was read. ⚠ verify which fields a country's register publishes free of charge and which need a paid extract — check the register's own price list, never quote a fee from memory.
Check VAT and cross-border statusagent
If the company claims an EU VAT number, check it in VIES and record the result with the date.
Done when the dossier says valid / invalid / not checked, with the date.
Trace ownershipagent
Follow the register to the owners; if the country publishes beneficial owners, read them there.
Done when the dossier lists owners and, where published, beneficial owners — or states plainly "not published in this register" and what was tried.
⛔ An aggregator's ownership graph is a hint, not a source. Every named person or company needs the register that shows it.
Pull financial signalsagent
Read the filed annual reports the register offers: revenue, profit/loss, equity, filing lateness.
Done when the dossier has 2–3 years of the key figures as filed, or a note that nothing is filed yet (new company) or that filing is not public in that country. ⚠ verify which company sizes file publicly in the target country — thresholds differ per country; check the register or the country's accounting rules before claiming "they hide their numbers".
Run the risk flagsagent
Check: insolvency or liquidation entries in the register; the company and its owners in EU and national sanctions lists; adverse news from at least two independent sources; domain and website sanity (does the site match the legal name, is it recently registered).
Done when each flag is marked clear / found / not checkable, with what was searched and when.
⛔ "No news found" is only a result if the searches are named. Silent gaps are not clear flags.
Decide the depth and the audienceownerneeds approval · owner
Approval · S7 · owner — the run stops until a named person records the decision
Present the dossier so far with the confidence statement. The owner decides: is this enough, is a paid registry extract or credit report needed, and who outside the company may see it.
Done when the owner has answered all three in writing in the dossier.
⛔ The agent never buys a paid report, contacts the target company, or sends the dossier to anyone outside the company without this step.
Finish and fileagent
If approved, order the paid extract, merge it in, and complete the dossier. Link it to the decision it serves (offer, contract, deal record).
Done when the dossier is filed in company-intel, linked, and the requester has received a summary of five lines or fewer: who they are, who owns them, can they pay, risk flags, confidence.
Checks — how we know it worked
- Registration number in the dossier matches the register, read back on the day of the run.
- Every fact carries a source and a date; no fact carries only an aggregator link.
- The confidence statement distinguishes verified / single-source / missing — in those words.
- The dossier answers the question written before S1, not just "information about the company".
If it goes wrong
| Symptom | Response |
|---|---|
| Two companies match the name | Stop in S1, ask the owner for a discriminator (address, number, industry); never research both and average. |
| Register shows liquidation or struck off | Record it as the headline, not a footnote; the research question is probably answered. |
| Ownership disappears into a foreign holding | Record the last visible layer and the country; note "needs S7 decision on paid extract" rather than guessing. |
| Financials not public in that country | Say so with the rule checked; do not fill the gap with aggregator estimates. |
| Sanctions or adverse-media flag found | Do not send anything outside the company; surface it to the owner in S7 and record the source. |
What each step leaves behind
- S1the dossier has one record: full legal name, registration number, country, legal form, status (active / liquidating / struck off), registered address and the date the register shows.
- S2each fact has the register and the date it was read. ⚠ verify which fields a country's register publishes free of charge and which need a paid extract — check the register's own price list, never quote a fee from memory.
- S3the dossier says valid / invalid / not checked, with the date.
- S4the dossier lists owners and, where published, beneficial owners — or states plainly "not published in this register" and what was tried.
- S5the dossier has 2–3 years of the key figures as filed, or a note that nothing is filed yet (new company) or that filing is not public in that country. ⚠ verify which company sizes file publicly in the target country — thresholds differ per country; check the register or the country's accounting rules before claiming "they hide their numbers".
- S6each flag is marked clear / found / not checkable, with what was searched and when.
- S7the owner has answered all three in writing in the dossier.
- S8the dossier is filed in company-intel, linked, and the requester has received a summary of five lines or fewer: who they are, who owns them, can they pay, risk flags, confidence.
Evidence to keep
The pinned register record with its read date · VIES result and date · ownership chain with the register for each link · financial figures as filed, with report year · flag searches named with dates · the owner's S7 decision · any paid extract ordered and its invoice id.
How this playbook improves
After every 10 runs ask: how often was the identity in S1 wrong or ambiguous, and did that ever reach S4 before being caught? Which facts later turned out wrong, and were they single-source? Did any dossier need a paid extract, and would a cheaper earlier check have settled the question? A new version changes the step that produced the wrong or unsourced fact, and says so in its change note.
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