Foreign Company Research
There are several points to remember when researching
foreign companies. The first is that American sources
will not necessarily contain as complete information
on foreign companies as material produced locally in
individual countries. Second, information on
non-American companies may be limited for several
reasons: the information expectations regarding
company information in other countries may not be the
same as they are in the US; it may be harder to
gather the information, or publications may not be
printed with the same frequency as they are in the
US.
If a foreign company trades on any of the US
exchanges, it will have to file an annual report
(20F) with the
Securities and Exchange Commission. Also, it may
have divisions in the US that are companies in their
own right so they will be required to file the same
filings as other US public companies. Sometimes these
will be on the SEC page and sometimes they won't
since 20Fs were not required to be filed
electronically.
For more information on researching foreign
companies, you may consult the following source:
How to Find Information About
Foreign and Global Companies. Washington, DC:
Washington Researchers, c1996-.
LC Call Number: HD2771.H69
LC Control Number: 96648284
Catalog record
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Doing Company Research
Table of Contents
Scope
Directories
Rankings/Lists
Private Company Research
Public Company
Research
Foreign Company
Research
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There are many, many print directories published on
individual countries by many different publishers,
including several publishers that publish multiple
products. Searching a local collection by subject may
be the easiest way the access them locally. Here are
a few LC subject headings that may be used to locate
directories in the collections of the Library of
Congress:
Industries - Country name - Directories
for example:
Industries - Canada - Directories
Country name - Commerce - Directories
for example:
Argentina - Commerce - Directories
Export - Country name - Directories
for example:
Export - Japan - Directories
Import - Country name - Directories
for example:
Import - France- Directories
Kompass.
Their main web page has some free information
but the bulk is accessible only with a subscription. Here
is information and a list
of their directories by country.
Thompson/Gale (old Graham & Whiteside).
Various geographies:
Major Companies of the Far East and Asia.
LC Call Number: HG4244.6.M35
LC Control Number: 86642962
Catalog
record
Major Companies of Europe.
LC Call Number: HC241.2.P667
LC Control Number: 82645901
Catalog
record
Major Companies of the Arab world.
LC Call Number: HF3866.M3
LC Control Number: 78643090
Catalog
record
Major Companies of East Europe and the Commonwealth
of Independent States.
LC Call Number: HF5154.7.A3 M35
LC Control Number: sn 97044044
Catalog
record
Major Companies of Latin America and the Caribbean
LC Call Number: HG4091.5.Z65 M34
LC Control Number: 99111835
Catalog
record
Dun & Bradstreet.
This is a list of what the Library of Congress
has in it's collection.
Some of the names may have changed. D&B reports are
available on foreign companies. However, while the reports
for US companies run around $100, foreign reports can be
double or triple the cost and still not have the depth of
information that is in a report for a US company.
Who Owns Whom. High Wycombe Bucks, [England]
: Dun & Bradstreet Ltd.
(various Call Numbers for various geographies:
Continental Europe, UK/Ireland, and North/South America,
Australasia, Asia, Middle East & Africa)
Directory of Foreign Firms Operating in the US.
New York, N.Y. : Simon & Schuster, Technical and Reference
Book Division, 1969-.
LC Call Number: HG4057.A21943
LC Control Number: 86657540
Catalog
record
Directory of Foreign Investment in the US. Real
Estate and Business. Detroit, MI : Gale Research
Inc., c1991-c1993.
LC Call Number: HG4057.A21944
LC Control Number: 91656076
Catalog
record
Directory of American Firms Operating in Foreign
Countries. New York, Uniworld Business Publications,
[etc.], 1955/56-.
LC Call Number: HG4538.A1
LC Control Number: 55039067
Catalog
record
Moody's (Mergent) International Manual.
Moody's Investors Service. New York : The Service, c1981-.
LC Call Number: HG4009 .M66
LC Control Number: 82641212
Catalog
record
Ward's Business Directory of Private and Public
Companies in Canada and Mexico. Detroit, MI : Gale,
c2003-.
LC Call Number: HF5074.W37
LC Control Number: 2002214749
Catalog
record
F&S Index Europe Annual. Foster City,
Calif., U.S.A. : The Company, c1994-.
LC Call Number: Z7165.E8 P73
LC Control Number: 94657030
Information Access Company. Also known as Funk
and Scott and Predicasts. Goes back to the 1960's.
Catalog
record
F&S Index International Annual. Foster
City, Calif., U.S.A. : The Company, c1994-.
LC Call Number: Z7164.C81 F13
LC Control Number: 94657010
Information Access Company. Also known as Funk
and Scott and Predicasts. Goes back to the 1960's.
Catalog
record
Portals.
Country portals like Yahoo! have finance areas
like the Yahoo! US finance
area. For example the Yahoo! for the UK/Ireland,
Canada, and Australia/New
Zealand all have finance sections that allow for company
research. Generally, these sites are limited to information
on public companies. Not all Yahoo! portals have a finance
section but other country-specific portals may have similar
types of information will likely vary from country to country
and portal to portal.
PUBLIC FILINGS
Requirements for filings in countries other than the US
are quite different from what companies filing in the US
are required to file. Getting the filings for other countries
may not as easy as getting public companies in the US. The
Canadian Securities Administration
make their public filings more accessible to the point of
having them in English and French while the UK sources like
Corporate Reports
or Companies
House are subscription based services. Then there is
even a service called CAROL
which has UK, Asia, and US companies. Access is free of
charge, but does required registration for access to annual
reports. Check the government authority web page first and
then look for any private vendors.
If you are looking for foreign corporations that happen
to trade (and file) in the US the SEC filing 20-F is good
bet for information.
International
Organization of Securities Commissioners. They
have listing of members Ordinary, Associate, and Affiliate
(country, province, regional, etc. securities agencies)
with contact information and web links under each list.
This is not a complete list. Yahoo! - under government and
then for each country
the Administration, Agencies, Ministries, Department, etc.
link would be the place to start to find a specific country's
regulatory agency or agencies. There are other source for
regulators links NASD
and BourseWorld.com.
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