Setting up trading as / offshoot business

R

Redder Than Red

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Hi, I’m just looking to gage opinion before i get a meeting with my accountant/solicitor etc because I’m new to this type of thing so hoping for some basic-level advice for me your average joe first please.

So i have a tiny company (limited) and am director and majority shareholder.
Its a dying industry and i’m keen to explore diversifying into something else.
Initially i simply want to set up a new website using a new company name and logo and keep it fully separate from my “old” company until i see whether this new venture has legs or not.

But until i see if its worth continuing with id ideally like to issue invoices from my old company when the “new” company sells products.
Then IF its worth pursuing i would then ideally like to go down the route of legally making it into a “old company trading as new company” thing and so forth.

My question really is can i legally do this OR legally does the so called “new company” need to be registered separately immediately upon creating the new website with the new name?

And if so, is it a complicated/expensive process to set it up as a “trading as” branch separate from the old business?

Apologies if im explaining myself badly, i think i know what i want to do but it’s all new to me so just unsure where to begin.
Thanks.
 
I am not a tax expert or a solicitor but this is my understanding...

Why do you want a company at all for the new business? Why not have Mr R. Redder t/a Scarlet Designs? Simple to set up and simple to administer and simple to close if it does not work out.

However, if your old company has tax losses forward which will not be used, I think it could be useful to operate the new company through it. I don't see any reason for not doing it this way. I am assuming that losses in one trade can be set off against profits in another trade but verify this with your accountant and tax advisor.

Brendan
 
Thanks Brendan. Yes that’s probably the way to go so, mr Reder t/a scarlet designs as you said.

Is that easy/fast to set up and should my next step be an accountant or a solicitor to get it done?
 
You could simply have a separate "division" or "branch" in your current company.

It's quite normal to have an official company name and several trading names. - I'd have a different website trading name to the name over the retail store. Both are registered trading names of the company.

Eg - Redder Ltd.

Trading name #1 Redder Ltd t/a Greener Pastures

Trading names #2 Redder Ltd t/a Orange groves.

Just check the company Constitution covers the new style of business - usually it is unless it's a totally different style of business.
 
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