The Economist | www.economist.com The Economist gives access to their archives bundled with postal subscriptions from about £150 p.a. Google alerts | www.google.com/alerts You can set up alerts on any search you can think of e.g. “BT”, “British Telecom” and you will be sent an e-mail summary of news picked up by the search. Almost as good as a free lunch! Yahoo! Finance | www.yahoo.com/finance Yahoo! Finance offers good stock market summaries and charts, access to recent headlines by company. Free! Companies House | https://www.gov.uk/companieshouse The official national database of companies. Good for researching directors and annual accounts, also some advice pages. Newspapers | Most serious newspapers now charge for access but most have invaluable archives. If you already subscribe to The Times, The Telegraph or the FT remember to take a look.

Research sources

High-, Low- and No-cost sources

Remember to read what your clients and targets write about themselves. Annual reports are a valuable source of information. If these aren’t available for download from your target’s web site you can obtain hard copy annual reports for many public companies from the FT Annual Reports Service. Apart from annual reports, web sites often carry recent presentations to financial analysts. Most public sector organisations carry a wealth of strategy documents on their web sites if you search thoroughly. ... and don’t forget to have a look at the main social media to see what their public reputation is like.

Factiva | www.factiva.com A comprehensive news database including news wires that provide the news as it happens. Delivers an almost real time service but very expensive. Avention OneSource | www.avention.com One of the best news aggregators. Also with a good mix of industry lists for prospecting. Expensive but recommended if you can afford it. Hoovers | www.hoovers.com Chargeable database of companies and key executives. LinkedIn | www.linkedin.com Now the who’s who of business. An invaluable tool for both sales and marketing. From free to over £50/month for premium access. The Financial Times | www.ft.com FT.com now over £200 p.a. for access to their archives and receipt of daily news summaries, or you can add web access to a print subscription. The Economist | www.economist.com The Economist gives access to their archives bundled with postal subscriptions from about £150 p.a. Google alerts | www.google.com/alerts You can set up alerts on any search you can think of e.g. “BT”, “British Telecom” and you will be sent an e- mail summary of news picked up by the search. Almost as good as a free lunch! Yahoo! Finance | www.yahoo.com/finance Yahoo! Finance offers good stock market summaries and charts, access to recent headlines by company. Free! Companies House | https://www.gov.uk/companieshouse The official national database of companies. Good for researching directors and annual accounts, also some advice pages. Newspapers | Most serious newspapers now charge for access but most have invaluable archives. If you already subscribe to The Times, The Telegraph or the FT remember to take a look.