How is the industry segment determined?

Here you will learn how the industry segment codes are determined. This segment code is available for customers of our Premium and Data Services and it can be used to narrow down search results

Contrary to popular belief, there is no public source for industry codes in Germany, Switzerland and Austria (no segment code in the country specific register). For that reason, for many companies (e.g. shelf companies) no industry code can be determined if no meaningful information about the company is known.

In order to be able to categorise the companies nevertheless, the corporate purpose stored in the country specific registers is used. In the past, this was often very undefined, but is currently becoming increasingly precise and meaningful. Automatic algorithms (machine learning) are used to determine the industry segment. 

For all other countries with industry code, there is a source available, which we use. You can find an overview of these on our website in the section: countries and sources coverage.