Find a Spanish Company by Name and Read Its Hoja

If you're used to French SIREN numbers or UK company numbers, Spain feels different. Companies have a tax ID (the NIF, formerly CIF), but the official gazette of the Commercial Registry, the BORME, doesn't publish it, so you can't use it to find a company there. What the registry uses is the company's sheet (hoja registral) in the Registro Mercantil of its province, and its exact registered name (denominación social).

This guide shows how to find a Spanish company by name, how to read its sheet number, and what the acts on that sheet tell you, with free official sources and with the Fuentio API.

What you'll learn

Why a Spanish company is found by name, not by tax ID
How to search well: exact names, legal-form suffixes, former names
What the Registro Mercantil sheet (hoja) is and how to read it
What the acts on a sheet tell you, and what they don't
How to do it via API, with a real answer

Why search by name in Spain?

Every Spanish company has a NIF, and the format check is useful (see how to check a Spanish company's NIF). But the BORME publishes companies' acts under their name and their registry sheet, not their NIF. So the reliable path is: get the exact registered name, find the company in the registry's publications, and keep its sheet as the identifier from then on.

In the Fuentio API, a Spanish NIF passed as an identifier answers id_scheme_not_supported, with a hint to search by name. That is on purpose: a guess from a tax ID would be worse than an honest "search by name".

How to search well

Spanish company names follow a few habits worth knowing:

The legal form is part of the name. "MERCADONA SA", "MERCADONA, S.A." and "MERCADONA SOCIEDAD ANONIMA" are written differently in different documents. A good search normalises these suffixes; when you compare by eye, ignore punctuation and the suffix.
Ask for the denominación social, not the brand. The name on a shop front or a website can differ from the registered name. The legal notice of a Spanish website must give the registered name (see how to check a Spanish company before you sign).
Names change. A company can change its name ("Cambio de denominación social" in the BORME). If you can't find a name, the company may have changed it.
Narrow down by place. Many companies share similar names. The province, the town and the registered address help pick the right one.

The Registro Mercantil sheet (hoja)

Each company is registered in the Registro Mercantil of its province, on its own sheet (hoja registral). The sheet number starts with the code of that provincial registry: MERCADONA SA's sheet is V-5581, in Valencia; you'll also see sheets starting with M- (Madrid) or BI- (Bizkaia). A few entities have a sheet with an extra section part, for example M-S1-57.

Once you have the sheet, keep it. It is what the BORME publishes with each act, and it is the identifier Fuentio uses for Spanish companies: ES-RMHOJA-V-5581.

What the acts on a sheet tell you

The BORME publishes the acts registered on each sheet: incorporation, appointments and removals, changes of address or name, capital changes, mergers, dissolution, extinction, insolvency situation. Reading them gives you a company's story: when it last changed, whether a dissolution or insolvency act was registered. For each type of act, see how to read the BORME.

What the acts don't give you is a live "active" flag. Spain's gazette publishes events, not a status. That is why a Spanish company's status is "unknown" unless an act says otherwise (a dissolution, an extinction).

Doing it via API

Search by name, for 2 units a page:

curl "https://api.fuentio.com/v1/companies/search?country=ES&q=mercadona" -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY"

You can narrow with locality or postal_code. A real answer, recorded on 12 October 2026 (some fields left out):

{
  "data": [{
    "id": "ES-RMHOJA-V-5581",
    "identifiers": [{ "scheme": "ES_RM_HOJA", "value": "V-5581", "primary": true }],
    "name": { "original": "MERCADONA SA" },
    "legal_form": { "original_code": "SA", "original_label": "Sociedad Anónima", "elf_code": "5RDO" },
    "status": { "value": "unknown", "original_label": null, "as_of": null },
    "registered_address": { "original": "C/ ALFONSO ROIG ALFONSO S/N (ALBALAT DELS SORELLS)", "locality": "ALBALAT DELS SORELLS", "region": "VALENCIA/VALÈNCIA" },
    "extensions": { "es": {
      "hoja": "V-5581",
      "province": "VALENCIA/VALÈNCIA",
      "events_since": "2009-01-23",
      "acts": [{ "type": "revocations", "label": "Revocaciones", "published": "2026-10-07", "borme_id": "BORME-A-2026-194-46" }]
    }},
    "match": { "score": 0.95, "reasons": ["name_normalized_exact"] }
  }],
  "meta": {
    "source": "es_borme",
    "total": 1,
    "cost": { "units": 2 },
    "uncertainty": "Search ranks names; it never decides that two records are the same company. Use resolve_company for that."
  }
}

What to notice:

match.score and match.reasons explain the ranking: here an exact match once the name is normalised. A search ranks names; it never decides that a record is your company. When it matters, confirm with the address and province, or use POST /v1/resolve, which returns linked, possible or rejected candidates with reasons.
status.value is unknown: normal for Spain, as explained above.
extensions.es.acts lists the acts with their BORME reference and a link to the official text; events_since is the date of the first act held for the company.

Then, with the sheet, look up the company (1 unit) or verify it (5 units, with a proof code):

curl https://api.fuentio.com/v1/companies/ES/V-5581 -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY"

See verify a company and get a proof code via API for the verification answer for this same company.

No code? Try it free

The free check searches Spanish companies by name (3 a day, no account): pick Spain and type the name. The free list check takes up to 20 lines of "name, province". In an AI agent, search_companies then lookup_company do the same over MCP. A free API key gives 100 units a month. See what we cover.

Common pitfalls

Same name, different province. Two companies can share a name in different provincial registries. The province in the sheet number and the registered address tell them apart.
A company with no act since 2009. Coverage is companies with at least one act published in the BORME since 2 January 2009. A company that has filed nothing since then may not be found: that says nothing about whether it exists.
Merged or transformed companies. Acts such as "Fusión por absorción" or "Transformación de sociedad" mean the company you knew may now live on another sheet, or under another form. Read the latest acts before concluding.
Former names. When a name doesn't match, the acts may show a "Cambio de denominación social". The company is the same; its name changed.
Trusting the first result. Always look at match.score and match.reasons, and confirm the province before you store the sheet.

Limits. Fuentio covers Spanish companies with an act published in the BORME since 2 January 2009: events only, not every company, and no person's name. The status is unknown unless an act says otherwise. A Spanish company can't be looked up by its NIF. The province codes in sheet numbers are given as examples from real sheets; check the sheet on the BORME when in doubt. Example recorded on 12 October 2026.

Frequently asked questions

Can I find a Spanish company by its NIF or CIF?

Not in the BORME, which publishes acts under the company's name and registry sheet. Find it by its exact registered name, then keep its sheet.

What is a hoja registral?

The company's sheet in the Registro Mercantil of its province. Its number starts with the provincial registry's code, for example V-5581 in Valencia.

Why is a Spanish company's status "unknown"?

Because the BORME publishes events, not a live status. Without a dissolution or extinction act, the status can't be confirmed from the gazette.

Does a search result prove I have the right company?

No. A search ranks names. Confirm with the province and address, or use the resolve call, which explains its decision.

Sources

BORME, Boletín Oficial del Registro Mercantil: boe.es/diario_borme
Fuentio API reference: docs and the OpenAPI file
The example answer: the search for MERCADONA, recorded from the API on 12 October 2026 (site/data/api-examples in the website repository)