1. The Purpose of These Terms
These terms of service set out the conditions under which SGG ADVISORY LTD offers its business strategy and operational advisory services and under which the website at the domain sggadvisory.lol may be used. The firm is a company registered in the United Kingdom at 18 School Road, Sale - M33 7XP, United Kingdom (GB). The terms apply whenever a client requests information, books a framing session or enters into an engagement with the firm. By using the website or by agreeing to engage the firm, you confirm that you have read these terms and that you accept the rules described in them.
These terms are written in plain and direct English so that every reader can understand them without the assistance of a legal adviser. Where a detailed contract is later agreed for a specific piece of work, that contract governs the particular engagement, and these general terms continue to apply to the parts that the contract does not change.
2. Who Provides the Services
The services described on this website are provided by SGG ADVISORY LTD, with its registered office at 18 School Road, Sale - M33 7XP, United Kingdom (GB). The firm operates in the professional, scientific and technical services sector and specialises in advisory work that includes strategy and growth roadmaps, operations diagnostics, financial planning support, market entry studies, team and process design, and board and investor reporting.
Where these terms refer to we, us or our, they mean SGG ADVISORY LTD. Where they refer to you or the client, they mean the person or organisation that uses the website or that engages the firm for advisory work. If the client is a company, the person who submits an enquiry or signs an engagement confirms that they have the authority to bind that company to these terms.
3. Acceptable Use of the Website
The website is provided for genuine business information and for honest enquiries. You agree to use the site only for lawful purposes and in a way that does not interfere with the access of other users. You must not attempt to gain unauthorised access to any part of the site, to its server or to any system connected to it, and you must not use any automated tool to collect data from the pages beyond reasonable and ordinary browsing.
The firm reserves the right to restrict access to the website, in whole or in part, where a user acts in a way that is disruptive, unlawful or contrary to these terms. The firm will remove or refuse any enquiry that it reasonably regards as abusive, spam or otherwise outside the reasonable nature of the services offered.
4. The Nature of the Advisory Relationship
The services of SGG ADVISORY LTD are advisory in character. They are intended to support sound business judgement and to inform good decisions, but they are not a substitute for advice that must be taken from a regulated professional where the law requires it. In particular, the firm does not give formal legal advice, does not act as an auditor and does not provide regulated financial or investment advice within the meaning of the rules that apply to such activity.
The client remains responsible for the decisions it makes and for the consequences of those decisions, including decisions taken on the strength of material prepared by the firm. The firm will always recommend that the client seek specialist advice from an appropriately qualified professional where a particular matter sits outside the advisory scope of the firm. This section defines the boundary of the relationship clearly so that both parties understand the service that is and is not being offered.
5. How an Engagement Is Formed
An engagement with SGG ADVISORY LTD begins with a request and proceeds through a clear sequence of steps. A client first describes the matter, usually through an enquiry message or a framing call. Where the firm can help, it prepares a written proposal that sets out the scope of the work, the approach, the deliverables, the timetable and the fee.
A binding engagement is formed only when the client accepts the written proposal, either by signing it or by returning written confirmation that records the acceptance. No work begins until that written acceptance is received, and no fee is due for any discussion that happens before the acceptance. Any work the firm agrees to carry out is described precisely, so that neither party is left guessing about what has been promised.
6. Changes to the Scope of Work
Good advisory work often reveals a need that was not visible at the start. If the work required to meet an agreed outcome changes, and the difference is material, the firm will tell the client before doing the additional work and will agree an adjusted scope and, where relevant, an adjusted fee. No expanded charge is made without the agreement of the client.
The client is entitled to ask the firm to pause or narrow the scope at any time, and the firm will respond reasonably to such a request. Where a material change is agreed, the original proposal is updated in writing and the newer version governs the work from the date of the change. This section keeps the engagement honest when the ground moves beneath the parties.
7. What the Client Must Provide
For the firm to do good work, the client must provide access to the information and the people that the scope reasonably requires. The client agrees to give accurate information in good time, to make relevant managers and records available for the diagnostic and to respond to reasonable requests that allow the work to stay on schedule.
If the client delays the supply of information or access that the firm reasonably needs, the timetable set out in the proposal may be adjusted by the period of the delay. The client is responsible for the truth and completeness of the material it supplies, and it confirms that it has the right to share any third party data that is included in that material, in line with any privacy duties that apply to the client itself.
8. Fees and Payment
The fee for each engagement is agreed and set out in the written proposal before the work begins. Fees may be quoted as a fixed sum for a defined deliverable or as a daily rate for a time based engagement, and the basis is stated clearly in the proposal. Unless otherwise agreed, an invoice is issued on completion of the deliverable or at intervals agreed in the proposal.
Payment is due within the period stated on the invoice, unless a different arrangement is written in the proposal. Where a client is late in paying, the firm may pause work until the outstanding amount is settled, and it may charge interest at the rate that the law permits. Any expenses reasonably incurred for the benefit of the engagement, such as necessary travel, are reimbursable only where they were agreed in advance or are customary for the work.
9. Intellectual Property and Deliverables
The methods, frameworks and materials that SGG ADVISORY LTD uses in its work remain the property of the firm. When the firm prepares a deliverable for a client, the client receives a licence to use the deliverable for the purpose for which the engagement was formed, but the client does not gain ownership of the underlying tools, templates or internal know how of the firm.
The firm agrees that it will not reuse material that is specific to a client and confidential in a way that would identify that client, without the consent of that client. Where the parties intend a client to own a particular deliverable outright, the ownership is addressed expressly in the proposal so that the position is never ambiguous.
10. Confidentiality
SGG ADVISORY LTD treats the information it receives in the course of an engagement as confidential. The firm uses client material only for the purpose of the engagement and does not disclose it to any person outside the firm except where the work requires it, where the client consents, or where the law or a competent authority obliges the firm to do so.
The duty of confidentiality continues after the engagement has ended. The client recognises that the firm may, for its own protection, keep records of the work and that those records are held subject to the confidentiality duties in this section. This clause establishes a bond of trust between the parties that is essential to open and useful advisory work.
11. No Exclusivity
Unless a proposal expressly says otherwise, the engagement of SGG ADVISORY LTD for a particular piece of work does not make the firm the exclusive adviser of the client. The client remains free to seek or to use the advice of other professional firms on the same or different matters. The firm also remains free to advise other clients, including clients that operate in the same sector, subject to its duty to keep confidential the specific material of each client separate from every other engagement.
12. Standard of Care
SGG ADVISORY LTD carries out its work with reasonable skill, care and diligence, consistent with the standards that a competent and careful advisory firm in the same field would apply. The firm makes its findings and recommendations on the basis of the information available at the time, and it states its assumptions clearly so that the client can judge the weight to give the result.
The firm does not warrant that any particular outcome will be achieved from the use of its advice, because no honest adviser can promise results that depend on factors outside its control. A plan, a diagnosis or a study is a tool for better judgement, not a guarantee of a specific financial return. This honest statement of the standard of care protects both parties from unrealistic expectations.
13. Limits on Liability
Nothing in these terms is intended to exclude or to limit liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited, including liability for fraud or for death or personal injury caused by negligence. Subject to that, the liability of SGG ADVISORY LTD to a client arising from a particular engagement is limited to the amount of the fee paid by that client for that engagement, unless a higher limit is agreed in the written proposal.
The firm is not liable to a client or to any third party for indirect or consequential loss, including lost profit, lost revenue or lost opportunity, that arises in connection with an engagement or with the use of the website. Where a client relies on a deliverable, the client is encouraged to keep a sensible margin for judgement and to take specialist advice where the stakes are high. This section caps a risk that would otherwise be impossible to price fairly.
14. Ending an Engagement
Either party may end an engagement by written notice in the manner set out in the proposal, or by giving reasonable notice in writing where no notice period is specified. On termination, the client must pay the firm for the work properly carried out up to the date of the notice, together with any agreed expenses, and the firm must deliver any material prepared that belongs to the client under the terms of the intellectual property section.
The duties set out in the sections on confidentiality, intellectual property and the limits of liability continue to apply after the engagement has ended, because those duties are intended to survive the end of the working relationship. Either party may end an engagement immediately if the other party is in serious breach of these terms and does not put the breach right within a reasonable time after being asked to do so.
15. Use of Other Professionals
SGG ADVISORY LTD may engage the assistance of other trusted professionals where the scope of an engagement makes that sensible and where the terms of the proposal allow it. Any professional engaged in this way works under a duty of confidentiality that matches the duty the client enjoys under these terms, and the firm remains answerable to the client for the way the engagement is delivered. The firm will not hand the core responsibility of the engagement to another party without discussing it with the client first.
16. Feedback and Complaint Resolution
The firm welcomes honest feedback on the quality and usefulness of its work, because that is how it improves. A client who is unhappy with any part of an engagement is asked to raise the concern with the partner responsible for the work in the first instance, so that it can be resolved promptly and fairly. If a matter cannot be resolved directly, it will be escalated to a more senior person within the firm who will respond in writing.
The firm undertakes to deal with every concern seriously, to reply within a reasonable time and to put any error right where it is within the control of the firm. This commitment keeps the working relationship productive and reflects the standard of care the firm holds for every client.
17. Client Responsibility to Third Parties
A client uses the deliverables of an engagement at its own risk so far as third parties are concerned and is responsible for any reliance it places on those deliverables in its dealings with third parties. Where a client includes a deliverable in material it shares with a third party, the client must ensure that its own obligations to that third party are met and that the third party understands the limits of the advisory work carried out.
The client indemnifies SGG ADVISORY LTD against loss or damage that arises from the misuse of a deliverable by the client or from the supply by the client of information that the client knew was untrue, misleading or provided without the right authority. This section is a fair recognition that each party is answerable for its own conduct.
18. Events Beyond Reasonable Control
Neither party is in breach of these terms if it is prevented from carrying out its duties by an event that is beyond its reasonable control, such as a serious disruption to transport, a failure of public utilities, an epidemic, or an action of a government authority. Where such an event occurs, the affected party will tell the other as soon as it reasonably can and will take sensible steps to reduce the impact of the delay. The timetable for the engagement will be extended by the reasonable period of the disruption.
19. The Whole Agreement
The written proposal and these terms together form the whole agreement between the client and SGG ADVISORY LTD in respect of a particular engagement. They replace any earlier discussions or drafts that have not been carried into the written proposal. A change to these terms or to a proposal is only effective if it is made in writing and signed, or sent and accepted, by both parties. Any clause of these terms that is found to be unenforceable will be read to give effect to the intention of the parties as closely as possible, and the remaining clauses continue to apply.
20. Governing Law and Jurisdiction
These terms and any engagement made under them are governed by the law of England and Wales. The parties agree that the courts of England and Wales have jurisdiction to settle any dispute that arises in connection with these terms or with an engagement, unless the parties agree in writing on a different arrangement. Before any formal proceedings are begun, the parties will attempt in good faith to resolve the matter through the direct discussion described in the feedback section, although this does not prevent either party from seeking urgent or interim relief where that is needed.
21. How to Contact the Firm
Questions about these terms are welcome and can be raised with SGG ADVISORY LTD by email at connect@sggadvisory.lol or by telephone at +17206773771. Written correspondence can be sent to the registered address 18 School Road, Sale - M33 7XP, United Kingdom (GB). The firm will respond to every genuine enquiry and will aim to be clear, prompt and as helpful as the circumstances allow.