ENGAGEMENT TERMS

Terms of Service

These terms govern the use of this website and the advisory relationships you may enter into with HBF CONSULTING LIMITED. They set out the basis on which we provide services, the standards that apply to those services, and the responsibilities of both the firm and our clients.

Last updated: September 2026

1. Introduction and acceptance

These terms of service describe the legal agreement between you, whether acting as an individual or on behalf of a company, and HBF CONSULTING LIMITED, a company registered in the United Kingdom with its office at Office 4th Floor, 205 Regent Street, London - W1B 4NB, United Kingdom (GB). By visiting this website, by submitting an enquiry through the contact form or by email to dispatch@hbfconsult.mom, by telephoning +17793627254, or by entering into an engagement, you confirm that you accept these terms in full.

If you do not agree with any part of these terms, you should not use this website and you should not instruct the firm. We recommend that you read these terms together with our privacy policy, because the two documents describe the whole of the relationship: the privacy policy explains how we treat personal information, while these terms explain how we treat engagements and obligations.

Nothing in these terms is intended to exclude any right or protection that the law grants to you and that cannot be validly waived. Where a clause in these terms conflicts with a legal right that belongs to you and that right cannot be excluded, the legal right will prevail to that extent. These terms are written in plain language so that their meaning is clear to a business reader, and we interpret them honestly and in the spirit in which they were drafted.

2. Definitions and interpretation

To make these terms clear and consistent, the following expressions carry the meanings set out here. Where a defined word is used elsewhere in these terms it carries the same meaning unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

Headings in these terms are included for convenience only and do not affect their interpretation. References to writing include communication by email to a working address. Where these terms refer to a statute, the reference includes any subordinate legislation and any amendment or re-enactment that applies at the relevant time.

3. The services we provide

HBF CONSULTING LIMITED provides professional business advisory services. The firm describes its services on the website and in individual proposals, and the categories in which the firm practises are market entry studies, company formation and compliance, trade mission facilitation, financial modeling and forecasting, brand localization advisory, and ongoing retainer desks.

Each engagement begins with a written proposal that states the objective, the scope of work, the named lead, the expected timeline, and the fee. Where the agreed activity is a project with a defined end, we deliver against that scope and bring the engagement to a close once the agreed outcome is verified. Where the activity is a retainer, the scope describes the standing service for a defined period, and the arrangement continues until it is renewed or closed in line with these terms.

We may decline to accept an engagement for any lawful reason, and we will be transparent about that decision rather than quietly overcharging for work we cannot properly perform. Where we accept an engagement we commit to deliver it with the care, skill and diligence that a reasonable professional in the relevant field would apply, and to keep you informed of progress on the cadence set out in the proposal.

5. Obligations of the client

An engagement is a partnership of effort, and the quality of our advice depends on the completeness and accuracy of the information you provide. As a condition of accepting an engagement, you agree to the obligations set out in this section.

If you fail to meet these obligations, we may be delayed or unable to deliver, and any delay caused by you may give rise to an adjustment in the timeline or the fee. We will raise any such point with you openly when it arises rather than allowing it to accumulate silently. Your co-operation is a material part of our ability to deliver value, and we value clients who treat the engagement as an honest effort on both sides.

6. Quotations, scope and time

Fees for an engagement are set out either as a fixed quotation, based on the scope described in the proposal, or on a time basis at the rate stated in the proposal, whichever is agreed at the outset. A fixed quotation binds us to the scope described and no amount exceeding the quotation will be charged without a separate written agreement to the additional scope.

If, during an engagement, the work materially exceeds the agreed scope because of a change requested by you, a change in law, or the discovery of matters that were not reasonably foreseeable at the time of the proposal, we will inform you before carrying out the additional work and will agree any additional fee with you before we proceed. We do not invoice for unbudgeted work that you did not ask for and that we carried out without prior agreement.

Time estimates are provided in good faith on the basis of the information available at the outset. We work to the agreed timeline and we will tell you promptly if a genuine external factor makes a deadline unrealistic, together with our recommended way to recover the schedule. An estimate of time does not constitute a guarantee, and the reliable promise we make is that we will communicate honestly about progress rather than letting a date slip without warning.

7. Fees, invoicing and payment

Fees are agreed at the point of acceptance and are stated in the proposal in the currency agreed with you. Invoices are issued at the milestone dates agreed, or at the completion of the engagement, whichever applies. Payment is due within the period stated on the invoice, which is ordinarily thirty days from the date of issue unless a different period is agreed.

Disbursements reasonably incurred in the delivery of an engagement, such as registry filing fees, travel connected to an approved trade mission, or the fees of a registered agent, are charged at cost and are itemised on the invoice rather than bundled invisibly into the professional fee. We provide supporting documentation for material disbursements on request.

If an invoice is not paid by its due date, we may suspend the performance of further work until the overdue amount is settled. We will give you notice before suspending work, and we will not apply a charge for late payment beyond that permitted by law. Where payment remains overdue after a reasonable period, we may close the engagement in line with the termination terms below, and the accrued fee for work already performed remains payable.

8. Intellectual property

All intellectual property rights in the deliverables and materials we create for you in the course of a paid engagement belong to you once the fees for those materials have been paid in full, unless a written agreement provides otherwise. You receive those materials ready to use, to adapt for your own commercial purposes, and to share as you see fit within your own organisation.

Notwithstanding the above, we retain ownership of the underlying methods, templates, approaches, analytical frameworks, and know-how that we use to produce our work. You may use the materials delivered to you, but you may not reproduce our proprietary methodology in a way that would allow a third party to recreate our service without engaging us, and you may not present our frameworks as your own proprietary method.

Content on this website, including its design and text, is protected and belongs to HBF CONSULTING LIMITED unless stated otherwise. You may view the content for the purpose of evaluating our services, but you may not copy, redistribute, or reuse the website content for commercial purposes without our written permission. Our name and the goodwill associated with it are protected, and you may not use our name to imply an endorsement or affiliation that does not exist.

9. Confidentiality

Advisory work is built on trust, and we treat the information you share with us as confidential. During any engagement, and after it concludes, we will keep confidential all documents and information about you and your business that are not in the public domain, and we will use such information only for the purpose of the engagement.

We may disclose confidential information to a person engaged in the delivery of the engagement only to the extent necessary for that person to perform their role, and we will hold those persons to confidentiality duties that protect your information to an equivalent standard. We will also disclose information where we are under a binding legal obligation to do so, and we will tell you of any such disclosure where we are lawfully able to do so.

Confidentiality points both ways. You agree to keep confidential any proprietary methodology we share with you, any draft materials before they are finalised, and any information about our internal working methods that is not generally published. This obligation does not prevent you from using the final deliverables for their intended commercial purpose, which is the entire reason the engagement took place.

10. Limitations on liability

We undertake to deliver our services with reasonable professional care and skill, and we stand behind the quality of our work. Where we fail to meet that standard and, as a result, you suffer a financial loss that is the direct and foreseeable consequence of that failure, and where no other term of these terms or of law limits our responsibility, we accept liability for that loss to the extent described in this section.

Time limits and exclusions that would be unreasonable are not part of the agreement. We do not, however, accept liability for indirect or consequential loss, which includes loss of profits, loss of business, loss of opportunity, or similar losses that do not flow directly from our act but instead cascade from a decision you made taking our output as a complete assurance of a commercial result. Our advice informs your decision; it does not replace the commercial judgement that a board must exercise for itself, and markets carry their own risk that no adviser can remove.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, our total liability arising out of or in connection with an engagement, whether in contract, in negligence, or otherwise, is limited to the amount of the fees paid to us under that engagement. Nothing in these terms limits or excludes liability that cannot be limited or excluded by law, including liability for fraud or for death or personal injury caused by negligence.

11. Third party services

A number of our engagements naturally involve the co-operation of third parties: registered agents and company registries, banks, law firms, accountants, conference venues, promotional bodies, and potentially state agencies that administer trade programmes. We select the partners we involve with care and we manage the work they perform for you, but we do not act as their principal and we are not responsible for their separate acts or omissions.

The website may contain links to third party sites or refer you to third party services. These are provided for your convenience. A link does not mean we endorse or control the linked site, and we are not liable for the content or the conduct of a third party you reach through such a reference. You use such third party services under their own terms and at your own discretion.

During a trade mission or similar organised event we will clearly identify the parties responsible for each element of the programme so that there is no ambiguity about who manages your experience. Where a third party is separately responsible for an element, such as an airline, a hotel, or a venue, that party answers for its own service under its own conditions, and we will help you pursue a remedy where it is reasonable for us to do so.

12. Suspension and changes to engagements

An engagement may be varied only by written agreement that records the change to scope, time, or fee, and such a change is described in these terms as an agreed variation. If you wish to suspend a retainer temporarily, we will do our best to accommodate that where the standing nature of the service permits it, and we will discuss the effect on the fee openly before any suspension takes effect.

Either party may close an engagement before its natural end by giving the notice described in the proposal, or, where no notice is stated, a reasonable period of notice reflecting the nature of the work. On such a closure you remain liable for the fees properly earned for work performed up to the date of closure, together with any agreed cancellation provision set out in the proposal, and we will deliver all materials substantially produced so that the partial work still has value to you.

We may set reasonable conditions on the continuation of an engagement, such as the maintenance of the applicable compliance filings for an entity we administer, because a professional cannot sustain an arrangement that is falling into or is operating outside of lawful standing in a way that could mislead. Should we close an engagement for this reason we will explain our grounds and we will not hold any materials to which you are properly entitled.

13. Events beyond our control

Neither party is in breach of these terms or otherwise liable for a failure to perform an obligation if that failure arises from an event beyond the reasonable control of the party affected. Such events include industrial action, civil unrest, pandemic or epidemic, fire, flood, a breakdown in public communications networks, a change in law that makes performance unlawful, and a failure of a registry or public body on which an engagement relies.

Where such an event occurs, the affected party must, so far as it is able, give the other notice of the event and of its expected effect on the timeline. The parties will then agree in good faith how to adapt the engagement: whether to extend the timeline, to reduce the scope in a way that preserves value, or to suspend part of the work until the event passes. Our duty is always to protect the value of the engagement rather than to use the event as an excuse for a diminished service where a reasonable adaptation would preserve it.

14. Governing law and disputes

These terms and any engagement entered into under them are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have jurisdiction over any dispute arising from them. Where you are based in a different jurisdiction and the law of that jurisdiction grants you a protection that cannot be waived, that protection continues to apply despite the choice of law stated here.

Before either party commences legal proceedings in respect of a dispute, both parties will attempt to resolve the matter through a good faith discussion at a senior level, and where a discussion does not resolve the matter we will consider, at the request of either party, a suitable form of alternative dispute resolution that is proportionate to the amount in dispute. Engaging in these discussions does not prevent a party from taking steps to preserve its legal position where urgent action is needed.

You agree that the desk contact details in these terms are appropriate for any formal notice, and that a notice is treated as received on the first business day after it is sent where it is sent to dispatch@hbfconsult.mom during a normal working period. Nothing in this section is intended to limit the right of any consumer to bring proceedings in the courts of the country in which that consumer resides where the law grants that right.

15. Changes to these terms

We will keep these terms under review to ensure that they remain accurate and current as our services and the law develop. Where a change affects an ongoing engagement, we will notify you of the change through the usual professional channels and it will take effect from the date stated in that notice, or such later date as the law requires.

Where a change affects only the use of this website, the revised version will take effect from the date the updated version is published on this page, and continued use of the website after that date confirms your acceptance of the revised terms. Where a change would restrict a right that the law gives you and cannot be imposed unilaterally, we will not apply it to you without your agreement. We encourage you to review the version date at the top of this page so that you are always aware of the current version.

16. Contact

Questions about these terms, about a proposal, or about an engagement should be directed to the desk in the first instance. We respond to contractual and commercial correspondence personally and we will always clarify a point of interpretation rather than shelter behind a clause that a client could not reasonably have understood.

HBF CONSULTING LIMITED
Office 4th Floor, 205 Regent Street, London - W1B 4NB, United Kingdom (GB)
Contact person: Li Chunyan
Email: dispatch@hbfconsult.mom
Telephone: +17793627254

When you contact us about a proposed engagement, tell us briefly about your company and the outcome you are trying to reach so that we can meet you with a considered and useful reply. We will confirm whether the service you need is one we deliver directly or one we can help you arrange through an appropriate specialist, and we will be plain where a matter sits outside our field.

Terms summary

The agreement between you and HBF CONSULTING LIMITED may be reduced to a few dependable principles. We deliver the scope set out in a written proposal, we tell you honestly if that scope or the timeline changes, we invoice only for agreed work, and we hand over the materials you have paid for. You provide accurate and timely information, you pay the agreed fees, and you use our advice as informed judgement input rather than as a guarantee of a market outcome.

We protect our methodology and our name, we keep your information confidential, and we accept liability for our own negligent failures in the measured way described above while the law preserves the protections that belong to you. If anything in these terms is unclear, write to dispatch@hbfconsult.mom or call +17793627254 and we will explain. Our office is HBF CONSULTING LIMITED, Office 4th Floor, 205 Regent Street, London - W1B 4NB, United Kingdom (GB), and we always prefer to answer a question in the room rather than on a dispute form.

Thank you for reading, and for the consideration you give to the relationship that professional advisory work requires.

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