Latest news with #SimonWebster
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Pub banks on success at former city financial site
A pub in a former city centre bank is set to open in autumn, its owners have confirmed. The former Yorkshire Bank building on Fargate in Sheffield will host up to 250 revellers following a £1m interior renovation. The pub, named The Fargate, is part of the regeneration of the street which saw three years of construction come to a close in early April. Thornbridge & Co's Simon Webster said: "This project has been over two years in the making, and we're thrilled to be nearing the finish line." The firm is a joint venture of Peak District-based Thornbridge Brewery and York-based Pivovar, which runs three pubs across the country. Coun Ben Miskell, chair of regeneration at Sheffield City Council, said he looked forward to another business opening. Footfall on Fargate was up 14% between 3 March and 6 April this year compared to the same time in 2024, the council said. "We can't wait to welcome the people of Sheffield and become a part of this dynamic and evolving city centre," Mr Webster added. Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North Sheffield City Council
The Independent
09-04-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Businesses braced for ‘nosedive' in consumer confidence amid Trump's new tariffs
Businesses in the UK have said they are bracing for a 'nosedive' in consumer confidence following the imposition of sweeping tariffs by Donald Trump. The US president announced a wave of global tariffs last week, including a blanket 10% charge on goods from the UK. Amid ongoing market turmoil, UK firms are facing uncertainty over how the changes will impact their business. British audio brand Rega Research said the US is its largest export market, accounting for more than a fifth of its exports. Simon Webster, sales and marketing co-ordinator of the Essex-based company, said: 'The effect on Rega and our US distributor could still be profound. 'Only time will tell how the US consumer will react to the increases. 'Our US distributor expects consumer confidence to nosedive and predicts that spending will effectively stop due to changes in the economy.' He added: 'If the US had applied the same 20% tariff as the EU, the potential effect on Rega and our US distributor would have been catastrophic. 'The 10% UK tariff is perhaps an easier pill to swallow. However, it is certainly not without its challenges.' Jack Thorpe, who co-owns gifting and cards website Paper Plane with his partner Laura Harvey, said prices may rise as a result of the tariffs. 'So many people are still unsure as to how this is going to affect their business overall,' he said. 'It's certainly stopped them spending for a little while, which is having a knock-on effect on us even though we're not directly affected by the tariffs for a lot of our orders. 'It's obviously weird, uncertain times. I think we will have to raise prices. We've done it with a few things, we've had to. 'We've been going for 10 years and the price of a greeting card has always been exactly the same for those 10 years, but in that time our costs have gone up, so the profit margin on that one card is going down, and down, and down.' Total UK exports to the US amounted to more than £180 billion last year, according to the Department for Business and Trade. Lucy Monks, international affairs director at the Federation of Small Businesses, said: 'We have had a lot of members get in touch with us. There are a range of views on how they might deal with this. 'Some have decided they're not going to bother with the hassle of exporting to the US, some are going to try and see how it goes. We're expecting to see some drop off. 'There's also a question mark over how exactly the US government is going to implement the tariffs and how far they have the systems in place. 'They're going to have to look and make reassessments on how they manage tariffs for a huge number of countries. That might cause knock-on effects on the variability of the US as a market as well.' Liz Webster, founder of Save British Farming, said: 'For our group of farmers, the biggest fear is dumping. 'A lot of American produce goes to China, but won't now. That displaced produce will need to go somewhere. 'British food standards don't allow a lot of American produce, but our border system is as good as a chocolate teapot. 'We've got illegal foods coming in here and we're worried about a flood of cheap produce coming in. 'As to what it means for our inputs, we're reliant on fertiliser from the States. It depends what happens with inflation in the US, which could push up costs. 'We've bought our fertiliser for this year so it's not going to impact us this year, but from next year we could see a problem.'
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Vistra announces launch of Geni, the world's first global AI compliance advisor, to make corporate compliance effortless and smooth companies' path to growth
HONG KONG, March 20, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Vistra, a leading provider of essential business services that help organisations to invest, grow and operate efficiently and compliantly across the world, today launched Geni, the world's first global AI compliance advisor. Geni is embedded within Vistra's new Global Expansion Platform (GEP), a specialist and expert global compliance and expansion platform. In an increasingly dynamic business environment marked by complex regulatory obligations, companies face everchanging challenges as they seek growth opportunities. Built by in-house technology experts, Geni and the GEP draw on Vistra's knowledge and global expertise to solve some of the most significant pain points organisations face when managing and expanding their business globally. The GEP enables clients to effortlessly incorporate an entity and open a business account in some of the world's leading jurisdictions, as well as to onboard and manage their entire entity portfolio across 300+ jurisdictions. While Geni, an always-on 24/7 digital assistant, available from anywhere in the world, can complete tasks at speed, freeing up the valuable time and resources of Vistra's clients. Trained on accurate sources by Vistra's own experts, Geni provides a single view of all global entities and compliance deadlines, conveniently assists in the completion of self-serve corporate actions by automating and simplifying key tasks, and seamlessly connects clients to Vistra's network of over 9,000 global experts. Simon Webster, CEO of Vistra Group, stated, "Geni and the Global Expansion Platform are the future of confident, compliant, cross-border trade and mark a major step in Vistra fulfilling its vision of making operating anywhere in the world feel borderless and frictionless. The complexity of global expansion and operations is not going away and so it is increasingly important to provide clients with both the service and software components that solve these issues, creating a client experience that is both unique, seamless and interconnected. We envision a future where Geni will help organisations across the world to manage and expand their business without ever needing to worry about changing regulations." Jonathon Clifton, President of Vistra Global Solutions, said, "As consumers, we use online platforms every day to arrange transport and order daily necessities. For the first time in our industry, we are now providing clients with that same convenience, choice and transparency in how they can access and experience Vistra Global Solutions' services. Companies can go online to set up an entity and open a business account in key jurisdictions, achieving in minutes what used to take days. This puts powerful new capabilities in the hands of our clients while ensuring they still benefit from the real-world support of Vistra's global experts." In addition to global entity management, clients will be able to manage their payroll and tax accounting services through GEP and Geni by the end of the next year. Ultimately, this platform will provide access to all Vistra Global Solutions. For further information, please contact: Ellie King For more information about Vistra, visit View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Vistra
