A recruitment executive who was allowed to buy back his failed company's assets on an installment plan after it racked up nearly £3m in debt has now fallen behind on payments, apparently because he was too busy promising staff an all-expenses-paid trip to Las Vegas. The saga is the latest exhibit in the dubious art of "phoenixism," where directors rise from the ashes of one company, debts conveniently shed, only to start anew.
Premier Group Recruitment entered administration in September owing a cool £2.9m, including £647,000 to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), which had already started enforcement proceedings. Three days later, Andrew Woosnam - the company's 99% shareholder - scooped up its assets via a new entity, PGGBR Ltd, with an initial £10,000 payment and a promise to cough up another £600,000 in monthly £25,000 installments over two years.
Things initially looked peachy. PGGBR took to LinkedIn to announce an "END OF YEAR TRIP 2026" to "Viva Las Vegas," all expenses paid, for consultants who hit their targets. But the new company has since missed payments on the agreed plan. Administrators Rob Keyes and David Taylor of KRE Corporate Recovery reported that "significant startup costs" and lower-than-expected turnover caused delays in honoring the contract. Woosnam also still owes a £1.2m director's loan from the defunct Premier, and he'd extracted nearly £2m in dividends since 2022.
The administrators earlier rejected a competing offer from an unnamed bidder that would have paid £321,000 upfront plus a potential £110,000 royalty - a quick return for creditors. Instead, they backed Woosnam, citing a fixed charge against his matrimonial property as collateral. They note he has set up a monthly standing order and that PGGBR is trading at break-even, with obligations to the crown and creditors "up to date."
Phoenixism is legal but controversial. HMRC estimates it costs the exchequer about 22% of the £3.8bn in tax losses reported in 2022-23. Louise Gracia, a professor of accounting at Warwick Business School, observed: "Cases like Premier Group, where millions are extracted before insolvency, are much harder to justify morally, even if they are legal." Neither Woosnam nor the administrators responded to requests for comment.