Recruiter who was allowed to buy back his insolvent firm falls behind on payments after offering staff Vegas trip

The recruiter’s case raises questions about ‘phoenixism’, the practice of liquidating companies and restarting under a new entity free of debt. Photograph: Tero Vesalainen/Alamy View image in fullscreen The recruiter’s case raises questions about ‘phoenixism’, the practice of liquidating companies and restarting under a new entity free of debt. Photograph: Tero Vesalainen/Alamy Recruiter who was allowed to buy back his insolvent firm falls behind on payments after offering staff Vegas trip Premier Group Recruitment went into administration with debts of £2.9m – including £647,000 owed to HMRC A recruitment executive – who was allowed to buy back the assets of his bust company in instalments despite it accumulating almost £3m of debt – has fallen behind on promised payments after pledging to send staff on an all-expenses paid trip to Las Vegas. The development is the latest case to raise questions about the practice of “phoenixism”, accounting’s controversial art of liquidating companies to allow directors to rise from the ashes with a new entity, free of debts. Premier Group Recruitment went into administration in September owing £2.9m , including £647,000 to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), which had begun enforcement proceedings against the company. The recruiter’s assets were acquired three days later by a new company, PGGBR Ltd, founded by Andrew Woosnam, Premier’s 99% shareholder, who made an initial £10,000 payment and promised to transfer a further £600,000 via monthly £25,000 instalments over the following two years. The restructured business initially appeared to be booming, with one of PGGBR’s early actions being a post on LinkedIn that announced: “END OF YEAR TRIP 2026. We’re going BIG … That means our consultants have the chance to hit their targets throughout the year and earn an ALL-EXPENSES-PAID trip to Viva Las Vegas.” However, the new company now appears to have fallen behind on the agreed payment plan. “The company faced a number of challenges on startup, with significant startup costs being incurred against the backdrop of turnover not reaching the anticipated levels,” the latest report to creditors by the administrators, Rob Keyes and David Taylor, of KRE Corporate Recovery, sets out. “Given the above, there have been delays in honouring the terms and obligations of the contract, which has led to a reduction in the level of contributions that the company was due to make under the terms of the contract.” The report goes on to state that Woosnam’s outstanding £1.2m director’s loan from the defunct Premier also remains unpaid, with the administrators previously estimating that they would recover about half that amount. He had also taken dividends out of the company totalling almost £2m since 2022. Earlier in the administration, Keyes and Taylor, who were appointed by Premier, turned down a competing offer for the business by an unnamed second bidder for “an initial cash consideration of £321,000” as well as a “further royalty payme