The case centers on Premier Group Recruitment, which entered administration in September 2025 with £2.9 million in debts, including a £647,000 balance owed to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) that had prompted enforcement proceedings against the firm. Three days after the collapse, Andrew Woosnam — who held a 99% stake in the original company — acquired the assets through a new entity, PGGBR Ltd. He made an initial £10,000 deposit and committed to paying an additional £600,000 in £25,000 monthly installments over two years.
The restructured company quickly projected financial confidence. In an early social media post on LinkedIn, PGGBR Ltd announced an “END OF YEAR TRIP 2026,” promising consultants the chance to win an all-expenses-paid trip to Las Vegas for hitting their targets. 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,” administrators Rob Keyes and David Taylor of KRE Corporate Recovery said in their latest report to creditors. “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 administrators noted that Woosnam also retains an outstanding £1.2 million director’s loan from the defunct Premier Group, a sum he had previously told them would be partially repaid. Company records show Woosnam withdrew nearly £2 million in dividends between 2022 and the firm’s collapse.
Despite missing the initial payment plan, administrators expressed confidence in their decision to award the assets to Woosnam over a competing bidder. Keyes and Taylor rejected an offer from an unnamed second party that included an initial cash consideration of £321,000 plus a potential royalty payment estimated at £110,000. The administrators stated they hold a fixed charge against Woosnam’s personal property, asserting that “there is sufficient equity that exists whereby if we are forced to make demand and realise the consideration from the property then the full contractual sum will be recovered.”
Woosnam has since established a monthly standing order payment, and PGGBR Ltd is currently trading at break-even. Keyes and Taylor confirmed that the company’s obligations to the Crown and other creditors are now up to date.
The restructuring raises questions around phoenixism, a practice legal in the UK that allows directors to liquidate a company and immediately relaunch operations under a new entity, shedding previous debts in the process. While supporters argue experienced management is often best positioned to salvage failed operations, critics point to the cost borne by taxpayers and creditors. HMRC previously estimated that phoenix company activity accounted for approximately 22% of the £3.8 billion in tax losses reported during the 2022 to 2023 fiscal year.
“Cases like Premier Group, where millions are extracted before insolvency, are much harder to justify morally, even if they are legal,” said Louise Gracia, a professor of accounting at Warwick Business School. “It raises concerns around whether the law is drawing the line in the right place, allowing liabilities to be quietly shed while assets are retained, with the taxpayer quietly absorbing the difference.”
Neither Woosnam nor Keyes responded to invitations to comment.