Key facts
- A recruitment executive's new company has been placed into liquidation.
- The new company, PGGBR Ltd, failed to make installment payments for assets acquired from its predecessor, Premier Group Recruitment.
- Premier Group Recruitment owed £2.9m when it entered administration.
- Andrew Woosnam, the executive in question, had previously received a £1.2m director's loan from Premier.
- Research indicates a higher failure rate for companies acquired by connected parties using deferred consideration.
A UK recruitment executive, Andrew Woosnam, has placed his new company, PGGBR Ltd, into liquidation after failing to meet installment payments for the assets of his previous firm, Premier Group Recruitment. Premier Group entered administration in September 2025, owing £2.9 million, including £647,000 to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
Woosnam, who was Premier's 99% shareholder and had received a £1.2 million director's loan, acquired the company's assets for PGGBR Ltd with an initial £10,000 payment and a promise to transfer £600,000 over two years in £25,000 monthly installments. Despite early signs of success, including an incentive trip for consultants, PGGBR Ltd fell behind on these payments.
Filings at Companies House revealed PGGBR Ltd appointed a voluntary liquidator on Sunday. This development follows significant redundancies at the new business in July, which sources indicated amounted to at least half its staff, with some affected employees reportedly not being paid. Woosnam is also understood to be planning another new venture.
Woosnam had previously taken dividends totaling almost £2 million from Premier since 2022. The situation at PGGBR Ltd echoes broader concerns about 'phoenixism,' the controversial practice of liquidating companies to allow directors to re-establish businesses debt-free. Research, including a 2014 study for the UK government and a 2018 EU-funded study, suggests that sales to connected parties using deferred consideration significantly increase the risk of buyer mortality.