{"id":21983,"date":"2026-02-15T08:05:32","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T08:05:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=21983"},"modified":"2026-02-15T08:05:32","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T08:05:32","slug":"firm-that-went-bust-owing-650k-to-hmrc-offers-staff-las-vegas-trip-after-being-bought-by-ex-owner-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=21983","title":{"rendered":"Firm that went bust owing \u00a3650k to HMRC offers staff Las Vegas trip after being bought by ex-owner | Business"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A recruitment business that went bust owing the tax authorities and other creditors almost \u00a33m has promised to send its staff on an all-expenses paid trip to Las Vegas after being repurchased by its former owner for an initial \u00a310,000.<\/p>\n

Premier Group Recruitment went into administration in September with debts of \u00a32.9m<\/a> \u2013 including \u00a3647,000 owed to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), which had commenced enforcement proceedings against the company.<\/p>\n

The recruiter\u2019s assets were acquired three days later by a new company, PGGBR Ltd, founded by Andrew Woosnam, Premier\u2019s 99% shareholder.<\/p>\n

Shorn of its debts, the new company has been active on social media, posting on LinkedIn: \u201cEND OF YEAR TRIP 2026. We\u2019re going BIG \u2026 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new company said it will pay flights and accommodation for staff who will be given \u201cunforgettable experiences\u201d for \u201czero cost, just results\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re looking to get into recruitment (or take your career to the next level) and want to be properly rewarded for your hard work, this is your sign,\u201d the company added.<\/p>\n

Aside from the former recruitment business owing the UK taxpayer hundreds of thousands of pounds, Woosnam had borrowed \u00a31.2m from the old Premier through a director\u2019s loan \u2013 an outstanding debt that appears to have increased by \u00a3265,000 since the end of its 2024 financial year, after which the business admitted to \u201csubstantial doubt about the company\u2019s ability to meet its obligations in the foreseeable future\u201d.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Premier\u2019s 2022 and 2023 annual reports showed a total of \u00a31.95m in dividends were paid to the company\u2019s shareholders.<\/p>\n

The deal by Woosnam to buy the business out of administration appears to be an example of what is known as \u201cphoenixism\u201d \u2013 when companies are liquidated and directors are able to rise from the ashes with a new entity, free of debts.<\/p>\n

HMRC has previously raised the issue of phoenixism, which \u2013 while generally legal \u2013 it estimates costs the exchequer about 22% of the \u00a33.8bn of tax losses<\/a> reported in 2022 to 2023.<\/p>\n

Woosnam\u2019s new company reacquired his former business\u2019s assets by paying an initial \u00a310,000 and then committing to \u201cmonthly instalments of \u00a325,000 over the period to 30 September 2027\u201d, bringing the total purchase price to \u00a3610,000 \u2013 according to a report by administrators Rob Keyes and David Taylor of KRE Corporate Recovery. The instalments will probably be paid out of the new business.<\/p>\n

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Neither Woosnam nor Keyes responded to invitations from the Guardian to comment or to provide details of payments made to creditors since last year\u2019s administration deal.<\/p>\n

The administrators, who were appointed by the old Premier business, also turned down an offer by an unnamed second bidder \u2013 who offered \u201can initial cash consideration of \u00a3321,000\u201d as well as a \u201cfurther royalty payment\u201d \u2013 which is thought to have been potentially worth an extra \u00a3110,000.<\/p>\n

The administrators have previously stated that they estimate recovering about half of the outstanding \u00a31.2m director\u2019s loan.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

#Firm #bust #owing #650k #HMRC #offers #staff #Las #Vegas #trip #bought #exowner #Business<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A recruitment business that we… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21984,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21983"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21983\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}