PGGBR Ltd, the new company founded by recruitment executive Andrew Woosnam after his previous firm collapsed owing nearly £3m, has been placed into liquidation after falling behind with promised payments to the administrator. The development raises fresh questions about the controversial practice of “phoenixism”, whereby directors liquidate a company and return with a new entity free of debts.
Premier Group Recruitment's collapse and asset sale
Premier Group Recruitment went into administration in September 2025 owing £2.9m, including £647,000 to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), which had already begun enforcement proceedings against the company. Three days later, the recruiter’s assets were acquired by PGGBR Ltd, a business founded by Woosnam, who was Premier’s 99% shareholder.
Woosnam made an initial payment of £10,000 and promised to transfer a further £600,000 through monthly instalments of £25,000 over the following two years. Despite a seemingly positive start – the new business offered its consultants an “all expenses paid” trip to Las Vegas for hitting their targets – the company quickly fell behind with its promised repayments. In March, the administrators filed an update on its struggles with Companies House.
Liquidation and staff redundancies
On Sunday, filings at Companies House confirmed that PGGBR had appointed a voluntary liquidator. Woosnam, who had received a £1.2m director’s loan from the defunct Premier and had taken dividends totalling almost £2m since 2022, is also understood to have made a series of redundancies at the new business in July. Industry sources said these job losses equated to at least half of his staff.
The company’s website, which now appears to have been taken down, had previously listed a management team of 12 people. Sources with knowledge of the job losses suggested that those affected had not been paid and that Woosnam was planning to launch another new company to take his recruitment business forward. Companies House records show that in June, Woosnam changed the name of a business he founded a year ago from PGUSA to PGREC.
Research highlights risks of connected-party sales
The problems at Premier chime with long-running questions concerning the efficacy of allowing connected parties to buy back their bust businesses by promising future payments – known in the industry as deferred considerations. Research has suggested that poorer outcomes tend to occur in insolvencies where assets are acquired by connected parties paying via future instalments.
For example, research by the University of Wolverhampton, for the UK government’s 2014 Graham review, concluded: “The failure rate of a connected party sale increases from 15% of all cases without deferred consideration to 37% when deferred consideration is introduced. Generally, when deferred consideration is present, whether or not a connected sale is also present, the failure rate rises considerably.” Similar results were published by a 2018 study funded by the EU, which concluded: “When the sale was to connected purchasers, there was a significantly higher risk of buyer mortality.”
Woosnam has been approached for comment. HMRC estimates that phoenixism costs the UK taxpayer hundreds of millions of pounds a year, though the tactic is legal and supporters argue it can save jobs and help secure some returns for creditors.
