Firm that went bust owing £650k to HMRC offers staff Las Vegas trip after being bought by ex-owner

A recruitment business that went bust owing the tax authorities and other creditors almost £3m 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 £10,000.Premier Group Recruitment went into administration in September with debts of £2.9m – including £647,000 owed to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), which had commenced 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.Shorn of its debts, the new company has been active on social media, posting on LinkedIn: “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.”The new company said it will pay flights and accommodation for staff who will be given “unforgettable experiences” for “zero cost, just results”. “If you’re 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,” the company added.Aside from the former recruitment business owing the UK taxpayer hundreds of thousands of pounds, Woosnam had borrowed £1.2m from the old Premier through a director’s loan – an outstanding debt that appears to have increased by £265,000 since the end of its 2024 financial year, after which the business admitted to “substantial doubt about the company’s ability to meet its obligations in the foreseeable future”.Meanwhile, Premier’s 2022 and 2023 annual reports showed a total of £1.95m in dividends were paid to the company’s shareholders.The deal by Woosnam to buy the business out of administration appears to be an example of what is known as “phoenixism” – when companies are liquidated and directors are able to rise from the ashes with a new entity, free of debts.HMRC has previously raised the issue of phoenixism, which – while generally legal – it estimates costs the exchequer about 22% of the £3.8bn of tax losses reported in 2022 to 2023.Woosnam’s new company reacquired his former business’s assets by paying an initial £10,000 and then committing to “monthly instalments of £25,000 over the period to 30 September 2027”, bringing the total purchase price to £610,000 – 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.Neither Woosnam nor Keyes responded to invitations from the Guardian to comment or to provide details of payments made to creditors since last year’s administration deal.The administrators, who were appointed by the old Premier business, also turned down an offer by an unnamed second bidder – who offered “an initial cash consideration of £321,000” as well as a “further royalty payment” – which is thought to have been potentially worth an extra £110,000.The administrators have previously stated that they estimate recovering about half of the outstanding £1.2m director’s loan.