The Guardian has reported that Andrew Woosnam's original firm, Premier Group Recruitment, entered administration in September 2025. For decades before that, Mr Woosnam built a successful career in recruitment, allowing him to draw millions in salary and dividends and purchase a grand Berkshire house once owned by the comedians Dawn French and Lenny Henry. However, his business fortunes have sharply reversed.
Premier Group entered administration owing a total of £2.9 million, with HMRC owed £647,000. Three days later, the company's assets were acquired by a new company, PGGBR Ltd, also owned by Mr Woosnam, in a pre-pack administration deal. Mr Woosnam made an initial £10,000 payment and promised a further £600,000 in monthly instalments. According to The Guardian, the promised payments from the phoenix business never materialised.
The new company ran up an additional £400,000 debt to HMRC before it was placed into liquidation. The Guardian reports that Mr Woosnam had received a director's loan of £1.2 million from the defunct Premier Group and dividends totalling almost £2 million, as well as a further £200,000 loan from PGGBR.
Despite these failures, a new recruitment firm, Xpertis Talent, was created in July 2026. At least eight former Premier Group staff now say they work for the new brand, and The Guardian noted the ownership is held by an individual in Thailand, not by Mr Woosnam. Mr Woosnam did not respond to requests for comment, and the joint administrators based at KRE Corporate Recovery did not return calls.