Third firm emerges after Andrew Woosnam’s two recruitment collapses
Andrew Woosnam built a multimillion-pound fortune during three decades in the recruitment industry, buying a grand Berkshire estate once owned by comedians Dawn French and Lenny Henry for £2.2m in 2013. Today, insolvency professionals are eyeing that six-acre property as creditors pursue more than £3m left behind by his collapsed companies, including over £1m owed to the UK taxpayer, The Guardian reported.
From Award-Winning Agency to Administration
For years, Premier Group Recruitment stood out as a decorated player in the sector. Woosnam held 99% of the shares in the business before it entered administration in September 2025. Company filings show the firm collapsed owing £2.9m, a sum that included £647,000 due to HM Revenue and Customs after tax officials launched enforcement proceedings.
Just three days after that administration, a newly formed entity called PGGBR Ltd acquired the recruiter’s assets. Woosnam owned this second venture too, putting down an initial payment of £10,000 while promising to funnel £600,000 to administrators through monthly instalments of £25,000 over two years. That deferred structure outbid a rival offer of £321,000 in cash from a competing bidder. Yet pre-pack administrations carrying deferred payments draw criticism from insolvency experts for leaving unsecured creditors exposed to heavy losses.
The promised instalments failed to appear. Instead, the second company accumulated an additional £400,000 debt to HMRC before it was placed into liquidation, according to Companies House records. Throughout this sequence, financial extractions continued. Woosnam had previously drawn a £1.2m director’s loan from the defunct Premier Group alongside nearly £2m in dividends issued since 2022. Filings indicate he also secured a further £200,000 via a director’s loan from PGGBR prior to its liquidation.
The Third Incarnation at Xpertis Talent
Despite two insolvency processes in rapid succession, a third recruitment brand has materialized. Operating under the name Xpertis Talent and established in July 2026, the new venture has absorbed at least eight former Premier Group employees. Marketing materials posted on professional networks show staff blurring the lines between past collapses and the current operation, with one consultant attributing an industry award won by Premier Group in 2022 directly to the new brand. Another employee noted online that work for the latest firm began before its official registration with Companies House.
Whether Woosnam is actively driving this latest iteration remains unconfirmed. Companies House records list the sole owner of Xpertis Talent as an individual based in Thailand. While Woosnam is understood to have Thai family ties, public filings and available records do not establish whether those relatives hold any connection to the new business. Woosnam did not respond to multiple requests for comment regarding the debt, the asset transfers, or his current commercial interests.