The latest report from joint administrators Rehan Ahmed and Jeremy Woodside of Quantuma Advisory details events that resulted in the firm going down with an estimated total deficiency of just over £1.7m.
HMRC is the single-biggest creditor, owed £1.1m for PAYE and VAT.
HMRC had been pushing for payment and it appeared likely it would issue a winding-up petition.
“In addition, the MD had advised that he had been suffering with a number of health concerns and was no longer able to continue in his position,” the report stated.
Trade and expense creditors were owed £587,229.
The unsecured creditors also included banks and institutions owed £84,346.
Premier Communications (Peterborough) traded as PremCom and offered a range of printing and marketing services.
The firm had sales of £4.7m in calendar year 2022, and was profitable, but sales had dropped to £3.9m in 2024 according to management accounts, and it made an operating loss of £37,240.
The administrators said that pre-pandemic the business had been trading profitably on the back of its quick turnaround service and good quality products, and web-to-print service.
However, post-Covid-19 the company started to experience difficulties as customers reduced their marketing budgets.
“The company was unable to pass increases in costs to customers and during the same time the company started to lose customers. In 2024 the company lost one of its major customers with impacted the company significantly,” the admins stated.
At the end of January directors Marco Poli and Vincenza Poli engaged auction house John Pye & Sons to carry out a valuation and marketing exercise for the business. Despite 24 expressions of interest, no formal offers were submitted by the 14 February deadline.
The directors filed an NOI on 7 April after seeking advice from the firm’s accountants and Quantuma.
A second NOI was filed on 23 April that was also served on NatWest Bank and Lloyds Bank Commercial Finance.
The joint administrators were appointed on 30 April.
Subsequently, unconnected party Premcom UK Limited offered £90,000 for the firm's work in progress, intellectual property, machinery and equipment, and office setup.
Of this, £50,000 was paid upon completion of the sale on 30 April, with four subsequent monthly payments of £10,000 payable at the end of May through to August.
Personal guarantees for the outstanding amount have been given by the directors of Premcom UK: Julian Webb, Mark Rathore, Owen Bennett, Martin Horsman and Philip Worrall.
The buyer also took on all 17 employees, while Premier’s two directors stepped back.
Premier Communications was also owed £202,848 at the time of its administration by connected company Studio Brandy, with the administrators flagging the likelihood of “no recoverability”. Studio Brandy was compulsorily struck off the Companies House register earlier this month.
The transaction was also subject to a so-called ‘Anti-Embarrassment Clause’, which would require Premcom UK to account to the joint administrators if they sell the business and assets within a 12 month period, for an amount in excess of £90,000.
Editor's note: None of the businesses reference above are connected to Ascot-based digital media agency Premier Communications, which trades as PremComms.
