Agent gone bust

[Jo Strummer]

Err, have I missed s/th here?

An agent on 10% commission running 15 contractors each billing say a reasonable 10k a month each is;

£180k a year?

Where do I sign!!!? I can ring people up, I could do that, go on, gizza job, I know u've got one, go on, gi' us it....

180K is what the agency get, if we are talking contracts then there is the cost of running the business, the factoring, and interest. Then factor in just one of your clients going tits up and owing you say 6 months money on just one contract which you have paid out.....your £180K is looking pretty sick at that stage The consultant running you would get roughly 40% in total ( thats the model across IT Recruitment if you pay more the 40% you will go bust simple as that ). And like I say that is simply not the average across the industry its more like £110K ( these are published figures ) as to average margin at 16% that just is not the case, if it was you would not have so many agencies going to the wall.

[perplexed]

Well, in this instance, given public sector ClientCo, factoring pretty much was a non-issue.

[0mega]

Factoring couldn't have been an issue since Pendragon mostly didn't factor payments, they had a policy of only paying contractors once they had received money from the ClientCo.

In the 2008 accounts it shows they managed to minimise interest charges by paying off £1m of debt, then maximised funds owed to trade creditors (contractors) by the same amount... meaning they offset their own loans by retaining money owed to contractors.

It's really no wonder payments stopped.

Fack, Allen, Holden etc managed to take £180,000 in emoluments the same year, up a whooping 600% on the year before. M D C Allen owed £66,240 in linterest free loans, M B Fack owed £17,923.

Wonder how well they are operating the new company?

[Tarquin Farquhar]

Only if they can be shown to have traded whilst insolvent. They have a limited company for exactly the same reason you do.

tim

Actually I have a limited company because agents will not contract with me otherwise. Not so that other people's money can stick to my fingers and then I can go bust and get away with not paying it back.

[Not So Wise]

Factoring couldn't have been an issue since Pendragon mostly didn't factor payments, they had a policy of only paying contractors once they had received money from the ClientCo.

Which for any sensible contractor is a huge red flag to start looking for a new contract as agency has serious cash/credit flow issues and can go bust any minute (plus you are letting them get their margin for doing pretty much nothing)

[PinkPoshRat]

Pendragon do like to browse through articles here on the forum

So I would like to wish them all a very happy Christmas, from all your loyal contractors.

[perplexed]

Indeed, a Merry Christmas to Maxine and Rob et al.

May they receive many presents - inserted anally.

I'm sure many contractors are thinking of them over this festive period.

[Town64]

Yes indeed, many contractors will be thinking of Pendragon as we tuck into our Tesco Value turkey breast on Christmas Day.

As for the creditors meeting held on Tues 15th Dec, a collective effort by those owed money meant that our proposed liquidator was appointed and not the choice of the directors of Pendragon Information Systems Ltd.

We still won't get our money back but it'll make for an uncomfortable few weeks/months for the directors especially if there's a hint of wrongful trading. If they thought they could get their own man in, wrap things up quickly and get on with trading under a new company then they certainly underestimated many of the creditors.

Merry Christmas

[RichardCranium]

As for the creditors meeting held on Tues 15th Dec, a collective effort by those owed money meant that our proposed liquidator was appointed and not the choice of the directors of Pendragon Information Systems Ltd.

We still won't get our money back but it'll make for an uncomfortable few weeks/months for the directors especially if there's a hint of wrongful trading. If they thought they could get their own man in, wrap things up quickly and get on with trading under a new company then they certainly underestimated many of the creditors.

Well done!

Indeed, have a Merry Christmas despite the buggers.

[Town64]

Well done!

Indeed, as a mere foot soldier in the fight against Pendragon, praise certainly needs to be heaped upon those certain few creditors whose battle to see justice more then compensation is much appreciated by the majority of us who are owed in total around £955k