Court appoints provisional liquidators to Dublin recruitment agency

High Court Reporters

The High Court has appointed provisional liquidators to a Dublin recruitment agency specialising in the tech sector.

Mr Justice Mark Sanfey appointed Declan Clancy of Status Corporate Advisory and Barry Forrest of Forrest & Company as provisional liquidators to Allen Recruitment Consulting Ltd, with registered offices at Pembroke Street Upper.

It followed a one side only represented (ex parte) application by Ross Gorman BL on behalf of the company whose directors are Brian Cunningham and Louise Allen.

In its petition, the company, which was set up in 2000, said it provides temporary and contract staff for multinational firms, particularly in the tech industry.

It grew slowly up to 2019, breaking even or making a modest profit. In January 2020, it had 16 administrative staff who placed its agency staff with client companies.

At that point, it placed 111 agency staff with clients.

It grew very rapidly during the pandemic and placed more than 600 people in temporary employment during the pandemic and had 70 people directly employed in its Dublin office.

By March 2022, it had a peak agency staff of 355 but demand for such staff then began to decline.

The firm had warehoused a lot of debt to Revenue, which the court heard stands at some €5 million.

An expansion into seven European countries in recent years, along with finance for office space and local employees, ultimately proved unsuccessful, the petition said.

The money loaned for that expansion was not recoverable.

The decline in the number of agency staff it supplied continued and a survival plan, in which overheads were cut and its own office staff numbers were cut by 50 per cent, failed to turn the business around. It had also entered into an instalment arrangement in 2024 to pay off the €5 million warehoused Revenue debt.

The company was clearly insolvent and given its current financial position, it said, it would not be in a position to pay staff for work they undertake in November.

Agency staff get paid by Allen Recruitment the first week of the month after they have worked but it can be up to two months before the company is paid that money by its clients.

The company is due to be paid around €1.2 million by its clients for work done in September and October this year.

If it does not pay staff their wages then clients will terminate their contracts and will not in turn pay invoices. As a result the directors made the decision to apply to have provisional liquidators appointed.

The directors have informed clients of the insolvency and are working to ensure agency staff are engaged by other agencies so that they can continue to work for clients, the petition said.

The directors believe if there is a fairly seamless transition the €1.2 million is due from clients will be paid even if it goes into liquidation.

Mr Justice Sanfey was satisfied that a controlled wind down of the company was appropriate and the appointment of the provisional liquidators with a view to conducting the affairs of the firm is the only way the assets can be protected and got in in a proper manner.

He said the case could come back to court later this month.