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Phil Spencers company owed £500K

Location, Location, Location star Phil Spencer's company owed £500k
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By Tom Pettifor 14/04/2009
PHIL'S TURMOIL
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TV property expert Phil Spencer's failed company owed more than £500,000 when it went bust.
The full extent of the Location, Location, Location star's financial turmoil was revealed in administrators' documents signed by him and seen by the Mirror.
His firm, Garrington Home Finders, owed creditors £576,052 when it folded in February.
The business, which helped wealthy clients find new homes, managed to complete just one deal in the final quarter of 2008.
Creditors included Lloyds TSB, owed £141,400, landlords Chelsea Harbour Ltd, owed £21,218 and the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, £4,534 out of pocket.
The taxman is owed £185,000 and GHF also has outstanding debts with BT, EDF Energy, E-on Energy and its stationery suppliers. It had a £170,000 overdraft at the Queen's bank Coutts when it went bust.
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There is no suggestion Spencer broke any laws but as a matter of routine his actions will be investigated by the administrators.
The 39-year-old had been paying staff out of his own pocket in a desperate fight to keep the project going.
But all 10 employees at the Chelseabased company were laid off and the firm went into administration.
Spencer co-founded GHF with his Australian wife Fiona, 40, in 1996. Clients have included Keira Knightley, Kylie Minogue and Tottenham footballer Jonathan Woodgate.
Papers reveal the company's turnover increased between 2004 and 2007 from £653,474 to £2,195,442. But things went badly wrong last year with the collapse of Lehman's.
When GHF went into administration, dejected Spencer said: "I have, together with others, fought tooth and nail to keep the company alive and keep everyone in jobs."
I came in to this world with nothing and I've still got most of it left. :rolleyes:
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Comments

  • ad9898_3
    ad9898_3 Posts: 3,858 Forumite
    bo_drinker wrote: »
    TV property expert Phil Spencer's

    I had to stop reading after spitting out my tea at the above comment. The term 'expert' is banded around far too much these days by the media, the above comment is a prime example.
  • pickles110564
    pickles110564 Posts: 2,374 Forumite
    ad9898 wrote: »
    I had to stop reading after spitting out my tea at the above comment. The term 'expert' is banded around far too much these days by the media, the above comment is a prime example.
    Ad, he was a good tv presenter though.
  • VfM4meplse
    VfM4meplse Posts: 34,269 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker I've been Money Tipped!
    Seemed a bit more down to earth than his co-presenter.
    Value-for-money-for-me-puhleeze!

    "No man is worth, crawling on the earth"- adapted from Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio

    Hope is not a strategy :D...A child is for life, not just 18 years....Don't get me started on the NHS, because you won't win...I love chaz-ing!
  • 97trophy
    97trophy Posts: 915 Forumite
    Wow! very interesting.
  • ad44downey
    ad44downey Posts: 2,246 Forumite
    Phil Madoff should be stripped of all his assets and thrown in a debtors' prison. You can't let these chancers away with it.
    Krusty & Phil Madoff, 1990 - 2007:
    "Buy now because house prices only ever go UP, UP, UP."
  • ad9898_3
    ad9898_3 Posts: 3,858 Forumite
    Ad, he was a good tv presenter though.

    I agree, he wasn't bad, certainly a million times better than his useless sidekick. So maybe a better start to the article would "Expert TV presenter, Phil Spencer......":D
  • Plasticman
    Plasticman Posts: 2,554 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    ad9898 wrote: »
    The term 'expert' is banded around far too much these days by the media....

    I know what you mean. 'Property Expert' Phil Spencer, 'Moneysaving Expert' Martin Lewis - they are all at it.
  • baby_boomer
    baby_boomer Posts: 3,883 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    ad44downey wrote: »
    Phil Madoff should be stripped of all his assets and thrown in a debtors' prison. You can't let these chancers away with it.
    Sharia law has a more appropriate punishment which would save taxpayers' the expense of housing him.

    Isn't language odd. My inititial reading of the title was that Phil Spencer was owed money.
  • bo_drinker
    bo_drinker Posts: 3,924 Forumite
    ad9898 wrote: »
    I agree, he wasn't bad, certainly a million times better than his useless sidekick. So maybe a better start to the article would "Expert TV presenter, Phil Spencer......":D
    His useless sidekick has her own new show starting soon.
    I came in to this world with nothing and I've still got most of it left. :rolleyes:
  • bo_drinker wrote: »
    His useless sidekick has her own new show starting soon.


    "How to deal with repossession"?


    Would they really listen to her twice?


    Probably :eek:
    Not Again
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