Albany apologises to contractors and agencies after funding pulled
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Neutral vendor and workforce management company the Albany Group has apologised for any inconvenience or financial hardship to staffing companies and contractors after admitting that a £3m factoring facility for three of its UK companies has been withdrawn.
The companies concerned are Albany Management UK, Albany EMEA and Albany Employment Services. Established in 1989, Albany has 14 offices worldwide. Clients include GSK, Carphone Warehouse and Boeing. Recruiter understands that Albany’s other companies - Albany Services (USA); Albany Technologies (UK); Albany Netherlands NV; Albany Tecserv (Ireland), and Albany Asia Pacific - have not been affected.
In a letter sent to a recruiter, dated 12 January, Albany says that on 16 December 2009, “the lenders stopped us drawing funds down despite having in excess of £7m of receivables against a maximum draw down facility of £3m”. The lender was not identified in the letter, but an RBS spokesman confirmed that RBS Invoice Finance is the lender involved. He added that RBS would like to comment but could not do so without the client’s permission. As Recruiter went to press this was not forthcoming.
At the same time Albany says the lenders “proceeded to capture all in coming funds received from clients and staffing companies with the sole objective of recovering money owed them”.
As a result, the company admits that “for the last three weeks it has not been able to pay many contractors or staffing agencies who are owed money by any one of the three Albany companies”.
According to the letter, the funding facility which was used to finance specific businesses as well as to provide working capital for the group, was withdrawn following a review by the lenders of Albany’s contract with two major clients. The letter says: “The reason for this decision was because of the extended payment terms which are often associated when dealing with corporate clients, and because a large proportion of funds due from these clients are payable to staffing companies as opposed to contractors.”
The letter ends: “We deeply apologise for any inconvenience or financial hardship this situation has caused and we would like to thank everybody involved with Albany for your continued support.”
Martin Glick, chief executive and founder of Albany, told Recruiter in an email: “I am not prepared to discuss confidential information with a trade magazine.”
One recruiter who has a small number of contractors abroad working through Albany, told Recruiter that his company would limit the potential damage by dealing direct with its clients. The recruiter, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “We have worked with Albany for a number of years and we want to support them but we are trying to protect ourselves.”
The Professional Contractors Group said the letter “is concerning” and “a reminder that agencies are not immune from cashflow problems”.
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Readers' comments (44)
Romek | Thu, 21 Jan 2010 3:21 pm
Albany does my invoicing... now I'm not sure where things are. Scary when you find out more information from outside sources than from the company directly...
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Neill C | Fri, 22 Jan 2010 1:16 pm
As someone who is affected by this, I've got to agree with the above. Albany has barely communicated regarding this, and emails requesting updates frequently seem to go ignored.
I was first made aware of this on 8 January. Since then, only one update has been sent out and Albany has been unable to provide any useful information about the situation.
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Stuart | Fri, 22 Jan 2010 9:16 pm
I am a month out of pocket and the only reason I found out on 20th Jan was because I was constantly ringing and emailing my "client services manager" to find out why my December pay hadnt been paid in to my bank account. I was then informed about the above - and now have absolutely no way of knowing if I will ever see that money again. The phone number is useless as you just reach an answer phone and i feel completely disgusted with the situation. Albany have even told me that my client have paid them, and my December money is sitting in their bank account but they cannot pay me as it is frozen. I don't know what to believe.
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Ben | Sat, 23 Jan 2010 7:35 pm
I spoke with Albany during the week, they apologised and explained they were still wrangling with the bank. It has caused me major issues. Apparently they are being held over a barrel and are putting their energies into resolving the issue.
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Stuart | Mon, 25 Jan 2010 2:14 pm
Albany are not picking up calls, or responding to emails today. Has anyone else been experiencing problems trying to get hold of anyone there?
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Denise | Mon, 25 Jan 2010 10:43 pm
No pay since start of December. No one answering calls and emails ignored. No information. It is scary, frustrating, worrying. Just want to get paid. Has anyone any ideas?
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Neill C | Tue, 26 Jan 2010 0:07 am
I've had a message saying that they're transferring people to another company for work going forward, but no real details on the outstanding monies.
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Tristan Woods | Tue, 26 Jan 2010 10:19 am
It's terrible to read the stories above and we know it is hard for everyone involved.
If you are a contractor, encourage your engagor (customer) to speak to us at SafeGuard World International - we can help with these issues and our service model doesn't carry the same inherent risks. Plus, we have never missed a payment.
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Mario L | Tue, 26 Jan 2010 1:23 pm
Albany are still not responding any e-mail or picking up calls. My December 2009 is being held despite already being paid by the agency. Is there anybody else in this situation? Could some one please provide any advice on what to do ? many thx
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Contractor | Tue, 26 Jan 2010 10:13 pm
They have been responding to my mails.
Last I heard yesterday that the situation with the bank is solved.
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