Sixteen jobs are in question at contract publishing specialist Brooklands Group after it went into administration.
And many freelance contributors to its titles fear they could be left thousands of pounds out of pocket.
Brooklands Group – which publishes A Place In The Sun and magazines for Renault, Chrysler, and the airline Flybe, among others – went into administration on 23 December.
This week, its creditors, including a number of freelance journalists, received an administrator’s letter asking for proof of debt – but it did not say how much would be paid, or when.
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One freelance, owed more than £1,000, told Press Gazette he knew a photographer owed £10,000, and a writer owed £5,000.
‘They (Brooklands) owed money all over the place,’he said.
Many have been owed money for more than six months, and some are pursuing their cash through the small claims court.
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The company employed 29 people.
Brooklands said in a statement that 13 staff are to move to APITS, a new company set up jointly by Freeform Productions, the co-owners of A Place In The Sun brand, and the former Brooklands publishing and finance director.
The remaining 16 staff are at risk of redundancy.
Darren Styles, Brooklands’ former managing director, has acquired the contract publishing and communications arm of the business and formed a new company, Stream Publishing, registered in south-west London.
Brooklands, which was based in Redhill, Surrey, still has its website up, which boasts the company is ‘one of the UK’s fastest-growing”.
Simon Glyn, administrator for Vantis Business Recovery Services, said: ‘Brooklands undoubtedly suffered as a result of the downturn in the economy with significant exposure to the international property and leisure markets via its publications and live events.
‘However the ‘A Place in the Sun’ brand is a strong one which was evidenced in 2007 and 2008 when the live events welcomed a record number of visitors.”
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