Profits jump for Patel-backed PPE firm after it won £216m contracts

theguardian.com:

Profits at a PPE company that secured support from the home secretary, Priti Patel, as it lobbied ministers for UK government contracts have soared after winning £216m in taxpayer-funded business during the pandemic.

Revenues at Pharmaceuticals Direct Limited jumped from £38m to £166m in the year to the end of March 2021, with profits rising eightfold, from £1.6m to £13m, according to accounts filed this week at Companies House.

The company, which also paid a £420,000 dividend for the year, won two PPE contracts during the period, worth a combined £131m.

Last year, Labour accused Patel of a “flagrant breach” of the ministerial code, which she denied, after letters emerged showing that she intervened with Michael Gove on behalf of the company, which was represented by a former adviser of hers.

Documents showed that in May 2020, Patel attempted to secure a PPE deal for the firm worth £20m.

Her efforts failed after the health secretary, Matt Hancock, said the masks were “not suitable for the NHS”, according to disclosure in a legal case brought by the Good Law Project.

On both occasions, Samir Jassal was Patel’s “suppliers’ contact” at PDL, according to contract documents. Jassal is a former adviser to Patel, has stood as a Conservative candidate at two general elections and has met Boris Johnson and David Cameron.

At the time, a spokesperson for Patel said: “The home secretary rightly followed up representations made to her about the vital supply of PPE. During a time of national crisis, failure to do so would have been a dereliction of duty.”

PDL, whose owner Bemal Patel (no relation to the home secretary), has since won a third contract, worth £85m, to provide lateral flow tests, taking its total income from Covid-19 work to