US banker paid himself £149m in dividends from lucrative UK government Covid testing deals.
US banker paid himself £149m in dividends from lucrative UK government Covid testing deals.
Tanner Pharma UK Ltd continue to post huge pandemic profits from the DHSC "Test and Trace" contracts.
Banks Bourne the sole director and owner of Tanner Pharma UK has for the second year running paid himself a staggering £76m in dividends, this follows a £73m payment last year.
In total Mr Bourne has received over £149m in dividend payments since the firm secured multiple and highly lucrative Covid testing contracts from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) in 2020 and 2021.
According to data compiled by Tussell, Tanner Pharma UK were awarded nine contracts from the UK government to provide lateral flow devices valued at up to £1.45B resulting in £180m gross profits for the firm to date.
Tanner Pharma UK’s turnover is almost entirely reliant on the UK government. Approximately 97% of the company’s turnover was generated from its Covid deals in the UK, according to records published on Companies House.
In the US, Bourne and Tanner Pharma UK’s eye-watering contracts with the UK government are at the centre of an ongoing multimillion dollar lawsuit.
According to report’s “A lawsuit filed in the Charlotte federal courts accuses the former Wachovia investment banker, his pharmaceutical-supply companies, and a top associate of improperly withholding hundreds of millions of dollars in profits that were owed to a business partner”
Furthermore, a report published by Good Law Project revealed Tanner Pharma were one of six companies that provided unusable Covid tests to the Department of Health and Social Care during the pandemic. In total the six firms provided over £250m in unusable goods. Tanner Pharma UK claim they are not aware of any kits being rejected by authorities in the UK.
Tanner Pharma UK were not the only Covid testing firm to make huge profits from contracts secured under the governments controversial “Test and Trace” programme. In the coming days and weeks we will publish further evidence of the continued wealth being generated by a handful of politically connected people at the expense of the tax payer.
A spokesperson for Tanner Pharma UK said:
“Tanner Pharma UK Limited earned contracts from the DHSC to provide lateral flow Covid-19 tests for use in the United Kingdom. These tests were selected because, when evaluated at Porton Down, they were determined to have both very high specificity and very high sensitivity against viral loads associated with infectiousness. We are proud to have successfully delivered over 480 million reliable, accurate testing kits as part of the emergency response to the pandemic”.
“At all times, Tanner Pharma UK Limited acted within its contractual rights, and generously compensated FS Medical Supplies. Their claims in the lawsuit in the US are without merit, and some claims have already been dismissed by the Court. We remain confident in our case”.
The Stats
Tanner Pharma UK Ltd
Value of Covid contracts awarded to Tanner Pharma: £1.45b (according to Tussell).
Tanner Pharma gross profits since contract awards: £180m.
Tanner Pharma dividends paid since the contract awards: £149m.
Extracts from the latest accounts published by Tanner Pharma UK can be viewed below:
