Medco Solutions Ltd was awarded contracts worth approximately £950 million by the DHSC to supply lateral flow tests during the Covid pandemic. We have been tracking their published accounts to understand what happened to that money. The picture that emerges raises serious questions about the flow of public funds.
Two Years of Accounts — The Numbers That Don't Add Up
Medco Solutions' turnover is almost entirely derived from its Covid contracts — the company had no comparable revenue before 2020. The two years following the contracts tell a striking financial story.
In 2021, Medco Solutions turned over £379 million, made a profit of £3.4 million, and paid £57.5 million to related parties of the director(s) for services received. In 2022, turnover fell to £289 million, the company made a loss of £2.8 million (resulting in a tax refund of £628,000), and paid over £100 million to related parties of the director(s).
Combined over two years: £668 million in revenue derived almost entirely from public funds, £606,000 in profit, £204,000 in tax — and £158 million paid out to related parties of the directors. The effective tax rate on £668 million in turnover is 0.03%.
"£668 million in revenue. £606,000 in profit. £204,000 in tax. £158 million to related parties of the directors. We still don't know where the money went."
Brethren Exposed — October 2023The Robertson Brothers — UK Directors and Their Property Companies
The UK directors of Medco Solutions are brothers Ross Robertson and Luke Robertson. On 14 September 2020 — two months before the first Medco Solutions contracts were awarded — each registered a property company for £1 alongside their respective wives.
The two property companies together now hold approximately £40.4 million in shareholder funds — built from nothing in September 2020. This is significant but would not, by itself, account for the £158 million paid to related parties. The destination of the remainder is not visible in any company filings we have examined.
Meraki Global Investments — The Company Connecting Robertson, Hales and Hazell
Ross and Luke Robertson are both directors of Meraki Global Investments Ltd alongside two other individuals whose connections to the wider PBCC Covid contract network are significant.
Meraki Global Investments connects the UK operational directors of Medco Solutions directly to the Australian shareholder (Dean Hales) and to the family behind the UK's other major PPE contract winner (Anthony Hazell of Unispace/Sante Global, via his brother Lee). This is the company at the intersection of the two largest PBCC Covid contract streams — Medco's £950 million in testing contracts and Unispace/Sante's £946 million in PPE.
What Medco Solutions' Turnover Tells Us
The company's accounts note that its turnover is wholly derived from Covid contracts. Before the pandemic Medco Solutions had no comparable revenues. Its entire commercial existence in the 2021–2022 period was the delivery of public sector contracts. On that basis, the £158 million paid to related parties of the directors over those two years represents a 23.7% levy on public contract revenues — paid to connected parties, the identity of whom is not disclosed in the published accounts.
The 2San Global investigation identified a separate but related question: Medco Solutions paid £160 million in admin fees to an undisclosed recipient across those same two years. Whether the £158 million in related party payments and the £160 million in admin fees refer to the same flows, or are two separate channels, cannot be determined from the published accounts alone.