Randox made pre-tax profits of £190m in 2022, accounts show

Accounts for the business shows a fall in pre-tax profits after the national Covid testing programme came to an end

Randox, a major provider of Covid-19 tests, made a pre-tax profit of £190m in 2022, down from its record 2021 profit of £275m.

The accounts for Randox Holdings covers June 2021 to June 2022.

During this period, the County Antrim firm was still performing Covid tests under the government's National Testing Programme.

Randox said work for that programme tapered off over the year and concluded on 22 June 2022.

It added that private testing continued beyond the end of the financial year, though "at much reduced numbers".

Group turnover was up from £619m in 2021 to £626m in 2022, but the lower profits reflected higher costs and expenses.

Between January 2020 and December 2021, the UK's Department of Health awarded 22 contracts to Randox, or its strategic partner, with a maximum value of £777m.

Those Covid testing contracts were investigated by the National Audit Office (NAO) over concerns about lobbying and contracts awarded without competitive tendering.

The NAO concluded that it had "not seen any evidence that the government's contracts with Randox were awarded improperly".

Dr Peter Fitzgerald founded Randox in 1982

However, it added that the Department of Health "did not document key decisions adequately, disclose ministerial meetings with Randox fully or keep full records of ministerial discussions involving Randox".

Randox is owned by Dr Peter Fitzgerald, who founded the business in 1982.

He also owns the 1,200 acre Dundarave estate in north Antrim which he bought in 2014.