Family firm in Lymington handed £100m government PPE deals
A LUXURY packaging firm in Lymington which had just £46,000 in the bank in its last published accounts was handed nearly £100m of contracts by the government to supply vital PPE.
Brandology Ltd was awarded a £69.6m contract in June and another worth £29.3m in July, according to information published by the Department for Health and Social Care.
Details available online said the smaller contract started on 1st June and ended a day later, while the larger one started on 17th June, ending the same day.
The contracts have not gone through a tender process since the government has cited the emergency of dealing with coronavirus as a reason to short-circuit the process.
No description was given for the larger contract but of the smaller deal, the government said: “The Department of Health and Social Care… has awarded a contract to Brandology Ltd for the supply of personal protective equipment (gloves) to protect health and care workers from contracting the Covid-19 disease.”
Records on Companies House list the firm as having two directors: Hannah Halstead-Morton (36) and her mother, Elizabeth Clabburn (61).
The company address is given as Lynwood Court, but on its LinkedIn page Brandology said it was based at South Barn, Efford Park.
Published accounts for the year ending 30th September 2019 show Brandology had £46,000 in the bank while its net assets were just under £450,000.
It had earned £2m from debtors in the period, and paid out roughly £1.8m to creditors.
Neither of the two directors has commented publicly on their company being awarded the contracts, and the pair declined to comment to the A&T.
Little is known about Brandology, which was founded five years ago.
Its website is currently under construction, although on its LinkedIn webpage it says it has 11-50 employees.
The LinkedIn profile adds: “We design, source and manufacture market-leading, luxury packaging solutions and promotional items in a range of industries such as health and beauty, charities, alcohol and gifting.
“Everything we create is bespoke and designed to meet your requirements and reflect your brand values, while maintaining competitive pricing and high quality products.”
The A&T understands Mrs Clabburn’s father was a peer, Major the Honourable Peter Charles Baillie, who died in 2017.
He attended Eton as a young man and was well known throughout the New Forest, having been instrumental in setting up the Fortune Centre for Riding Therapy.
He also owned Wootton Hall, near New Milton, was a Forestry Commission verderer, British Deer Society member and local magistrate.
He was also a mainstay of the New Forest Show, hosting its offices at Wootton Hall for many years and acting as joint show president with his wife, Jenny, in 1988.
