黑洞社区

Apollo has let go of most of the staff at a Yeovil-based electrical firm it bought for nearly 拢1m, it has emerged.

Goldhall Electrical had more than 55 employees in January last year when it was bought for 拢965,000 to strengthen Apollo鈥檚 M&E business.

Yet the property services firm has admitted that only about 30% of the original Goldhall staff were still working for Apollo Group.

鈥淎t the time of acquisition, we knew that significant numbers would be released through centralisation of management and support functions, as is common practice with acquisitions,鈥� it told 黑洞社区.

鈥淚n addition, with the demise of contractors such as Rok, further cuts were made due to cancelled projects.鈥�

When it was bought, Goldhall had been part of Apollo鈥檚 supply chain for four years.

Martyn Stephens, one of the founders of Goldhall, said at the time that the purchase would bring 鈥渂enefits that a large national organisation can offer our staff and operations鈥�.

Yet on 6 December last year, Apollo brought forward the integration of Goldhall because of the 鈥渆conomic climate鈥� and announced a restructure of the business and the departure of Stephens and co-founder Alan Ritson.

At the time of the integration, Dave Sheridan, Apollo chief executive, stated. 鈥淭he majority of staff will be retained and we expect performance on site to continue to improve as a result of strengthened links with the wider business.鈥�

Andy Jeffery, a former employee, said that Goldhall suffered from having to take on work outside its area of expertise.

鈥淎pollo [got] us to take on contracts that involved all works: plumbing, decorating,鈥� he said.

An Apollo spokesperson said: 鈥淭he plan was always to use Goldhall to reinforce our South-west operation.鈥�

She said peripheral trades were carried out: 鈥渦nder Apollo management as part of a full service package. [Goldhall] had successfully delivered work of this nature for Apollo in the past.鈥�